Other DC Controllers

[CaptainMurdoch]

There were plans to create a standalone PixelNet to DMX converter but IMHO, the design talked about would pretty much render it useless.

The Pixelnet to DMX converter board went into beta, but I believe there wasn't enough time to get a COOP going in time for shows for this year so it was postponed.

I have one of these on my desk installed in a normal SSC-sized pipe and ready to use when I get to that side of my yard.  The design allows me to run one Pixelnet/SSC cable from my hub across the yard to a SSC or 4-port passive hub and grab off a DMX universe from the Pixelnet universe.  It gets it's power as the SSC's and DSC's do from the 12V on the line so there is no extra power supply and it saves having to run two data cables across the yard or putting an active hub remote just to get the DMX to that side of the yard for one feature.  There are also additional functionality being worked on which I believe will make this little converter board even more flexible and valuable.

[arw01]

yeah for one cable.  I actually have two running across the yard just to bring the DMX to an SSR, with to me has been a goodsend and probably saved enough in extension cords to have paid for themselves this year.

Of course I would be OK with having a Pixelnet firmware for the SSR too.   

Alan

[chrisatpsu]

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

[jnealand]

I take DMX from the active hub and run it to a wireless transmitter.  All my DMX is am running via wireless.  7 LEs and 3 SSR4s.  Since I was having trouble getting my sequences redone to an updated channel config, I put all the DMX on except the tune to sign and had a static display in the yard.  In fact for two days I ran the DMX off a USB dongle from my netbook, so I could do SSC updates using the ETD while the static display was still running.  I just had to pull the power plug from the transmitter connected to the active hub.

[tbone321]

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

You are correct which is why I was hoping that the converter would be an independent unit.  If you need the hub to make it work, then why not just use the the converter the smart hub already has. 

[twooly]

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

You are correct which is why I was hoping that the converter would be an independent unit.  If you need the hub to make it work, then why not just use the the converter the smart hub already has. 

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

But one little thing about this new board is that you can get all 8 universes off of the pixelnet input vs the active hub will only give you the first 512.  You can select what 512 channels you want from the pixelnet intput using the jumpers.  Also allows you to create a powered DMX line also from it (keeping to the 4 amp limit)

[tbone321]

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

You are correct which is why I was hoping that the converter would be an independent unit.  If you need the hub to make it work, then why not just use the the converter the smart hub already has. 

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

But one little thing about this new board is that you can get all 8 universes off of the pixelnet input vs the active hub will only give you the first 512.  You can select what 512 channels you want from the pixelnet intput using the jumpers.  Also allows you to create a powered DMX line also from it (keeping to the 4 amp limit)

This is not true.  The hub also has the ability to select what portion of the Pixelnet universe that you want to use so you get all 8 there as well.  It still uses and requires a port on the hub so it really creates nothing there, it simply extends an existing port.  It is also 4A minus whatever the converter is using.  The problem with this design is that you are really no better off now then you are just using an active hub.  If your DMX devices are in a different PixelNet universe than the hub near them, both an converter on the active hub and this new device are both useless and you would still have to run a cable from whatever hub is on that PixelNet universe so how exactly deoes this new device help? 

[twooly]

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

You are correct which is why I was hoping that the converter would be an independent unit.  If you need the hub to make it work, then why not just use the the converter the smart hub already has. 

pixelnet already has a dmx converter. It's in the active hub, which most people should have, if they're running smart gear anyways.

But one little thing about this new board is that you can get all 8 universes off of the pixelnet input vs the active hub will only give you the first 512.  You can select what 512 channels you want from the pixelnet intput using the jumpers.  Also allows you to create a powered DMX line also from it (keeping to the 4 amp limit)

This is not true.  The hub also has the ability to select what portion of the Pixelnet universe that you want to use so you get all 8 there as well.  It still uses and requires a port on the hub so it really creates nothing there, it simply extends an existing port.  It is also 4A minus whatever the converter is using.  The problem with this design is that you are really no better off now then you are just using an active hub.  If your DMX devices are in a different PixelNet universe than the hub near them, both an converter on the active hub and this new device are both useless and you would still have to run a cable from whatever hub is on that PixelNet universe so how exactly deoes this new device help?

You actually get both DMX and Pixelnet off the one line with this board.  One pixelnet in and DMX and Pixelnet both out so you're not losing a port at all.  You can daisy chain these getting all the universes out of the single line, can't do that with the hub.

[MrChristmas2000]

I have never got a smart hub to respond to any DMX universe other than 1. When I started with Pixelnet I wanted to have 2 smart hubs with each of my DMX universes back to back 1 and 513 but I could never get my smart hubs to output DMX when it was strapped to any other position than 1. The problem was posted a LONG time ago and I have never seen a fix for it.

I had to put my first DMX off Pixelnet universe 1 and the other off of pixelnet universe 3.

[chrisatpsu]

for the Active Hub, if you wanted 2 dmx universe, to be the first 1024 channels.
you use 2 active hubs
both set to pixelnet universe 1 (channels 1 - 4096)

active hub #1 set to DMX universe #1 (channels 1-512)
active hub #2 set to DMX universe #2 (channels 513-1024)

[CaptainMurdoch]

You are correct which is why I was hoping that the converter would be an independent unit.  If you need the hub to make it work, then why not just use the the converter the smart hub already has.

It is an independent device.  It has Pixelnet data in, +12V/GND in, and DMX out.  There's nothing that says you have to connect it to a hub.  You could connect it to a Lynx USB Dongle with Pixelnet firmware and a 12V wall wart if you wanted to for some reason.  It _can_ be connected to a hub though, that's part of the beauty of it.  Rather than buying two active hubs to get 2 DMX universes out of Pixelnet, you can buy one active hub to run your SSC's and one of the DMX converters to get a second DMX universe, and still maintain your 16 SSC outputs.  You could buy one Zeus to run your Mega Tree and one of these DMX converters to take the Pixelnet out signal and convert it to DMX for use on your LE's, all without buying a hub.

[tbone321]

Then I would say that things are not being made clear.  Where does it get its power from?  Can it select which PixelNet universe it is working with?  From what I'm hearing and I could be wrong (it wouldn't be the first time) is that the device is set up  just like a SSC or DSC as far as signal and power input.  If that is the case, how do you connect it to a PixelNet output since thy don't supply power and how do you make it work with a PixelNet universe other than universe 1 if it only uses onepair for signal input?  If it can do these things without funky cable mods then I both stand corrected and look forward to the coop.  When I say independent unit, I mean that it has its own built in power supply, connects to the PixelNet data lines (not a hub output)  and allows the user to select which PixelNet universe and what portion of it to convert to DMX.  IOW, you could connect it directly to a Conductor an set it up to deliver any DMX universe desired simply by setting jumpers. 

[CaptainMurdoch]

Then I would say that things are not being made clear.  Where does it get its power from?  Can it select which PixelNet universe it is working with?

The Pixelnet to DMX converter can only handle one Pixelnet Universe because it only has one set of holes to connect the Pixelnet data lines and no Pixelnet Universe selection jumpers.  You select which universe to send it by connecting it to that universe, whether that is by plugging it into a hub's SSC/DSC port or by connecting it to a 4-pair Pixelnet output port and wiring the pair of wires for the desired universe to the data input on the converter board.

If I wanted to convert Pixelnet Universe 3 to DMX without having to have an Active Hub on Universe 3, I could just take a cable w/ RJ45 connector and wire up the third pair to the Pixelnet to DMX converter, connect a 12V source to the convert, and I just saved $30-40 over buying an Active Hub just for it's Pixelnet to DMX conversion capability.  This is similar to what you are talking about with the conductor.  I could plug this same cable into the Conductor and pick off the universe I want if all I wanted was DMX output from the Conductor.

It gets its 12V power from wherever you want it to get it from.  If you connect it to a Hub, it gets the power from there (if you wired the converter board up that way as it is designed).  If you wanted to use it without a hub, you can do so if you provide the 12V power to it separately.

[zwiller]

Is there a technical reason why there is no pixelnet universe selector on the convertor?  That seems rather odd to me and a serious limitation.  Not even interested in one now.  Pretty sure the average guy needing a convertor is one who thought (like I did last year) he could pull the first 512 channels from selecting dmx universe 1 from a hub set to pixelnet universe 2, etc and has to figure out a way to make it happen. 

The reason I suggested pixelnet (beside the current discussion) is I have my etd setup with a conductor and dongle flashed pixelnet from programming so I have to crack cases and flash to dmx to program.  Already broke a pin of the pic once before prying the chip off to flash (no header).  Maybe updating the programming utility so that it works for both dmx and pixelnet would be a better solution? 

Truth be told, I think new connectors are more important than new firmare.   I had a horrible time with the spade connectors...

[mmais68569]

OK thanks for the help.

I downloaded the firmware & opened it in Notepad, the first A00 I see is in line 12 down from the top & it reads:

:1000A0004FEF00F0800E136E080E0D6E8A848A9456

Is this the correct line to change the channel setting in?

         Mike