yes im stuck in dmx and no none of this clarified anything. I get that a pixelnet is 4096 but my mental block is each string is 150 channels can I just assign all 16 strings on my zues 16 to universe 1 and not worry about where string 1 ends and string 2 starts?
Yes, if your Zeus 16 were the first controller in your configuration, with the jumper set to Universe 1, the channel assignments would look like this:
1st string Zeus port 1 start address 1 end address 150
2nd string Zeus port 2 start address 151 end address 300
3rd string Zeus port 3 start address 301 end address 450
4th string Zeus port 4 start address 451 end address 600
...5th thru 14th start address 601 end address 2100
15th string Zeus port 15 start address 2101 end address 2250
16 string Zeus port 16 start address 2251 end address 2400
that will leave 1696 channels (4096 - 2400) available in Universe 1. If the next controller was an SSC, attached to a Hub and set to Universe 1, you would set it's starting address to 2401. You would then continue this until you came close to using all 4096 channels in Universe 1.
and just take all 2400 strings and start at channel 1 universe 1 and go straight thru. and then take zue 8 strings and start at channel 4097 universe 2 and be good
You could continue on to Universe 2 starting at 4097 or as stated above you would still have 1696 channels left on Universe 1 that you could use. If you used the same 150 channel strings, your Zeus 8 might be configured as follows:
1st string Zeus 8 port 1 start address 2401 end address 2550
...2nd thru 7th start address 2551 end address 3450
8th string Zeus 8 port 8 start address 3451 end address 3600
still leaving 496 channels (4096 - 3600) or ~165 RGB pixels available in universe 1
My advice is that you set up a spread sheet to keep track of the addresses that you need to set up in your controllers, as this becomes a little more complicated when adding additional Universes and non Pixelnet controllers into the mix.
( I still get stuck on the break or not for the string)
The addresses would usually be set up contiguously, in a single universe. You could not have a single string go across the 4096 channel PixelNet Universe boundary. (i.e. you can't start your 50 node string at 4051 and end at 4200 because internally Universe 1 ends at 4096 and Universe 2 starts with an absolute address of 1 again but on a different set of wires.)
I hope I have not confused you more by these explanations.