DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx USB DMX Dongle => Topic started by: fyb2000 on September 18, 2012,
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I have been following as much as I could of all the threads, but I am still a little bit lost. I want to go one step at a time, and try to get something going, very small to start with.
I built a USB DMX Dongle and a Lynx express. Both seem to be functional but I would like to actually be able to get a test done that would confirm it or not.
I do have a few strings of smart LEDs available, but (my understanding) can't test with those without getting a SSC built per string.
I also have a projector that is DMX controllable, and here is my questions:
1/Can I connect the light directly to the Lynx USB DMX Dongle?
2/If yes, what cable should I build? (I have a male/female DMX cable and could recycle it to DMX/Ethernet if I knew how to connect the pins)
3/If no, and I need to connect the dongle to the Lynx express, how to I connect the light to the Lynx Express (so pretty much same than question 2 but from LE -> light). On the LE, there is 2 DMX out, which one would I use?
4/With the system as it is, other than the Smart String Controllers, what I am missing to control the Smart Strings?
The software side of things seems to be working fine. I was able to reprogram the firmware for the dongle without (much) problems. Vixen is seeing and 'talking' to it (after a few fumbles with a 'com3 access denied').
As far as the dongle is concerned, both LED (green and red) are on as soon as I plug the USB. The manual states that 'at least' the red LED should come on when connected, but I am not sure it means that the green one is 'either way'.
Thanks for any help, the cabling part is what I am the most concerned about right now, but any tips is most welcome
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See if this diagram helps to make any sense of what is needed
http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Image:NewDMXSetup1.jpg
The dmx projector, what type of connector does it have for dmx? I am guessing xlr plug
if so then take a look at the wiki page to make a cat5 to xlr cable.
http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Light-O-Rama_iDMX_Connections
It says LOR but don't worry about that
If you can control the LE from your computer, then don't worry about the led lights on the dongle.
I hope it helps some
Rick R.
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I have been following as much as I could of all the threads, but I am still a little bit lost. I want to go one step at a time, and try to get something going, very small to start with.
I built a USB DMX Dongle and a Lynx express. Both seem to be functional but I would like to actually be able to get a test done that would confirm it or not. I do have a few strings of smart LEDs available, but (my understanding) can't test with those without getting a SSC built per string.
I also have a projector that is DMX controllable, and here is my questions:
1/Can I connect the light directly to the Lynx USB DMX Dongle?
No. Smart strings require both power and the control signal. Even though the DMX dongle can be flashed for Pixelnet output, it doesn't supply the required 12V that the SmartStrings need.
3/If no, and I need to connect the dongle to the Lynx express, how to I connect the light to the Lynx Express (so pretty much same than question 2 but from LE -> light). On the LE, there is 2 DMX out, which one would I use?
You cannot connect Smart strings to the Express. The Express is an AC dimmer and only works with resistive loads such as conventinal incandecent and LED light strings. They are connected to the outputs below the big red heat sink. The DMX out connections are used to chain in other DMX devices usch as Aethers ot other Expresses.
4/With the system as it is, other than the Smart String Controllers, what I am missing to control the Smart Strings?
For smart strings you would need either a passive or active hub and a power supply for it. The hubbs supply the power along with the control signal required by SSC's. With what you have, you would probably need an active hub because it has DMX conversion and output capability requierd by your Express. The power supply can be a single rail PC supply. I would then reflash the dongle for Pixelnet putput which is required for the smart string controllers.
The software side of things seems to be working fine. I was able to reprogram the firmware for the dongle without (much) problems. Vixen is seeing and 'talking' to it (after a few fumbles with a 'com3 access denied').
As far as the dongle is concerned, both LED (green and red) are on as soon as I plug the USB. The manual states that 'at least' the red LED should come on when connected, but I am not sure it means that the green one is 'either way'.
Thanks for any help, the cabling part is what I am the most concerned about right now, but any tips is most welcome
I would not worry abou the lights on the dongle. Being lit is a good thing. The red light is power and the green light is data output.
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Thanks for the answers, that was fast, very awesome.
Rick,
Thank you for the cat5/xlr cable link. I had not found that page before and it will be very useful. Once I get that cable done, can I connect directly the light projector (DMX controllable) to the dongle, or do I have to put the the LE in between?
As far as controlling the LE from the computer, that I am still not sure it is 100% functional. I am trying my best :P
tbone,
That was my understanding, and I realized I was not very clear. I do not intend to test that part of the system (Dongle + LE) with the smart string, but with the DMX light projector. And I was not 100% sure where, and with what I was supposed to hook it to the system. I'll work on the cable that Rick provided above, but I will reach a point where I will have to figure out if I can connect it directly to the dongle, or if I need the LE in between.
Thanks for your quick responses, it is really awesome. You must have by now figured out, that I was a little bit lost.
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I have never used a dmx controlled projector, but my guess is that you need the dmx signal into the projector, and not trying to control the power on/off to the projector. If this is the case, you don't need the LE in the network at all, and need only get the dmx signal from dongle to projector's dmx input.
The LE is used to control AC power, with dimming capability, to an AC resistive device, like an incandescent light.
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If by DMX projector you mean that it understands DMX, then yes, you can connect it directly to the dongle. You may need to create a simple adapter to get the pinouts correct, but that's about it.
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Thank you for all the replies.
I went ahead and built the cable, connected the DMX light to the dongle and fired up Vixen. No cookie tonight :(
Either the cable is not wired correctly (pin 1 of the RJ45 to pin 3 of the DMX/XLR, pin 2 to pin 2) or my Dongle isn't as functional as I hoped it was (checked the program of the firmware several times, checked for shorts and obvious mistakes but haven't seen anything so far).
The Lynx DMX Dongle (v2.0) has a test pin header on the PCB. Anyone knows what I should be looking for when closing it?
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The test pins don't do anything. They were for a mod to the firmware that never came to be. If you havea functioning Express, connect a light to one of its outputs and test to make sure that the dongle is working.
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Hi tbone,
Thanks again for the reply. I will try to hook the LE to the dongle and see if that works. Now, as I am completely new to this, I just need one more piece of info. When you say 'connect a light to the LE' what kind of light are you talking about? I don't want to blow up my house ;)
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The "light" is just a regular christmas light string...and not a "smart string".
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Technically you don't even need the light if you just want to test the DMX connection from the Dongle to the LE. The green LED's on each of the LE channels will light up when that channel is activated by DMX. Of course attaching a light will also verify correct operation of the triac.
-Mike
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Thank you for all the answers. It looks as if my dongle is busted somehow. That green LED is only supposed to be ON when there is transmission but on mine it is always ON. I will double check everything again tonight, but if I don't find anything, I might just wait for the etherdingle from the last COOP.
The LE seems to be working fine. At least in test mode. It goes through all the test and the correct sequence is displayed on the green LEDs, as well as on any light connected to it. So that's a start :P
The 3rd led (dmx) on the LE doesn't go ON when I hooked it to the dongle. Just to be 100% sure, another obvious question: the cat 5 used to connect the dongle to the LE is a straight cat 5, not a cross over, correct?
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can you post pictures of the dongle pcb. Front and back. We have some eagle eye members that spot problems all of the time.
Rick R.
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trying, but pic might have been too big, and the forum doesn't let me post anything with attachments anymore.
hopefully this one will be small enough
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3 more to go
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2 more
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one more (this one). Thanks for looking. I am at a loss and don't have the tools to debug those kind of issues. I'll start over if need to be.
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trying, but pic might have been too big, and the forum doesn't let me post anything with attachments anymore.
hopefully this one will be small enough
In photo1, check that solder flowed through and good contact between leads of components and board contacts ... Some on top side of board look suspect, especially on the st485 chip socket. I cropped pic to show this joint in middle of image .... Oops just found out I cannot attach for some reason, maybe because on iPad. Any way, in your photo1, look at bottom left contact for the st485 chip.
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Thanks for pointing that out. I redid all the connections, but it is still behaving the same. I plug the USB in, and the red LED turns on immediately. One second into it, the green LED turns ON also, and stays ON.
If I plug the LE after the dongle, the 3 LED (DMX and working, it turns ON during the test session) stays OFF regardless if I am trying to send data or not.
I will start the project over, as soon as I receive a new dongle, or will wait for the etherdongle COOP to be delivered.
I'll try playing around with that one a little more, but I am running out of things I can test with the toolset I have available.
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Just took a look at your PCB, and it's hard to see from the photo, but isn't your RED LED at the top in backwards?
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I did check that a few times, and just did again after your message. The long leg was installed in the + hole, which is my understanding of where it should go?
I ordered the components through mousers, and enough for 2 kits. I just checked the green vs the red LED. For the green LED, the long leg is leading to the smaller metal chunk inside the LED itself. For the red one, the long leg is leading to the bigger metal chunk inside the LED itself. I am no expert, just reporting what I am seeing. I am sure it does make sense to someone. :P
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But compare the green LED to the Red LED, they should both be orientated the same way round. It's hard from the photo so I'm not 100% sure.
Can you take a close up photo of both the LEDs to be sure?
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If an LED is in backwards I don't think it will ever light. Since fyb2000 has indicated they both come on at some point, I suspect the polarity is correct.
-Mike
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I just checked the polarity against my working USB dongles and the polarity of the fby2000 LED's are correctly orientated.
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The green light simply shows that the dongle is sending a signal. The dongle IIRC, does send a string of zero's when not receiving data to keep dimmers and other devices from turning on during dark periods. Is the data light lighting up on the express as well? The first thing that I would look at is your Vixen configuration. If it is not sending data to the dongle, nothing is going to light up. As for LED polarity, if it is in bakwards it will not light up at all.
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The USB dongle with the DMX firmware will start transmitting data a few seconds after it is powered up. It is designed to continue transmitting the last data it received until new data arrives. On power up, it starts transmitting a full universe of zeros.
The green led will be flickering slightly as data is being transmitted. The easiest way for me to see it is to move or shake the dongle so that the green led looks like a line of light. you should see little breaks in the line if you are moving the dongle fast enough. Yeah that is the actual 1s and 0s being transmitted...
I would focus on either the LE or the program you are using to test it. There are numerous utilities that I would turn to before trying to load vixen or LSP - my favorite being the test utility built into xlights. The xlights setup is very strait forward and the test tab works great with lots of cool things to play with.
My next focus would be the LE. Make sure you have cycled through the address settings and are no longer on the least significant digit. The LE will not receive data in the test mode. Also, it is very easy to put the push button switches in backwards...
Good Luck!!
RM
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Wow. amazing responses. thank you all for spending time trying to help a complete newbie getting there.
I did check the LEDs in my spare kit, and this is just the way they are. the red and green internal structure (within the 'bulb') are just inverted. They are both ON when I connect the USB cable, so I suspect they are correctly oriented.
tbone321 and RM , thank you for that insight. The green light being ON seems to be part of what I should expect, and that is good news. I can move away from trying to figure out if this was a symptom of me building that board incorrectly.
RM, I will be doing some shaking as soon as I get home. Should I expect to see flickering even when the only transmission being done is a universe of zeros? (I will try it first with nothing connected at all, just the USB)
I have been using xlights on PC and on MAC, as well as vixen on PC to test the dongle so far.
tbone, the data light is not lighting up on the express. I am not sure if you are talking about the 3rd LED in the row of 16 (DMX) or the 3rd LED by the +5V and +3.3V. But neither of those ever lit up (except for the DMX one, during the test mode).
RM, is it a requirement to cycle trhough the addresses at least once after boot up? I usually don't touch that setting after I turn it on, and that might be one of my mistake. I usually push reset after running a test, and start transmitting from vixen or xlights right then.
Well that's it, going to go home and cut my workday short :P Really want to get that part done and working before going the next step.
Again, thanks a lot to all of you for the help. <res.
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Did you install the FTDI driver?
http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Software#FTDI_Driver_Software
Rick R.
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Yes, both on the pc and on the Mac. The USB board is seen by both systems.
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Sorry, replied from my phone while waiting at a light...
Yes the drivers have been installed. On the PC the board is showing up on com3. On the Mac, showing as /dev/cu.usbserial-DPFNBR5H
I have been doing the shaking. I cannot say I see any flickering, with or without a sequence being played.
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Yes, there should always be some ones and zeros present in the data stream, regardless of the actual data being transmitted. The sync pulse, break, and the start and stop bits for each word of channel data ensure that there is always some on/off activity on the data line, regardless of actual data values. Changing the data from all zeros to all 255s will change the apparent brightness of the led, but you need to do that for most of the channels to be able to see it.
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I had to pull one of my LEs out of the closet to remember this...
After running the test (TST), pressing the mode button again takes in into addressing mode for the 100s - the decimal point on the 100s digit should be lit. press again for 10s, then again for ones, then one more time to set the address. After a few seconds, your starting address should be showing with no lit decimal points. It is now in run mode and should accept channel data. If any of the decimal points are lit, I don't think the LE will do anything. Also, the start address cannot be 0.
The mistake I made on my first LE is that I was still in 1s programming mode and trying to get it work...
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If the attachment worked, this is a picture of me moving a usb dongle at high speed. This is just plugged into my computer with no software running. The small dark gaps are part of the sync pulse that DMX uses.
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Thanks RM,
I think you just removed the last doubt there was as far as if the dongle is outputting something or not. I went ahead and did the same than you and I attached the result. Looks good to me.
Going to have to go down the line now and investigate the LE, but not before running a few more test on the dongle.
By the way, once I launched the LE, after the welcome message, it settles to 001, with no decimal point. If I run the test, then yes, it does show the decimal point, but I usually just reset the board after a test, or launch xlights right after booting up the LE (and after the welcome message).
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I would have to pull my LE out to verify, but could you have the jumper in the remove for wireless position? Also, make sure you have the jumper on the terminate if you are only testing one LE.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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Doh!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I guess it was all working from the beginning, except for a serious brain fart on my end...
I read 'remove for wireless' on the board, but my brain stopped at 'remove'. I kept that jumper open (the terminate was closed as it should be), and kept testing a board that was expecting wireless communication while I was testing a wired connection...
Thank you to everyone for the time I made you waste :( Sorry about that.
Currently testing the Lynx Dongle, with the LE, controlled by a MAC through xlights. Houston, we have blinking...
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Again I want to thanks everyone in here for the help that you provided me with. I tried to mark the thread as 'solved' but I am not sure I can do that.
For all the ones that read this and are scoffing at my beginner mistake, my 15 years old daughter is extremely impressed. All the dads and moms out there know that it isn't an easy things to achieve. Well I got all of you to thanks for that rare occurrence...
With my next step being pixel net and smart strings, you guys might want to put me on your blocked list ;)
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We all started out that way. Don't feel bad. Before long, you'll be one of the helpers too!
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+1
Expert:
Ex - has been
Spurt - drip under pressure
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We are glad you are up and running. It is an amazing feeling when you get the dongle and an express working. Only feeling that might be better, is watching the smiles in people watching the lights. Congrats!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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I used the past few days to go one step further, and built an active HUB and 8 ssc v2 (currently I have 6 smart strings, so got a little ahead of myself...). I will be doing the mod for v3 on all the ssc tonight, eventhough I have not run into any trouble with the 2 I am currently using as test bed (I am expecting the 3 prongs connector from Ray in the next few weeks, and don't want to solder all of my strings directly on the ssc for the time being).
A couple of things I ran into:
-the PVC in the link on the equipment page is too small to accommodate a SSC v2. Not sure if it is because the walls on it (I bought the exact same model/manufacturer from the same store the link is pointing at) are too thick, but it looks like the pcb has a width of 1 1/8 inch and the PVC is 1 inch. Or it might be the link is not pointing to the correct model of PVC. Not really sure there.
-my biggest problem is I am using a MAC and all the software out there are PC only. I have been running bootcamp on my MAC, and I am able to run LSP and Vixen. LSP is a little bit more intuitive for me, but I am using the latest version available there (2.5) and stability is a huge problem. It locks quite often, is extremely slow and the result of my tests always look good in the preview but are really substandart when running on the lights themselves. I built a quick matrix with a 128 nodes SS, in 8 rows of 16 nodes. This is by far where the results are the worst in real tests. I'll investigate more Vixen, but the setting seems to be more finicky about the COM port used by my dongle. That works well with LSP but is more troubling with Vixen.
Has anyone used LSP 2.5 and found any similar issues?
I am aware that this is not the board where this message should go. But you guys have been so fantastic helping with my first steps, that I didn't want you to think that your hard work was not appreciated and making a difference.
I did a test last night and connected all the different elements I have built so far (all pixelnet flashed when applicable). I ended up with a USB dongle connected to an active HUB. The LE was daisychained to the HUB and all the 16 channels were hooked. The HUB also had 2 SSC v2 hooked to it, each controlling a 128 nodes SS. I know this is a small setup for everyone out there, but for me, this is huge as a week ago I had nothing ;)
I was able to control each element of the system, and played around with it without any major issues. Now if I only could settle on the software side and get one that is reliable for my system that would be great. Trying to do a 30 seconds transition in LSP for one string took more than 20 minutes of computation, and I was watching the CPUs activities at the time, neither of them got above 20%...
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Check out xLights to run your show. I believe there is a mac version for it.
xLights can run shows from LSP, Vixen and other programs.
Rick R.
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For high channel counts usb dongles don't perform as well as an etherdongle also
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.
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I have xlights also, and have been using it on both MAC and PC. But, as I am starting from scratch, I do have to do some sequences first in order to use the scheduler from xlights. That is pretty much where my biggest problem is. I love the testing abilities of xlights, a lot more straightforward than the one in LSP, and faster to get at than vixen.
I am waiting for the COOP of the etherdongle to be delivered to switch the whole thing to etherdongle. I have not run into any issues as far as COM ports or drivers are concerned with the USB dongle, but, as you are pointing out, the performance of the etherdongle might be better. What do you qualify as a 'high channel count'?
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I started seeing problems last year and had between 3000-4000 channels. This year I have an etherdongle and with luck a conductor.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.
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I have never used a Mac for LSP. I can imagine that the PC emulator can't have full functionality of Windows though. LSP uses .net 4.0 as well. Is there a version of that installed for the windows emulator you are using?
For the SSC's, if you go with 1" PVC you need the low pressure stuff as it has thinner walls. Sounds like you have sch 40. Or you can go with 1 1/4 sch 40 as well.
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When you run your MAC using bootcamp, the hardware is actually behaving and compatible with any PC out there. It does even perform a little bit better. Yes all the drivers and libraries are 'stock' software that you download and install the same way than you would on a 'real' PC.
Someone had the good idea to change the link in the equipment page for the PVC. The one that used to be there was for the sch40 and I bought the product that was listed at the time, using the product number showed on that page. Not a big deal, I am just glad that the mistake has been corrected. The store it is linking to, allows for checking the inventory of your local one, before going there. You can even get them to set it aside and pick it up. Should make it very convenient for anyone in the hunt for that particular model (200psi)
edit: I actually went to another store that is closer to my home, and that also gives inventory online. They were listing having 360 of those in the store I went to. So at least lowes has them and home depot has them. As far as this particular product is concerned, my local store has them listed has discontinued product. Might want to check fast.
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When you run your MAC using bootcamp, the hardware is actually behaving and compatible with any PC out there. It does even perform a little bit better. Yes all the drivers and libraries are 'stock' software that you download and install the same way than you would on a 'real' PC.
Someone had the good idea to change the link in the equipment page for the PVC. The one that used to be there was for the sch40 and I bought the product that was listed at the time, using the product number showed on that page. Not a big deal, I am just glad that the product is not the correct one. The store it is linking to, allows for checking the inventory of your local one, before going there. You can even get them to set it aside and pick it up. Should make it very convenient for anyone in the hunt for that particular model (200psi)
I have no idea why you say the link to Lowes shows the wrong pipe. I have checked the link many times and it show exactly what it should be. It shows a 1" pvc schedule 20 pipe. The link has not changed since Chris added it, I did add the larger schedule 40 1 1/4 pipe for folks that can't get the schedule 20 pipe.
Rick R.
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The first time I went to the store, I actually had my phone on that page. It was about 10 days ago. I checked and double checked with a clerk that the product I was buying was the same that was on that page, using the SKU number that was listed there at the time. It was for a sch40. When I checked the page this morning, it was pointing to another product within the same store (Lowe's). And now, I do see your addition of the 1 1/4 size one. As I said before, it's really no big deal, and I can confirm that the current link is correct has I bought some of that SKU number myself less than an hour ago. Checked the size and enclosed one of my SSC since then. Without any problem.