New lights screwing up DMX chain

[DJHiggumz]

Okay, so I got my lights from China (US seller), first time going that route. they are led pars. I also have microphone cable, not DMX. 6 ft long pieces. I have a DMX terminator/signal tester on the end of the chain, and if I attach more than 1 light in the chain, after 30 seconds of dmx'ing the led on the tester goes red, which indicates pin 2 could be stuck low or pin 3 is stuck high. Then, my DMXking ultraDMX micro flashes slow, indicating either "Receive mode, no DMX512 stream detected. Power ON indication." or "Receive mode, DMX512 stream detected. Flash rate = DMX update rate." I have to restart freestyler and re-plug in the dongle and it resets, and then does the same thing again. It is fine when only one light is plugged in, but after I attach 2 or more it does this.

 

[icewolf08]

Well, I hate to say it, but probably the problem is your cable. Mic cable has the wrong impedance for reliable DMX transmission. Sometimes you get lucky and it works, sometimes not so much.

Without a real DMX tester (like a DFD Gizmo or a Swisson) it will be hard to diagnose any other signal problems. Does any combination of fixtures cause the issue? Have you tested the fixtures in different orders? Have you tried different addresses? These are things I would try, along with real DMX cable.


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[DuckJordan]

or instead of purchasing DMX cable do you have cat5 cable you can wire up to XLRs?

 

[DJHiggumz]

No I don't, and I beleive the issue was lights sharing the same channels.

 

[STEVETERRY]

or instead of purchasing DMX cable do you have cat5 cable you can wire up to XLRs?

That might not be a great idea. Solid conductor Cat5 is designed only for termination in insulation displacement or "vampire tap" type terminations. Stripping and soldering this type of cable will produce a very unreliable connection. This falls in my category "Don't do it!"


ST

 

[gurumenu]

ya you are right same problem with me

 

[danTt]

That might not be a great idea. Solid conductor Cat5 is designed only for termination in insulation displacement or "vampire tap" type terminations. Stripping and soldering this type of cable will produce a very unreliable connection. This falls in my category "Don't do it!"


ST

And with the prevalence of ethernet protocols for control these days, I think it's probably wiser to avoid using cat5 for not ethernet applications. Sure, the cable is usable, but it seems like there are always caveats and concerns with using it that do not exist with traditional dmx cable.

 

[JD]

Okay, so I got my lights from China (US seller), first time going that route. they are led pars. I also have microphone cable, not DMX. 6 ft long pieces. I have a DMX terminator/signal tester on the end of the chain, and if I attach more than 1 light in the chain, after 30 seconds of dmx'ing the led on the tester goes red, which indicates pin 2 could be stuck low or pin 3 is stuck high. Then, my DMXking ultraDMX micro flashes slow, indicating either "Receive mode, no DMX512 stream detected. Power ON indication." or "Receive mode, DMX512 stream detected. Flash rate = DMX update rate." I have to restart freestyler and re-plug in the dongle and it resets, and then does the same thing again. It is fine when only one light is plugged in, but after I attach 2 or more it does this.

Any chance there is a terminator switch on the LED pars? If so, and they are in that mode, you will only get one or two to work before the DMX is degraded.

 

[BillESC]

Address both fixtures to DMX 1. Test each fixture individually to know they both operate as designed. Now, daisy chain both into the controller and see what happens.