dongle issue

[sirloinofbeef001]

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.

[PJNMCT]

The etherdongle will do this but the usb dongle does not. It either does straight pixelnet or dmx but not both.

-Paul

[sirloinofbeef001]

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.

[Steve Gase]

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.

[tbone321]

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?   

[keitha43]

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.

[jnealand]

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.

[sirloinofbeef001]

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?

[jnealand]

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.

[rrowan]

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.

[tbone321]

This is what I thought and remembered.  I hope that whoever is developing the standalone Pixelnet to DMX converter gets that done soon. 

[PJNMCT]

...thats right, I forgot I needed the active hub as well to get the dmx portion.

-Paul

[aich75013]

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

[jnealand]

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.

[JonB256]

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.