Devices

[spider236]

why does  512 channels on a dongel = 32 devices? i dont understand that. what kind of devices?

[rrowan]

You are confusing different things

A dmx universe is 512 channels

32 devices on one line is limit of the old rs-485 chip
once you put a splitter or wireless there is no max 32 devices on one line

Devices like LE, Freestyle, SSR4-DMX, etc - Controllers

Hope that is clear as mud

Cheers

Rick R.

[spider236]

so youre saying i can daisy chain? is there a limit to that, ie power draw, or is each add on independent of the others though theyre linked?

am i babbling?

[rrowan]

Yes dmx Lynx controllers are and can be daisy chain together with cat5 cable.

but if you use LE output DMX2 or wireless than there is no real limit on the devices

see if this example diagram helps or not You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Rick R.

[spider236]

tnx. i looked at that diagram earlier. maybe im over thinking this, but how can daisy chains be limitless? i thought usb was limited to 128 devices.

[rrowan]

tnx. i looked at that diagram earlier. maybe im over thinking this, but how can daisy chains be limitless? i thought usb was limited to 128 devices.

The only usb device is the dongle, after that its all DMX with cat5 cable

one example

Computer - USB cable - Lynx Dongle - Cat5 - LE(device1) - Cat5 - LE(Device2) - Cat5 - LE(Device3) .................

Rick R.

[RJ]

Your getting a few things mixed together.

First you have usb and this runs from your computer to the DMX dongle and that is the end of the usb.

Then out of the dongle comes DMX to your equipment. The limit on length of this is about 4000 ft. but when you get to the first device (express, SSR4/w dmx, ect.) you plug it in and then to hook another device up you need to daisy chain this. So you hook a cable from the first to the second.

Now if you keep doing this with out any kind of regeneration of you dmx signal the rule is no more than 32 devices and around 4000ft. But if we go through 31 devices and 3900 ft and then regenerate the signal then you can do another 32 devices and 4000 ft more. So you can on and on like the energizer bunny.

In the Expresses are two DMX outputs   "DMX OUT" and "DMX OUT2" the DMX out2 is a regenerated DMX signal so it is always good for 32 more devices and 4000ft.

Now real world I would not go 32 nor would I run any where near 4000ft before I regenerated the signal but you get the idea. I would stay to maybe 25 devices and 2500 ft and we know we are good.

RJ

[spider236]

ok. tnx. the regenerated signal makes sense. i didnt realize it would do that. cool. 

[spider236]

You mention 4000 feet as a maximum length, but UTP is limited to about 300 feet. So does that mean that all the devices in the run are active devices? You specifically mentioned the Express as active. Are the other devices active as well? If not, wouldn't that limit the run length if they were included in the run?

[RJ]

UTP is Untwisted Pair and is the cable. There is no limit on the length a cable can be.

The limit has to do with the Communication protocol that travels on it. You are thinking I believe of ethernet which is 300 ft ..

On the other hand Rs485 that we use is 4000 ft.

The Express and PixelNet hub have splitters that regenerates the signal built in.

Other Lynx equipment have just non active passthrough. But the Lynx Splitter is a multi splitter that regenerates all of the outputs except the original input.

See the Equipment page on the wiki for additional info.
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RJ
 

[tbone321]

UTP is Untwisted Pair and is the cable. There is no limit on the length a cable can be.

I believe that UTP means Unshielded Twisted Pair  

[RJ]

UTP is Untwisted Pair and is the cable. There is no limit on the length a cable can be.

I believe that UTP means Unshielded Twisted Pair  

Thanks for the correction it was a mistype I meant Unsheilded twisted not untwisted of course.

RJ

[tbone321]

LOL, you are welcome.   With all of the great things that you have designed and built for us here I have no doubt that you know what UTP cable is and that it was just a typo on your part but there are many in here that may not and the correction was for them so that they don't get confused on what cable that they need, especially this far into the decorating season.

[spider236]

Thanks to everyone for the input. The learning curve is beginning to straighten out a little.  

PS - Some of the Dongle parts have arrived, so i'm hoping that soon i will have some working  equipment to try out.