The old DMX adapter question

[RickR]

Recieved this after reading the latest here.

 

[n1ist]

CAT5 (stranded) and RJ45s are very common in the animated Christmas lighting world due to their cost. Mainly RS485 (either DMX on pins 1&2 or Renard on 4&5, possibly with power on the other pairs) but it's also used for RGB PWM and, of all things, ethernet...

/mike

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Killer link, RickR; thanks!

 

[Jay Ashworth]

CAT5 (stranded) and RJ45s are very common in the animated Christmas lighting world due to their cost. Mainly RS485 (either DMX on pins 1&2 or Renard on 4&5, possibly with power on the other pairs) but it's also used for RGB PWM and, of all things, ethernet...

Are you aware of any documentation for pinnings for that sort of service, Mike?

Google is my friend, but I'm always looking for more:

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=pin-outs

 

[Chris Chapman]

You can also run into ETC (and other, presumably) rack mount nodes (as I use) that have male chassis 5 pin, where you need F/M to F/M turnarounds to use the ports as outputs. This is one of the nice thing about the node system, the devices can be configured as needed, but you do need turn-arounds handy.

Can you give me some more info on this? I'm stuck in Net1 Hell, and I do have ETCLink and DMX Ports that are labeled as Inputs instead of Outputs. Where is the softpatch change to switch those over, or would the adapter just solve the problem. Man, I would love to use them as extra Universe 2 sends...

 

[SteveB]

Can you give me some more info on this? I'm stuck in Net1 Hell, and I do have ETCLink and DMX Ports that are labeled as Inputs instead of Outputs. Where is the softpatch change to switch those over, or would the adapter just solve the problem. Man, I would love to use them as extra Universe 2 sends...

Those features were on the Net2 & 3 Nodes and Gateways, not Net1. I apologize for not being more specific. And no, an adapter is not going to be a replacement to a Net2/3 type node/gateway.

If you have Cat5 cabling in conduit running around your space (some Net 1 stuff used ThinNet coax), then the adapter and splitter's from Techni-Lux in RickR's post might be useful. If you have Link cabling and/or RFU cabling, you should contact ETC to determine if it could be re-purposed as DMX. I don't recall the specifics of the cable type to tell you if it's compliant.

 

[Wood4321]

I did find a pinout on the C-point site,
Link to the Compander data sheet.


I have used a similar product from TMB, the Sneak-snake. iirc, the 3 universe version is a ether con version of the com pander.
Link to the Sneak Snake Datasheet

Although I have used the TMB version, I am always a little bit hesitant due to the bussing of the shield wires... But then again, they have always worked for me.