DiyLightAnimation
Fun => The Porch => Topic started by: sirloinofbeef001 on August 04, 2013,
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Here's what my issue is. I have my dongle flashed to pixelnet. When I try to make it work with dmx as well it doesn't want to configure. I have the first 224 channels set for dmx and the rest to pixelnet. But when I try to get them to work together, it doesn't work. I'm sure its something simple. It works with pixelnet alone but it doesn't work when I try to input the dmx.
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The etherdongle will do this but the usb dongle does not. It either does straight pixelnet or dmx but not both.
-Paul
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That stinks... I thought I was on a roll. I have a PCB for the etherdongle. Back to the drawing board. Thanks for the help.
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The etherdongle will do this but the usb dongle does not. It either does straight pixelnet or dmx but not both.
-Paul
Kinda...
The pixelnet usb dongle does ALL pixelnet. But, if you send the pixelnet dongle to a active hub, you can extract the DMX from the DMX jack, and the pixelnet from the 16 powered-pixelnet jacks.
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Ok, I have been away for a while but let me get this straight. The ETD now has the ability to output both Pixelnet AND DMX at the same time???? When did that happen or am I just reading this wrong?
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No it can't. I think he meant the active hub mirrors 1 universe with DMX so you can get 1 universe of DMX via its DMX jack. But in reality if you had both a DMX device and a Pixelnet device set to the same channel they both would mirror each others effects.
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Keitha has is correct. The EDT just sends out 4096 channel universes. It is the Active hub that can convert a 512 chunk of channels to DMX. However, just because a 512 chunk is getting sent out as a DMX signal, does not stop the full 4096 channels from being sent to all pixelnet devices on that active hub. You can set up a 16 channel LE starting at channel 1 and setup 16 channels of RGB starting at channel 1. If you turn channel 1 on, both the DMX chan 1 and the pixelnet chan 1 will turn on. Hope that is clear. The key is that when you are doing your programming and when you are doing your hardware configurations you must be aware of your channel numbering so that you are not sending commands to the wrong set of lights.
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Ok. Let me get this straight, I need an active hub. Mine is a passive hub. This will solve the problem? I do know that you don't use a channel twice. I have 512 channels just for dmx. So with this in mind, do I have to start at 513, or at 225 which matches my express count?
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You are correct. only an active hub will give you a chunk of DMX out. There is no pic on the passive hub, therefore no program to convert pixelnet to DMX.
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Just to recap for any future readers of this post.
Both the USB dongle and Etherdongle can ONLY send out one type of data stream. Be it DMX or Pixelnet which is your choose by what firmware you load.
If you set either dongle for Pixelnet and you want DMX than you need a Active hub to mirror out the dmx channels of your choosing.
Notice I say Mirror, you can use the "DMX" block of channels for pixelnet and they will light up at the same time but you will get different colors of light. Normally you will want to skip over the active DMX channels but technically is not required.
Hope that helps
Rick R.
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This is what I thought and remembered. I hope that whoever is developing the standalone Pixelnet to DMX converter gets that done soon.
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...thats right, I forgot I needed the active hub as well to get the dmx portion.
-Paul
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I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by mirror.
Are the first 512 channels mirrored?
So, if I wanted to use my max number of DMX channels as well as Pixel channels, would I number them as:
1-512 = DMX
513-4096 = Pixelnet
If I only had 200 channels of DMX, then I could use any of those 1-512 channels as DMX as long as I dont use the same channels in pixelnet. i.e.
1-200 = pixelnet
201-400 = DMX
401-4096 = Pixelnet
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I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by mirror.
Are the first 512 channels mirrored?
So, if I wanted to use my max number of DMX channels as well as Pixel channels, would I number them as:
1-512 = DMX
513-4096 = Pixelnet
If I only had 200 channels of DMX, then I could use any of those 1-512 channels as DMX as long as I dont use the same channels in pixelnet. i.e.
1-200 = pixelnet
201-400 = DMX
401-4096 = Pixelnet
yes, but as a practice I leave all the first 512 reserved for DMX. You never know when some new item will strike your fancy and it will be a DMX device. By leaving them as reserved and not programming any pixels in that range, I can reuse programming from year to year without having to rearrange my channels and rearrange my sequences. However if you need the channels then just use them.
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So, if I wanted to use my max number of DMX channels as well as Pixel channels, would I number them as:
1-512 = DMX
513-4096 = Pixelnet
If I only had 200 channels of DMX, then I could use any of those 1-512 channels as DMX as long as I dont use the same channels in pixelnet. i.e.
1-200 = pixelnet
201-400 = DMX
401-4096 = Pixelnet
Your last example is good and shows that you do understand the setup.
For neatness, I usually do like your first example and select the first block of 512 channels for DMX. Since DMX technically doesn't support a channel number greater than 512, but Pixelnet does, it just makes it easier on my brain.
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The range of channel numbers for DMX in your sequencing program depend on which jumper you have DMX set to on the active hub. One of our members explains it best in this document.
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I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean by mirror.
Are the first 512 channels mirrored?
I was saying just because you set a grouping of DMX channels (example - 1-512) it doesn't mean those channels disappear from the pixelnet channels. Channel one could be use by both the DMX and Pixelnet at the same time. Granted its not something most people do but I want to be sure everyone knows its a possibility. Other wise down the road someone will say HEY no one told me that………
Rick R.
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I'm still slightly confused. The problem is just for the lsp program ( not the active hub ). When I try to start running the program the dmx input keeps popping up. The lsp program doesn't know which hub I'm using. So could the issue be that the first 512 channels need to be dmx only which matches a dongle, then the rest be pixel? I made the first 224 channels for dmx and then started my pixel at 225. Is this the problem?
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Okay if you will be using an etherdongle your DMX controllers all need to also be set to E1.31 DMX over ethernet. Just like your pixelnet controllers. And your output configuration manager should just have E1.31 DMX output-Zone 1 where you configured youe etherdongle.
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I don't have the etherdongle . I flashed my dmx dongle ... So does what you say still apply?
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No. If your dongle is flashed with pixelnet firmware use Pixelnet/Smartstrings for your controller type just like your pixelnet controllers. If it is only flashed DMX use entec dmx pro
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Sounds like I need a etherdongle and an active hub to do smart strings and dmx....
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I think with the usb dongle flahed for pixelnet would work with the active hub. Set all your jumpers on the active hub to 1. Then tell LSP your DMX controller is a Pixelnet/Smartstring controller. Have you DMX controllers channels somewhere between 1-512. And your pixelnet channels between 1-4096 but not the same as your DMX channels unless you want to mirror the DMX effects and Pixelnet effects at the same time.
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But the issue still remains. Set the dmx and pixel seperate? I think that may be causing the issue.
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Set them the same. "Pixelnet/Smartstrings" setting for both controllers and also the output configuration screen. You are just sending Pixelnet from LSP. The active hub generates the DMX and with the jumper set to "1" it generates DMX for channels 1-512. However if you have any Pixelnet SSC's programmed in the range of 1-512 they will also flash as the channels 1-512 are outputting both DMX and Pixelnet outputting from the active hub. If you don't have an active hub you can't get DMX as a passive hub is Pixelnet only.
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Can you take a screen shot of the pop up that you get in LSP. Are you trying to test lights? ie output to the hub?
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If you are going to take DMX out of the active hub, forget the word DMX. You have no DMX devices to configure in the software. You will have 4096 channels which the software thinks are being controlled by E1.31. The HARDWARE will convert the first 224 channels to DMX protocol (not the software) so quit trying to tell the software that you are configuring DMX because you are not, at least as far as the software is concerned. You need to get your mind wrapped around the differences between hardware generated protocols and software generated protocols. You appear to be getting confused by what your lighting elements are versus what the software is doing, i.e., controlling channels. If you think this is bad wait until you have a lot of RGB to configure. LSP can do so amazing things with RGB using transitions, but it all very dependent on how you set up your preview screen, but that is another story for a future time. Just keep learning one thing at a time, it took me awhile to get my mind wrapped around all this configuration stuff. Now if I could just learn how to sequence and find the beat in the audio. Duh.
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If you are going to take DMX out of the active hub, forget the word DMX. You have no DMX devices to configure in the software. You will have 4096 channels which the software thinks are being controlled by E1.31. The HARDWARE will convert the first 224 channels to DMX protocol (not the software) so quit trying to tell the software that you are configuring DMX because you are not, at least as far as the software is concerned. You need to get your mind wrapped around the differences between hardware generated protocols and software generated protocols. You appear to be getting confused by what your lighting elements are versus what the software is doing, i.e., controlling channels. If you think this is bad wait until you have a lot of RGB to configure. LSP can do so amazing things with RGB using transitions, but it all very dependent on how you set up your preview screen, but that is another story for a future time. Just keep learning one thing at a time, it took me awhile to get my mind wrapped around all this configuration stuff. Now if I could just learn how to sequence and find the beat in the audio. Duh.
He is using a usb dongle so the correct settings are Pixelnet/Smartstrings instead of E1.31. for both Pixelnet and DMX controllers.
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If you are going to take DMX out of the active hub, forget the word DMX. You have no DMX devices to configure in the software. You will have 4096 channels which the software thinks are being controlled by E1.31.
Lets not get anyone confused. He is NOT using the ETD so there is no E1.31 either. He is using his USB dongle flashed with Pixelnet firmware and he needs to use the Pixelnet/Smartstring controller. After that and as you said, there is no defining or separating DMX and Pixelnet in the software. Just assign the channels to the display items that you want them to control, make sure that you use the first 512 for DMX devices, set the controllers to the proper starting channel, and let the hardware send the proper control signals to the controllers.
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Ok I think that I have what he is doing figured out. Keith is correct. What you need is an Active hub and all of your problems will be solved. I do recommend getting and ETD though. It is the future USB dongle is the past.
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My bad, I got this thread confused with another one that was using the ETD. I have used both the USB dongle configured for pixelnet and the ETD. Both worked just fine until I went over 4096 channels. Learning is part of the enjoyment of this hobby as well as part of the frustration.
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Could the issue be caused by me having dmx for 512 channels and they overlay part of the pixel channels as well? I'm gonna have to put that to the test.
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Could the issue be caused by me having dmx for 512 channels and they overlay part of the pixel channels as well? I'm gonna have to put that to the test.
You cannot output both Pixelnet and DMX out of the same Dongle! You need an active hub to convert your Pixelnet to DMX. They only mirror each other after the active hub.
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Could the issue be caused by me having dmx for 512 channels and they overlay part of the pixel channels as well? I'm gonna have to put that to the test.
I don't know what you mean by overlay. Channel 25 is channel 25 and you can't have more than one of those. Now if your sequencing software allows you to assign that channel to more than one controller, then that may be an issue. If you have your channel 25 assigned to a pixelnet controller, and that controller is connected to an active hub which is set to pull DMX from the first universe, then you would have a DMX channel 25 and a PixelNet chanel 25 which would be doing exactly the same thing "mirroring". The squencing software would neither know or care about that, it is just sending your data on channel 25.
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Could the issue be caused by me having dmx for 512 channels and they overlay part of the pixel channels as well? I'm gonna have to put that to the test.
I don't know what you mean by overlay. Channel 25 is channel 25 and you can't have more than one of those. Now if your sequencing software allows you to assign that channel to more than one controller, then that may be an issue. If you have your channel 25 assigned to a pixelnet controller, and that controller is connected to an active hub which is set to pull DMX from the first universe, then you would have a DMX channel 25 and a PixelNet chanel 25 which would be doing exactly the same thing "mirroring". The squencing software would neither know or care about that, it is just sending your data on channel 25.
Getting this straight in everyone's mind is a problem because we try to both over-simplify to make it more accessible, and then we jump into details when "simple" makes it confusing.
IMO: We need an integrated book/wiki/collected-videos that paints a complete picture, offers clear how-tos, and links to the details. A troubleshooting knowledge base would be nice too!
The problem is that addressing changes based on the equipment's view of ITS WORLD.
When I use software, I am using channel numbers and a universe (in software terms a "network") that is potentially mapped to another universe.
Pixelnet uses a 4096-channel universe. DMX uses a 512-channel universe. It is normal to overlay (or overlap) your DMX universe on top of a Pixelnet universe. The "simplest" way to do this is to have the DMX universe on an active hub map to the first 512 channels in the pixelnet universe. In this way, channel 1 in pixelnet is ALSO channel 1 in DMX.
Describing only the "simple" picture does the noobie a disservice however. If we describe this overlay/overlap as a magnifying glass... it helps people understand that the magnifying glass can be moved to look a different ranges within those 4096 pixelnet channels. From the DMX world, the devices are still limited to 512 channels, numbered 1-512. BUT underneath, you might have DMX channel 1 overlayed/overlapped/mapped to Pixelnet channel 1, ... or channel 513, ... or channel 1025, or channel 1537, etc.
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I have the dmx ( 512 ) channels as my first channels on the dongle and if I start the ss at 225, does this cause an issue? I'm not the best with putting these issue into words so please bare with me. The issue is with lsp, not anything else. So when I input the dmx controller (s) into the program, do I not have to designate them to an output source? This is where the conflict occurs as dmx or pixelnet is what I mean . I now understand that I need an active hub but the dongle is first in line. So its either the way in designating the channels or something else. I'm thankful for ALL of your help guys.
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Someone correct me if I am wrong, but:
1. USB dongle needs to be flashed with pixelnet firmware.
2. All LSP devices need to be set as pixelnet (not E1.31 or DMX) (This is because of the dongle,not the end device)
3. DMX Devices will use channels 1-512.
4. Pixelnet (SSC) will use channels 513-4096
5. USB Dongle connects to the Active Hub.
6. Active Hub goes to SSCs and DMX out goes to your DMX Boards.
I believe this is the setup you are trying to accomplish.
I am assuming you are only using the USB Dongle and one Active hub.
Maybe tell us what equipment you are trying to connect and that will help some.
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For simplicity sake lets assume I have 1 16 channel DMX controller and 1 strand of Pixel nodes 50 nodes long. With all jumpers set to "1" on the active hub.
Lets say I have the DMX device's start channel set to channel "1". In LSP create a controller using Pixelnet/Smartstring as the controller protocol. And "Light Controller" as the controller type. For simplicity sake name it "DMX Controller".
Now lets say your Pixel strand's start channel is set to "17" then you create a "RGB Light Controller"(controller type) also using "Pixelnet/Smartstring" setting as the controller protocol. give it 50 logical channels and a start channel number of 17. Notice this uses channels 17-164 because of 3 channels per node so your next pixel strand would have to start with channel 165. And your ssc would have to have it's start channel set the same. Call it Pixel Controller 1.
Now in the output configuration section create a Pixelnet/Smartstring output and it will say it is not configured. Click the configure output button and you must have your dongle plugged in and then you tell it which com port your dongle is on.
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1) I started putting the smart strings in and designated them to start at 225
2) I added my dmx to start at channel 1 - 224
3) when I do this and run a test program the lsp program keeps trying to get me to keep configuring the output for the dmx repeatedly.
this is what I have . I have a flashed dongle to 4096
I have a passive hub and I know I need an active hub to replace it.
this is as simple as I can put it.
is there something wrong with the way I am trying to configure this?
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Someone correct me if I am wrong, but:
1. USB dongle needs to be flashed with pixelnet firmware.
2. All LSP devices need to be set as pixelnet (not E1.31 or DMX) (This is because of the dongle,not the end device)
3. DMX Devices will use channels 1-512.
4. Pixelnet (SSC) will use channels 513-4096
Close. You don't have to start at 513 as the first 512 channels are outputing both Pixelnet and DMX. So you can start your Pixelnet controller at any number like I used 17 in my example above. In reality I leave a few channels between where my DMX devices end and my Pixelnet devices start in case I want to add a few more DMX devices. But I wouldn't want to waste a lot of channels by starting at 513 as I don't have enough DMX devices to fill all 512 channels.
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In the output configuration screen did you configure your Pixelnet/Smartstring output. The dongle must be plugged in and tell it the com port number. Also what is the com port number your dongle is using? I believe in needs to be 10 or less for LSP to like it.
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My com port is 3. And the ss work awesome. I've been testing them all week without any issues other than where I copied and pasted. Its when I want to add the dmx the issue starts. At that point, not only doesn't it work not even the pixels work either. It keeps trying to get me to configure again and again the dmx
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What settings do you have set up in the controller you are using as the dmx controller? It should be Pixelnet/Smartstrings not entec pro or some other choice. And you should only have Pixelnet/Smartstring as your only output type.
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I thought I was supposed to set the dmx controllers as dmx in the setup. I'm not sure if it is promting me to set them as dmx or pixel ( the 224 channels of dmx )
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So set lsp as pixel only and let the active hub determine what is dmx and pixel?
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No don't set them up as dmx in the LSP program. Use Pixelnet/Smartstrings setting. The active hub will generate the DMX for you. One dongle cannot do both pixelnet and DMX at the same time. The only time you could do it the way you are, is if you had 2 dongles. One flashed for pixelnet and one flashed for DMX.
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So set lsp as pixel only and let the active hub determine what is dmx and pixel?
Now you got it. The active hub will send out both dmx and pixelnet on the same channel range depending on where you have the dmx jumper set to. In position 1 it is the range of 1-512. So any DMX devices with start channels of 1-512 will work and also any Pixelnet devices in that range will also work. So technically if both your dmx and pixelnet started with channel one they would both be doing the same thing. So most people start dmx at channel 1 and their pixelnet somewhere after the end of their dmx channels.
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Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it alot.
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So set lsp as pixel only and let the active hub determine what is dmx and pixel?
Now you got it.