fluentpc

New Member
Hello everyone,
Our theater just finished settings up multiple consoles. We have an ETC Ion and Hog 4 PC on a Net2 lighting network. Everything works great except for moving lights. This is because the network works that the highest value for each DMX address is the value that is outputted. Works great for stage lighting and most other things. However, both boards when a moving light is patched certain values such as pan and tilt are not zeroed. This means that if both boards are on, neither board can tilt the light the other way. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Net merging happens at the gateway/node. HTP is the default. Depending on what type you have you could set other merging rules. Running both boards seems like an invitation to confusion anyway.

I suppose you could always divide the rig up by universes.
 
Decide which console is going to have control of the ML's and unpatch on the other.
 
If both consoles need to control all of the fixtures, you could merge them in one of the desks first, then output them to the fixtures. Now my, knowledge of hog and etc are limited and dated, but... I don't think you can do the merge with ETC NET2, but you could do it via Artnet or acn, then output NET2.

So, correct me if I am making incorrect assumptions here, I think ETC NET2 is HTP only, Fine for dimmers, just turn everything off, but sometimes you want to control movers with the ION, and sometimes with the HOG.
Basically,on the Ion, assuming your movers are on universe 1, patch the movers at universe 11, output that via Artnet/ACN; then set an input of artnet universe 11 into the hog, and merge that into universe 1, then set all values of that universe on the hog to 00. I don't actually know how to do that, but it must be possible, that way the HTP merge will work correctly without the Hog interfering.
 
Are you sure you're using Net2? The Hog4 speaks sACN (Net 3) and Art-Net. Moving beyond that, both consoles support setting priorities on sACN/Net3 and in the Ion's case, Net2. If both consoles must have everything patched, it is possible, on a per-universe basis, to raise or lower the internal priority value on a console so it will "win" when there are multiple control sources for that protocol and universe. If mixing/matching protcols in a single output node, console that device's documentation for how to set preferred universes/priorities.
 

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