Operating moving lights on a Strand LAN using an Ion?
- Thread starterjerekb
- Start date
jmabray
Active Member
Therein lies the rub. He says he was told it would happen.
All Strand SN110 Nodes were sold "ACN Ready". No one ever said they WOULD do it, but they all said that they COULD do it. Now I am looking for the answer. Strand Lurkers, I know your out there....
http://tiny.cc/TiCWb
Currently we have a DMX512 going out to the dimmers. There is no DMX port on the cats where our moving lights and FourRunners are. The only thing up there is the cat5 network plugs. So we had DMX for dimmers and cat5 for intelligent lights and scrollers. So we are just going to sell the Strand Nodes.
I agree with fredthe...
The Strand Nodes send and receive DMX with the right cables. All you need to connect your console is a XLR5 male to XLR5 male and a computer on the network with the nodes to repurpose them via their web browser interface.
I have done this before with a visiting company's light board!
Best of luck!
-Chris
The Strand Nodes send and receive DMX with the right cables. All you need to connect your console is a XLR5 male to XLR5 male and a computer on the network with the nodes to repurpose them via their web browser interface.
I have done this before with a visiting company's light board!
Best of luck!
-Chris
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Thank you so freaking much thats awesome if that works that will solve the problem!!!
Sony
Active Member
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Thank you so freaking much thats awesome if that works that will solve the problem!!!
Don't expect this to work with any amount of high reliability...CAT5 was never meant to carry DMX and the lack of shielding on CAT5 makes it very vulnerable to interference. Not only that but if you have any switches or routing equipment in between the board and the FOH position this solution wont work at all because all this product is is an adapter that turns an Ethernet cable into a DMX cable and does not use a TCP/IP protocol.
Fredthe and Balo seem to have good idea's which I would try first if possible.
Sony
Active Member
True...but that's a big IF, it's also debatable whether or not he even has access to any of the networking closets if there is.
There is a standard from USITT for sending DMX over CAT5 cable. No, you can't use networking gear in between, but the physical wiring can be used for DMX.
Just FYI....
--Sean
If you have some extra nodes, or even just 2 i would use one to convert dmx to strand net, then use the others to convert strand net back to dmx. I would trust that much more than trying to find the cat 5 that is ran and then patch everything together. You will hit your max cable length really fast, since in network world your switch extends you cable length all over again, with dmx the only way to extend your run is to use a splitter or a dmx repeater.
jmabray
Active Member
If he were to convert his network run to a dmx run (bypassing all appropriate switches/routers/etc) then cable length would not likely be an issue. The length of the cable is not so much determined by the cable type, in this instance, as it is by the signal running down said cable. TCP/IP is limited to approx. 300 feet (100 M) either side of the switch (for a total length of 600 feet), but DMX can run for approx. 1500 feet.
That being said, I would too recommend taking a node and putting DMX into the front end converting it to shownet and then using a node to convert it to DMX on the back end.
It would go something like this -
CONSOLE--->DMX Cable--->NODE--->NETWORK CABLE---->WALL JACK-PHYSICAL CABLE PLANT-WALL JACK--->NETWORK CABLE--->NODE--->DMX CABLE--->FIXTURES, ETC.
If he has two nodes, more than likely they are physically set up to be DMX outputs. This shouldn't matter. While the physical connector may be that of an output, what signal the node handles is a function of the software. If he has the Strand 110 Nodes that were discussed earlier, he can hit those nodes with any web browser to adjust the software settings. He would just have to make sure that his IP addresses were set up properly to do so. All that being said, however, I would be very careful in trying to do this. If he doesn't know that much about his network and how it is set up, he could render that part of his system useless. But that's about what it is right now to him anyway....
I would suspect that the reason those nodes are not going to support ACN has more to do with the fact that during the buyout of Strand, they let all those software engineers that had worked on that product line of code go rather than any actual plans of Strand to discontinue the line, (If that makes any sense at all), but I wouldn't really know for sure.....
Projects - LLA - LLA Intro
There it is, it does not do ACN yet, but I would assume this will be added in the near future (unless the writer fell off the earth, which is totally possible).
Right now you have two options, either wait for the ACN for the SN110 nodes that may never come, or sacrifice a node to convert both ports of your console into shownet. To me, the second is your best option.
There it is, it does not do ACN yet, but I would assume this will be added in the near future (unless the writer fell off the earth, which is totally possible).
Right now you have two options, either wait for the ACN for the SN110 nodes that may never come, or sacrifice a node to convert both ports of your console into shownet. To me, the second is your best option.
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jerekb, follow the links I posted above. One of the ESTA studies (Part 1 "Results of these tests indicated that Category 5 UTP cable performed as well as conventional DMX512 cable,") even showed DMX over UTP cable to be slightly MORE robust than the recommended Belden 2c +shld cable in some tests. Much of Nick Mobsby's book, Practical DMX recommends installing CAT5 UTP cable now and replacing the ends in the further when Ethernet is desired.
The only drawbacks to CAT5 cable are: 1]It has solid conductors and cannot withstand the flexing that stage cables endure, (not an issue if it's with conduit inside walls), and 2]The RJ-45 connectors are not designed for repeated plugging/unplugging (EtherCon is a ruggedized connector).
The fact that DMX512A is an asynchronous serial digital signal makes it inherently invulnerable to interference. The Pin1 portion is needed as a ground reference, but is not required to be an overall shield.
edit: BSR E1.27-2, Entertainment Technology - Recommended Practice for Permanently Installed Control Cables for Use with ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A) and USITT DMX512/1990 Products, is a recommended practice for permanent data cabling installations for interconnecting lighting equipment that comply with ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A) or with USITT DMX512/1990. The recommendations include definitions of acceptable cable and connector types and the ways in which they may be used. is currently under public review until 11/28/08. The review form, document, and review instructions are here: TSP - Published Documents - About TSP Documents, Published Documents, Public Review Documents, Procedural Documents.
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