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A Simple Guide To DMX...
|
SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION
DMX512 is a
communication signal used to control what are commonly referred to as
Intelligent Lights by universal or specific DMX controllers. It started
out as USITT DMX512, then was abbreviated to DMX512 and is now most
often called DMX.
The abbreviation DMX512 stands for Digital
Multiplex Signal that can control up to 512 channels. This language was
created by the United States Institute for Theater Technology (USITT)
to simplify and unify theater lighting systems. Before DMX was created,
the only lighting control system was analog which required one
individual wire to be run from the controller to each light fixture or
dimmer pack.
It
is important to understand that DMX is a communication signal only and
does not supply power to the fixtures. All DMX light fixtures and
dimmer packs require their own power supply.
DMX
is now recognized world wide as the standard communication language for
theater and night club lighting and now even some fog machines.
|
SECTION 2 FOUR BASIC PARTS
A
DMX system has 4 basic parts: A controller that creates and sends the
signal, the cable that carries the signal and the light fixtures or
dimmer
packs that receive the signal.
These are all connected in a Daisy Chain manner with the controller at
the beginning of the line, the light fixtures and dimmer packs in the
middle and the light at the end of the line acts as a signal terminator. |
SECTION
3 CONNECTING THE PARTS
Connecting a DMX system is easy if you follow
these three steps.
1. Link the controller to all light fixtures and dimmer packs with high
quality cables.
2. Set the DMX address on each fixture or dimmer pack (usually, but not
always necessary).
These 2 steps do not have to be done in this
order, but you must not power up
any part of this system until the controller, all light fixtures and
dimmer packs have been connected and addressed.
|
SECTION 4 THE CABLES
Let's talk about DMX cables...
I recently received and email
from a blog monitor that said... "There are MICROPHONE cables and there
are DMX cables and one can NOT be used for the other". That's a very
strong statement. Very "Black and White". Unfortunately, it's also very
untrue. That statement would be like saying that Chevy's are for taking
your kids to school and Ferrari's are for racing and one can not be
used for the other. I have seen many people race Chevy's successfully
and I have also seen a few Ferrari's in the school pick up lanes.
I
don't know exactly why people make those black and white statements
about DMX cables. Perhaps they merely lack real world experience in the
field. If they had real world experience, they would know that there
were companies like NSI making digitally controlled lighting boards and
dimmer packs with signals carried thru 3 pin XLR cables long before the
term DMX was ever heard of here in America. (NSI calls their
proprietary signal MICROPLEX and they still use it today).
What
do you think those digital signals were carried thru back before the
late 90's when DMX was introduced to the commercial market here in
America? MICROPHONE CABLES. That's all we had back then, that's what
was used and that's what worked for years. Perhaps some cables marked
"DMX Cable" might perform better than some cables marked "MICROPHONE
Cable", but it can also be proven that some mid to high grade MIC
cables work better than some DMX cables and if you and your audience
can't tell the difference, who cares?
What does matter is which
pins the wires are connected to on the 3 pin XLR plug. At High Energy
Lighting (CheapLights.com), we currently buy "MIC" cables and "DMX"
cables from over 22 different suppliers. Regardless of how they are
marked, we test samples from each different "MIC" and "DMX" cable model
to make sure they work in a DMX chain before we ever offer them to our
customers.
Here's an interesting fact... In the ten to fifteen
years that we have been selling cables for transmitting digital signals
for light processors, we have never had any cables returned by
customers saying they didn't work as a DMX cable, unless the cable
actually had a physical defect, such as a wire not connected to the
plug or a cut in the wire. That's a great statement to be able to make!
Here's a few more interesting facts...
1.
"DMX" was created in 1986, but not widely used or known. At that time,
the popular method for transmitting signal to dimmer packs was zero to
ten volts.
2. "DMX" was revised in a major way and started gaining recognition in
1990. (But not in America).
3. The first DMX lighting controllers were displayed at the American
LDI Lighting convention in 1999 by LitePuter.
4. "DMX" was introduced as the "Standard" digital signal for the World
Wide lighting industry in 2000.
Damaged cables and their connectors are the
main cause of DMX system problems. Bad solder joints and corroded
connector plugs can easily interfere with the signal and prevent proper
operation.
DMX cables should never be installed in
the same conduit or junction boxes as power wires. You wouldn't even
want them running side by side on a temporary basis.
Never attempt to use a Y cable or splitter other
than a true DMX splitter.
Although a five pin XLR connector started
out as the official connector for DMX, the three pin XLR connector has
always been the standard in the U.S.A. and is quickly becoming the the
most popular everywhere.
Both connectors do the
same thing. Pin #1 = ground, pin #2 = negative signal, pin #3 =
positive signal. On five pin XLR connectors, pin # 4 and #5 are usually
not used.
|
SECTION
5 SETTING DMX ADDRESSES ON FIXTURES
Each
light fixture and dimmer pack must have an address in order to receive
data from the controller. Assigning an incorrect address to your light
fixture is as fatal as putting the wrong address on your electric bill
payment. In both cases the lights won't come on!! DMX address mistakes
are a big cause of problems with new systems and new human operators.
Bad addresses on fixtures cause problems such as gobo change instead of
mirror movement, color change instead of gobo change, or no response at
all.
Setting DMX addresses is sometimes very
simple by following manufacturer instructions and sometimes very
difficult when no instructions are available.
Most DMX light fixtures have nine DIP switches
used to set the address of that fixture.
Address
values are easy to remember. Starting on the left and moving right,
each dip switch has a value twice as large as the switch at its left.
The address for a DMX light fixture equals the sum of the value for all
dip switches in the ON position. In the picture above,
the address selected is 1.
Here are a few more examples...
 Address
is 2
 Address
is 3
 Address
is 7
 Address
is 21
The
rule for setting an address with DIP switches is to start with the
largest number of a DIP switch and work your way down through the lower
numbers. To set an address of 35 you would first flip on DIP switch # 6
for a value of 32, then flip on switch #2 which makes the total value
now 34, then flip on switch #1 which makes the total value now 35.
You might find these little switches easier to
manipulate with a small screwdriver or a writing pen.
|
SECTION 6 DETERMINING DMX ADDRESSES ON
FIXTURES
This
is where the confusion starts. Many intelligent scanning lights use 4
channels; 1 for the gobo wheel, 1 for the color wheel, 1 for left to
right mirror movement and 1 for up and down mirror movement. So why
does the second fixture need to be addressed 13 instead of 5? I can't
tell you why they do it, but almost all manufacturers make DMX
intelligent lights that OCCUPY more channels than they USE. If you
don't have a good owners manual that clearly identifies the addresses
of the second, third and fourth units, you can follow the same
procedure that we do when we test a new light.
Connect
only one fixture to the controller with only one DMX cable. Set the
address of this fixture to 1. Turn the power on the controller and
fixture and test each slider on the controller to identify which slider
activates each item on the light fixture. After you have made a note
about each slider and its activity, turn the power off for the fixture
and the controller. Run a second DMX cable to one more fixture and set
its address to 1. Power up all items and test the sliders again. Both
fixtures should do the same thing at the same time. You can have as
many fixtures as you like daisy chained together and all set to address
#1. This is the simple way to test and run multiple intelligent lights.
If
you want to have each light doing something different from the others,
you must address them each differently. This is when you need to know
how many channels the light OCCUPIES. To do this, turn the power off
for the fixtures and the controller. Go to the second fixture and set
its address to 2. Power up all items and test the sliders again. If
both fixtures don't work properly and in sync, turn all power off and
advance the address of the second unit by 1 and try again. If this
still fails to operate properly, power down and advance the address of
the second fixture by one again. Keep doing this until you find that
the second unit works in sync with the first.
If
you know that your light fixture OCCUPIES 6 channels then your first
fixture will be address 1, your second fixture will be address 7, the
third fixture will be address 13.
|
SECTION
7 CONTROLLERS
When
setting DMX addresses, the design of your DMX controller and each light
fixtures channel function need to be observed. For instance our CX-5
has 12 sliders for light operations while our DMX-STEP-ONE has 8 . Each
is very convenient for some intelligent lights, while inconvenient for
some other lights with fewer channels.
This problem can be overcome by setting DMX
addresses imaginatively.
Lets say you have one intelligent scanner that uses channel 4 for left
/ right mirror movement and channel 5 for up / down mirror movement.
You have another light that uses channel 5 for left / right mirror
movement and channel 6 for up / down mirror movement. By advancing the
address of one fixture, you will have the same slider controlling left
/ right mirror movement on both lights. You can play with the addresses
of every light fixture to make sliders on your controller operate as
you would like.
|
SECTION 8 DMX SIGNAL TERMINATION
In
theory all DMX signals must be terminated. I can tell you from personal
experience that most of the systems I have operated were never
terminated and still worked fine. Termination does reduce signal errors
caused by reflection at the end of the DMX daisy chain. Almost all (if
not all) light fixtures on the market since 1999 have a built in
terminator. |
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