Well it’s late but here’s a stocking stuffer for the Express!

Well everyone was very patient over the show season waiting for me to get my show done with before I could finish the firmware that brings all the goodies to the express.

I hope the wait was worth it!

The new firmware is working as well as I had hoped it would. It allows you to customize the contoller to match what you are doing with it. And for the newbie building his first controller the diagnostics built into it really gives them a benifit to help get it working.  I have cleaned the menu up to make it better fit the additional features we added. It also now detect the power you are on  60hz or 50hz for all our friends over seas. That way we keep one firmware for the express for everyone.

The computer software that configures the express is clean and functional and has one click update to allow you to keep the system up to date with all of the latest lights that have had custom curves created for them. Just select to update from the menu and it will download the master list of curves from the DLA site and install it.

You set the start address and then load the four custom curves for the lights you are using and then set each channel to the which curve you want it to use. Hit the button and any Express connected up that has been put into program mode will update and reset itself once programmed.

With the newest version of the Express which is Ver 3.0 and do to be release in a coop in a few days. The Express addes to it a onboard single splitter to give you two DMX outputs. One that is the pass through from the input as is normal and the new DMX OUT 2 which give you a seperate DMX stream that can handle 32 more devices and be terminated on its own. It give us a mini Lynx Splitter on each board for convienence.

We also added two additional LEDs for the two power supply voltages as a part of the diagnostics enhancements on the Express. This lets the builder know his power supply circuits are working. They are marked 5V OK and 3.3V OK to show those power outputs are working. The board can be powered up before the pic is inserted to check the power and prevent errors doing damage. The builder then can put the pic in sure that the power is correct.  

The Express raises the bar for the DoItYourself to a new level. This is not the end but just another step on the way. In fact … where is that express wireless module I’m working on?  Oh here it is!  Just you wait!

RJ