more than 4 universes

[travailen]

I am using LSP and I am running an Etherdongle programmed with PixelNet. I have used up all 4 universes and still need more channels. I have a few questions

I saw that earlier this year RJ wrote software for the ED for universes 5-8 and 9-12. Is that software good? I do not see it on the Viki. I assume that if I programmed a second ED for the 5-8 universes then plugged it on to my router with the first ED I would have 8 universes available. That would be enough for my needs

I hope to use the conductor to run my show. So, could I load the first 4 universes into the conductor then the rest of the show into a slave and expect the slave to stay synced with the Conductor thus running a complete show.

Is anybody running more than 4 universes? If so, please share your setup.

Any opinionions on how to solve my problem would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick S

[tbone321]

If you are using slave units, you don't need the added firmware.  Although currently this is much easier said than done, all you need to do is put the first 4 universes worth of data on the Etherdongle and the second 4 universes on the slave unit.  The conductor will control and sync the slave unit.  Now how you do this is the difficult part.  I would hope and expect that in the future, the converters would be able to do this but in the mean tile, you would have to split your show and save each half seperatly.  Then load the first half with the music into the conductor and the second half into the slave unit.  Now that I'm thinking about it, that really is the only way to do it if you plan on using the Conductor since the Conductor can only hold 4 universes itself. 

[jeffcoast]

RJ posted this thread testing firmware for more universes. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[travailen]

If you are using slave units, you don't need the added firmware.  Although currently this is much easier said than done, all you need to do is put the first 4 universes worth of data on the Etherdongle and the second 4 universes on the slave unit.  The conductor will control and sync the slave unit.  Now how you do this is the difficult part.  I would hope and expect that in the future, the converters would be able to do this but in the mean tile, you would have to split your show and save each half seperatly.  Then load the first half with the music into the conductor and the second half into the slave unit.  Now that I'm thinking about it, that really is the only way to do it if you plan on using the Conductor since the Conductor can only hold 4 universes itself.

Does the ED running the slave need to be loaded with the software for universes 5-8?

[rrowan]

Does the ED running the slave need to be loaded with the software for universes 5-8?

that older firmware was just for the etherdongle. It won't use the slave if you load that firmware.

Once its released you will just need the slave firmware

Rick R.

[chrisatpsu]

your conductor will operate with 16384 channels....
and will control the 4 pixelnet universes connected to it.

each slave will operate with 16384 channels...
and will control the 4 pixlenet universes connected to it.

you don't have to worry about which E.1.31 universes they respond to...  they don't respond to any.

they only use the home network to synch between each other (Etd - > slave{s})

you can design a show will 20,000 channels, and assign the first 16,384 to the conductor (channels 1-16384)
you can set the slave to operate with the last 16384 channels (3617-20000)

you just set the channels with what part of the sequence you place on the card.

now...

if you're NOT using the Conductor/Slave (meaning, your show is being run from a computer)
and you have more than 16384 channels, you would need firmware to make the EtherDongle to respond to those other channels
you could use the test firmware if you need to operate now, but it's not supported.

[tbone321]

If you are using slave units, you don't need the added firmware.  Although currently this is much easier said than done, all you need to do is put the first 4 universes worth of data on the Etherdongle and the second 4 universes on the slave unit.  The conductor will control and sync the slave unit.  Now how you do this is the difficult part.  I would hope and expect that in the future, the converters would be able to do this but in the mean tile, you would have to split your show and save each half seperatly.  Then load the first half with the music into the conductor and the second half into the slave unit.  Now that I'm thinking about it, that really is the only way to do it if you plan on using the Conductor since the Conductor can only hold 4 universes itself.

Does the ED running the slave need to be loaded with the software for universes 5-8?

NOPE, and that't the great thing about them.  They don't know or care what the slaves have on them.  All they do is tell them what show they are running, when to start, and a heatbeat  timing signal.  As long as they have the correct show, they ae good to go and since each one has its own light hookups, they are each on their own universe even if they are all running the same show.

[travailen]

Thanks for all the help. I have been trying to decide if I should push myself for the mega tree this year. After all the great help, I have decided yes. The main show will run on the conductor. The mega tree and only the mega tree will run on the slave.  That way, if I have problems getting the slave to work, it will not affect my main show.

Thanks Again,

Rick s

[rdebolt]

Not sure how many channels over you are, but you can use the channel grouping to lower channel count. Just a thought.