Author Topic: 5 dsc's and only 4 ports from the Lynx I need to assemble  (Read 4989 times)

Offline arw01

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Therefore I surmise I need one of these.  Did a search in the store for the pCB and didn't happen to see it.  I have an active hub assembled, don't recall if there was a DMX out on that. 

Alan

Offline caretaker

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The Active Hub You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login has DMX out on it so you should be good to go.  Save yourself sometime and set your DMX channels from 1 through 512 then put your Dumb strings or Pixel channels from 513 to 4097  (I know you won't be suing that many....this year)
« Last Edit: October 29, 2013, by caretaker »
Jeff Squires
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Offline tbone321

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If you are using DSC's, you need a hub, not a splitter.  The DSC's need the power supplied from the hub.  The splitter doesn't supply power.  If by active hub you mean smart hub, then yes, it has a DMX uotput.
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Offline arw01

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Ok, so I get 2 from each Lynx and one from the active hub.  That get's me to 5 which matches my dsc controllers.  BUT then I remembered I have two Aether coming and that leaves me short again.

SOOO what piece do I need to split out the dmx to another 4 or 5 pieces for the aethers and some future devices like the bobcat servo to do something else with..

Offline tbone321

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You are really mixing up the apples and oranges here.  Don't confuse the DSC's with DMX equipment.  The DSC's and Hubs are PixelNet devices while the Aether's, LE's, and the bobcat servo controller are all DMX.  Lets talk about each device.

The hub comes in two flavors, active and passive.  The active hub runs from either a PC power supply or a 12V source.  It  has 16 Pixelnet output ports and one DMX converter and output.  The passive hub just has 16 Pixelnet outputs.  All of the Pixelnet outputs on both hubs supply 12V as well as the PixelNet data.  The hubs can daisychain with each other.

The DSC is a dumb string controller and is a PixelNet device.  It gets it's power from the hub and each controller requires a separate hub PixelNet port and do not daisychain.

The LE is a DMX 120V 16 channel DMX dimmer.  It has one DMX input and two DMX outputs and gets its power from a separate 120V plug.  One of the outputs is a simple daisychain output and the other is a regenerated output. 

The Aether is also a DMX device.  The original Aether is also a 120V device and gets its power from a separate 120V plug while the Aether II runs on around 17 VAC and gets its power from a landscape transformer.  Both Aether's have two DMX connectors and can daisychain.

The Servo Controller is also a DMX device and has two ports to allow it to daisychain. 

Basically, you also need something that generates the output signal.  If you are going to use DSC's, you need PixelNet output.  You can get this from either the ETD or the USB dongle flashed with PixelNet firmware.  If you are also intending to use LE's or Aether's, you will also need DMX output and can get that from either another USB dongle flashed with DMX firmware or an Active hub.  Since you will need a hub to use the DSC's anyway, I recommend a single output device flashed for Pixelnet and the Active Hub to supply your DMX output. 

With this configuration you can connect each of your DSC's to its own port on the hub.  The DMX output can be used to drive all of the DMX devices.  I would recommend making one of the LE's the first device connected to the DMX output of the hub.  Since it has 2 DMX outputs, it acts like a two way splitter.  From there, just connect the output of one DMX device into the input of the next which is daisychaining them.  Make sure that the terminator is set on the last DMX device in each chain and you are good to go.
If at first you don't succeed,
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Offline arw01

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Thank you for laying it out.  I never picked up that the DSC was pixel net, that will simplify my life immensely.

I have an active hub assembled, just waiting on a pixelnet dongle from another member which will let me get a couple of things up for testing and see how I want to mount some items.

The lynx will be close to the aether's so should be good.

I will check my landscape transformers, but I was thinking they are only 12v.

Offline tbone321

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They call them 12V but they are unregulated transformers and unloaded they can push 15 to 17V easy. 
If at first you don't succeed,
your not cut out for sky diving

Offline zwiller

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You are really mixing up the apples and oranges here.  Don't confuse the DSC's with DMX equipment.  The DSC's and Hubs are PixelNet devices while the Aether's, LE's, and the bobcat servo controller are all DMX.  Lets talk about each device.

The hub comes in two flavors, active and passive.  The active hub runs from either a PC power supply or a 12V source.  It  has 16 Pixelnet output ports and one DMX converter and output.  The passive hub just has 16 Pixelnet outputs.  All of the Pixelnet outputs on both hubs supply 12V as well as the PixelNet data.  The hubs can daisychain with each other.

The DSC is a dumb string controller and is a PixelNet device.  It gets it's power from the hub and each controller requires a separate hub PixelNet port and do not daisychain.

The LE is a DMX 120V 16 channel DMX dimmer.  It has one DMX input and two DMX outputs and gets its power from a separate 120V plug.  One of the outputs is a simple daisychain output and the other is a regenerated output. 

The Aether is also a DMX device.  The original Aether is also a 120V device and gets its power from a separate 120V plug while the Aether II runs on around 17 VAC and gets its power from a landscape transformer.  Both Aether's have two DMX connectors and can daisychain.

The Servo Controller is also a DMX device and has two ports to allow it to daisychain. 

Basically, you also need something that generates the output signal.  If you are going to use DSC's, you need PixelNet output.  You can get this from either the ETD or the USB dongle flashed with PixelNet firmware.  If you are also intending to use LE's or Aether's, you will also need DMX output and can get that from either another USB dongle flashed with DMX firmware or an Active hub.  Since you will need a hub to use the DSC's anyway, I recommend a single output device flashed for Pixelnet and the Active Hub to supply your DMX output. 

With this configuration you can connect each of your DSC's to its own port on the hub.  The DMX output can be used to drive all of the DMX devices.  I would recommend making one of the LE's the first device connected to the DMX output of the hub.  Since it has 2 DMX outputs, it acts like a two way splitter.  From there, just connect the output of one DMX device into the input of the next which is daisychaining them.  Make sure that the terminator is set on the last DMX device in each chain and you are good to go.

+1  Great post tbone!
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

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Offline tbone321

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Thank you, Sir
If at first you don't succeed,
your not cut out for sky diving