Author Topic: LOR DMX Network  (Read 11060 times)

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2012, »
that's funny, Frank, because that's where I'm at.  All the E1.31 is in zone 3, but do I sequentially number all universes?  In other words, if I start at Channel #1 on my first E1.31 controller (zone 3), go up 420 channels (140pixels), does the next controller start at 421 and keep going up until I reach the top of 12 universes?

Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2012, »
yes exactly.  With e1.31 just number your circuits 1-16,000 or whatever the top number is.  Whether using LSP or  xLights to playback this is the right way to number e1.31 channels.

Frank

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2012, »
well the matrix by itself in LSP maps fine with Light Elf, at least I have a nice scrolling output, this was all on zone 1 with the 1st line in my xlights of an E1.31 multicast, so it all started on 2.  (Matrix3)

When I add the matrix to the LOR/DMX files and zone out LOR as zone1, DMX as zone2, and E1.31 matrix as zone 3, only the 1st universe seems to work on the matrix... near the end universe 11 and 12 will flash.

If I could decipher the xseq I'd already have this solved, but it's binary or something.   :-\

Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2012, »
Well here is the file format:

512 bytes -- Header
1byte for everyperiod on channel 1
1byte for everyperiod on channel 2
1byte for everyperiod on channel 3
.
.
.
1byte for everyperiod on channel n

I use a hex file reader and an excel spreadsheet to see where data ends up.  using that you can do things like turn on channel x at time 0 and make sure it ends up where you expect.

.


Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2012, »
I want to walk you through this mapping to see if it helps.

I opened your screenshot of the xlights network configuration. based on that this is what lightelf will do.  Remember that the layout of an xseq file can be thought of as a collection of x channels where each channel has y events (an event is a 50ms time period with the value that channel will hold for that time).

so based on your network items in zone 1 in LSP will be mapped to channels starting at channel 1.  For this you should have no LOR units greater than unit 5.

Items in zone 2 will be in xlights channel = defined LSP circuit + 80

Items in zone 3 will be mapped into xlights channel = defined LSP Circuit + 499

All the e1.31 universes should be in zone 1 so a e1.31 channel of 421 should be placed into xlights channel 920.

Any of that make sense?

Frank

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2012, »
the channels build up.  yeah I can see that.  I'll look at the log files and try to figure it out.  Since the matrix will work fine when I don't have LOR/DMX in there, I must be sending data out on another network. 

« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, by garyh »

Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2012, »
it is about what 'logical' channel it is in your sequence. LOR is 80 channels so the first channel in the DMX realm is logical channel 81.  From the screen shot you sent the first logical channel of e1.31 is logical channel 500.

so in LSP you treat e1.31 universe 1 channel 1 as circuit 1 that represents logical channel 500.

If you are programming your DMX channels as channel 81 in LSP then you are making a mistake there.  they should start as channel 1.

Is there a reason you started your e1.31 universes at 2 instead of 1?

LSP ChannelZonelogical (Vixen) channel
111
1281
13500
4203920

If on the otherhand you are numbering your channels in LSP assuming that the DMX channels are just universe 1 such that you start universe two as channel 419 then you just need to switch controllers in zone 3 back to zone 2. Otherwise we are pushing some of the data out of range.

One thing to do to test is to do a simple alternating pattern of off/on/off/on in a boundary channel (what you think is the first channel in given network) knowing which channel actually lights when you do that can help us narrow in on what we are missing.

Frank

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2012, »
Frank I guess where I'm losing it is I am doing the LOR and DMX in LSP the way described as incorrect for a few years now, manually edit the file and put "network=1" on all DMX channels.  I have Lynx Express boards that start at channel 81 and the entire thing is running right now on the show computer. 

The E1.31 is new, and I have a 1680 pixel matrix I'm trying to add in.  So based on what you said about zones earlier, all the LOR became Zone 1, DMX Zone 2, and E1.31 Zone 3.  I think what I'm gonna do is put all the E1.31 on Zone1, setup the ECG-P12R to start at Universe 1, then put in the LOR/DMX after all the E1.31 stuff in the xlights network file.  The matrix is a fixed channel scheme, but the DMX I use has some items at 81 and goes up to 130 then a gap up to 300.  In the past, xlights didn't seem to care if I didn't use any channels before 81, slap network="1" in there and out it went to DMX channel 81.

Maybe I got by since my non-network was zero (LOR) and my DMX was network 1.

I guess what's so confusing is the LOR S2 file from LSP with a few manual edits works fine and I'm not starting the DMX addy at channel 1.  Maybe that's a difference in the xlights versions?
« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, by garyh »

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2012, »
So you're saying renumber the DMX starting from channel 1.  So on my first lynx express on the actual controller am I setting it for DMX 1, or am I setting it for DMX channel 81 (since I use 80 channels of LOR on the network above my DMX as defined in xlights config)?  Since I have gaps in my DMX range I could have problems it sounds like. 

I've never worried about the logical channels, but I'm guessing that's my problem...

So let's make it easy for me so I can work through this.  I go into xlights config, place Universes 1 - 12 in with 420 channels each (140 pixels on each universe).  I go in to LSP, change all those to Zone 1 (they should already be Zone 1).  Then I add my LOR USB dongle at the bottom, last channel is 80.  Then I add my DMX USB dongle which has gaps and goes to DMX Channel 406.  I"m guessing that won't work?
« Last Edit: December 14, 2012, by garyh »

Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2012, »
Hi Gary,

So I finally had a chance to open up the sequence and look at it to see how you are numbered.  You should not have to do massive channel changes in LSP to make this work we just have to figure out the proper mapping.

Your LOR is working fine so I would not mess with that.  The DMX from what I see should work if it is in Zone 1. Now with the matrix it matters how your controllers are configured. I do not know the controllers you are using but if you use the xlights test tool and pixel 1 on your matrix turns on when you turn on the channel in the xlights tester then the matrix should work fine on zone 3.

when we had DMX in zone2 we were adding 80 to each channel number. so channel 81 would have been 161 on the wire which was not what we wanted.


Can you verify the matrix works as expected with xlights tester and get back to me?

Frank

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2012, »
Frank, found some errors on my part in E1.31 mapping that caused the matrix to put things in the wrong rows. 

Probably the biggest problem is I split my ECG-P12R into 12 separate controllers and replacing those 12 with one 5040 channel monster in zone 3 got all of that working.

The LOR like you said never has a problem, but on the DMX side I was still dead even though the xlights tester lit up Arch segment Ch 81 fine, but DMX never went out during sequence play.  The fact the xlights tester does Net#2 DMX channel 81 fine, and also the RGB Aether 2 on 400 to 402 channels, but the sequence doesn't output DMX playing a sequence is a mystery still.

So the "DMX is 80 channels off on the wire" got me to thinking about the ONLY problem I really have is DMX never maps correctly with my setup.  So I put my DMX first in the xlights setup with 406 channels, then I listed the LOR, then all the E1.31.  DMX is set for Zone 1, LOR is set for Zone 2 (it never maps wrong), and E1.31 is Zone 3.

I just tested it and DMX, LOR, and the matrix worked fine.  Perhaps it's the fact I'm starting my DMX at channel 81 instead of channel 1 that's throwing it off, but with the coroflake devices and reprogramming them all would be a lot of work once I got them off the house.

Now to throw another sequence in and see what happens.  I'd like to understand why LOR listed first with DMX second doesn't work, but when I reverse them and rezone them accordingly it works?.  I attached a screenshot of the working xlights config.

Frank, I can attach the working and non-working xseqs if you want...  I'm guessing it's the DMX 81 channel start?
« Last Edit: December 15, 2012, by garyh »

Offline JonB256

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2012, »
I don't set any of my Universes with anything other than 512 as the last channel. I see so many screen shots with them at custom values but I don't see the reason.

Is there one?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2012, »
I guess the answer would be dependent on whether Light Elf uses the LSP E1.31 output configuration or xlights channels. 

Since my 12 universes of E1.31 are for a matrix, each universe has exactly 140 pixels which is 420 channels.

Frank would have the answer  :)

Offline frankr

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #28 on: December 15, 2012, »
It comes down to what you chose to do as teh designer.  Since Gary is using sequential channels this setup works great.  Each universe starts in the right spot.  If you go the other route than you need to change channel 421 in LSP to be channel 513 and 841 would be 1025.  By setting max channel to a custom value you can ignore that mapping and just number the channels sequentially.

Light elf and xLights know nothing about how LSP is setup. We are simply workign from the information in the sequence and the information in the xLights_network file. If you configure xLights to send channels 20-100 out as 80 channels of LOR we blindly will do it...

The first DMX controller is it configured to read channel 81 or is it configured to read channel 1?

Frank

PS: Very happy to hear it is working! I am glad we at least have a solution now.

Offline garyh

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Re: LOR DMX Network
« Reply #29 on: December 15, 2012, »
1st DMX controller is set for channel 81.  That's all because I've tried a few years in a row now to get LOR boards over to DMX.  Unit 3 does not like DMX from what I can tell--doesn't want to do the megatree spins under DMX but works fine with LOR.  The boards are 6 to 8 years old so that's probably the issue.

Frank you are pure genius.  As I went through all of this troubleshooting, I got a good idea of the complexity of Light Elf.  Personally, I think the display visually looks better using the xseq files versus the LOR S2 files I've been using for 20 days now--better timing.

The log files for Light Elf say a lot once you understand what they are trying to tell you.  Maybe a tutorial on that would be good?

Thanks again Frank, you've got the display and matrix working and I was near failure...  Merry Christmas!