DiyLightAnimation

Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: zwiller on September 17, 2012,

Title: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 17, 2012,
I plan to have a symmetrical setup with about 5,500 channels and 2 hubs for both left and right side of house to eliminate long cable runs.  Each hub will be set to pixelnet universes 1 and 2 respectively.  I also plan to have dmx for the first 128 channels on both and will set dmx jumper for 1 on both hubs.  Am I correct that hub #1 will have 1-128 dmx and 129-4096 pixelnet channels and hub #2 will have 1-128 dmx (duplicate) and 4223-8192 pixelnet channels?  Kinda weird and a bit of work to setup at first but should make setup a bit easier.

Also, am I correct that I can only program ssc up to 4096 and my software (LSP) will assign correct channel/universe to it.  IE - channel 8192 will need to be programmed as 4096? 

Any other advice appreciated.  Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: Steve Gase on September 17, 2012,
you can select any "page" from the 4096 channels.  if you want the first page -- the 1st DMX universe in EACH hub, then you would have the following:


hub1:  pixelnet channels 1-4096  AND DMX channels 1-512 where pixelnet channels 1-512 and DMX 1-512 have the same channel operations.

hub2:  pixelnet channels 4097-8192  AND DMX channels 1-512 where pixelnet channels 4097-4608 and DMX 1-512 have the same channel operations.

if you do not have dmx devices with channel numbers 128 and above (or 4225 and above), there is nothing to take action on the dmx.
if you do not have pixelnet devices with channel number under 128 (or under 4225), there is nothing to take action on the pixelnet network.

Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 17, 2012,
Thanks Steve.  Good way to picture it.  "Page" being 1 of a total of 8 pages to a universe, right?   
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: Steve Gase on September 17, 2012,
8 pages (dmx universes) to a pixelnet universe.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: tbone321 on September 17, 2012,
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I plan to have a symmetrical setup with about 5,500 channels and 2 hubs for both left and right side of house to eliminate long cable runs.  Each hub will be set to pixelnet universes 1 and 2 respectively.  I also plan to have dmx for the first 128 channels on both and will set dmx jumper for 1 on both hubs.  Am I correct that hub #1 will have 1-128 dmx and 129-4096 pixelnet channels and hub #2 will have 1-128 dmx (duplicate) and 4223-8192 pixelnet channels?  Kinda weird and a bit of work to setup at first but should make setup a bit easier.

Also, am I correct that I can only program ssc up to 4096 and my software (LSP) will assign correct channel/universe to it.  IE - channel 8192 will need to be programmed as 4096? 

Any other advice appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

I can't speak for LSP but as far as the hubs go, no, you will not have duplicate DMX channels.  The selection for DMX refers to what portion of the selected Pixelnet universe you want it to convert to DMX.  In both cases, the hub will be converting the first 512 channels of the universe it is set too to DMX.  It is also important to note that even though the hub is converting channels to DMX, they are still being ouput as Pixelnet as well.  You are correct that Pixelnet can only be programmed to 4096 and each universe starts at 1 so channel 4097 in LSP is channel 1 Universe 2 in Pixelnet.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 18, 2012,
OK, let’s try again, shall we?   ;D

From an ETD I send pixelnet to an LE on the left side of house.  From this LE dmx outs are sent to:
1. pixelnet input on hub#1 and
2. to another LE on the right side of house via cat5.

From dmx out LE on right side of house I send to hub#2 set to universe 2. 

Would someone confirm this achieves what I set out for in OP?  1-128 DMX on both sides of house and remainder in pixelnet.  Actually I think this make mores sense than first idea.
Title: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: twooly on September 18, 2012,
Can't send pixelnet to le.  You'll need to go to the hubs first and use the dmx out on those to the le.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: rrowan on September 18, 2012,
Does this help with the basic layout?

Rick R.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: chrisatpsu on September 18, 2012,
If you want to keep all your DMX stuff in one universe...
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 18, 2012,
Thanks for drawing Rick and comments guys.

If I could go back to tbone's comments.  If Hub #2 in drawing was setup as universe 2 then the LE hooked up via dmx would be pixelnet channel 4097 or dmx universe 2 channel 1 NOT same dmx channels as the LE hooked up to hub as universe 1, right? 

If I wanted BOTH left and right LE's to be mirrored as channels dmx 1-16 I can just do away with dmx from Hub #2 and run another cat5 (dmx) between each LE, right?

Right now I am kinda torn between the best physical setup and the best controller setup in LSP.   
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 18, 2012,
Chris, didn't see the revised drawing when I was typing my post, but I think we're on the same page now. 
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: rrowan on September 18, 2012,
just a updated drawing
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: chrisatpsu on September 18, 2012,
The following comments are specifically for the drawing from Rick
in the drawing, we're assuming...

hub1 is on pixelnet uni #1
dmx is on DMX uni #1

hub2 is on pixelnet uni #2
dmx is on DMX uni #1

hub #1 is using channels 1-4096 (in your software)
dmx out from Hub#1 would be channels 1-512 (in your software)

hub #2 is using channels 4097 - 8192 (in your software)
dmx out from Hub#2 would be channels 4097-4608 (in your software)

and since DMX out from the hubs mirror one of the 8 blocks of channels of hub's channels. It's not possible to use the same channel number from hub #1 AND hub #2. (sonce one ends at 4096, and the other starts at 4097)

Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: rrowan on September 18, 2012,
something like this http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=ChannelChart

Rick R.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: tbone321 on September 18, 2012,
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Thanks for drawing Rick and comments guys.

If I could go back to tbone's comments.  If Hub #2 in drawing was setup as universe 2 then the LE hooked up via dmx would be pixelnet channel 4097 or dmx universe 2 channel 1 NOT same dmx channels as the LE hooked up to hub as universe 1, right? 

This is correct.

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If I wanted BOTH left and right LE's to be mirrored as channels dmx 1-16 I can just do away with dmx from Hub #2 and run another cat5 (dmx) between each LE, right?

Correct.

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Right now I am kinda torn between the best physical setup and the best controller setup in LSP.   

At least you still have some time to think about it.
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: zwiller on September 18, 2012,
Thanks again. I think I finally have it.  Maybe it's not conventional but I think this will work best for me. 

I don't know if it's been mentioned before but I think it's cool that once the ssc for an element is programmed you just need to plug it in to hub and not bother with finding corresponding channels on hub.  (provided software and/or universe is right)  Seems a lot easier than previous years of finding plug for channel 97 on the 7th LE labeled "1".    ;D
Title: Re: 2 universe rookie setup question
Post by: chrisatpsu on September 18, 2012,
correct, just remember in our demonstration with the picture, you can't move the ssc to a hub that's on a different pixelnet universe and expect it to act the same.

(example an ssc programmed for channel 100 on the first hub will be channel 100 in the software,
but it will be channel 4196 if you connect it to the other hub. [channel 100 + 4096 channels for being in the 2nd universe])