Beta-Portable Wired/Wireless DMX Tester (See first post for specs and features)

[batdive]

Looks cool.   

[PJNMCT]

Simple mods it looks like. Can't wait!   

-Paul

[loveroflife96]

It'll be like Christmas in April/May hopefully!  A new gadget!

[dlhoppe]

By the way, I tested the low battery indicator quite thoroughly. It gives plenty of headroom between the indicator coming on and the controller acting up. In wireless mode, it just quits. In wired mode it'll produce an interesting light show on it's own when you get to the point where the DMX signal starts falling apart. So if you see strange behavior from the controller, check the low battery indicator. I made it so it will flash (third decimal point) so it should be easy to notice.

Battery life shouldn't be too much of an issue with the 4 AA's. A good set of rechargables (2400mA) should give about 24 hours of on-time in wireless mode, and about 40 hours in wired mode. I did my best to make it as efficient as possible.

[RogerA]

Looks like you are close to wrapping up a great design.
Does it make any sense to talk about PixelNet?
Could the current PixelNet receivers handle a short frame (512 values) with 171 data filter at slow clock rate?
Just asking.
Now everybody can get mad cuz they cant wait to get their hands one of these test boxes.

[dlhoppe]

Good question. I would think RJ has some ideas for that.

This DMX tester design was really his idea anyway. I just stole it and ran with it.   

[RogerA]

I'm in the coop for a dongle and smart hub so PixelNet testing is in my future but do not have practical experience with microcontrollers. Do you use a buffer with an index to output your data stream like the app note or do you just have a few buffers that hold the current data? BTW I looked at the TX device that RJ has listed and it is quite small, uses 3.3V and has an SPI interface which is supported by your micro. Can you take advantage of that and just put the little transmitter board on a small motherboard to both form the counterpoise for the antenna and support the interface connector? It would seem that such a small device might actually be interfaced to the test box through an RJ45 connector. The pins 1 and 2 would be used in the hardwired connection and would not be used in wireless mode. Pins 7 and 8 could be the 3.3volts and ground for power to the device and four pins remain for carrying the data and controls for the SPI interface. So for a hardwire link just use a short cat5 jumper that only uses pins 1 and 2. For the wireless link plug in the little TX board with its male RJ45 that uses all pins except 1 and 2. By a quick swap, you change from wired to wireless and just keep the TX dongle stored in a safe place when not in use. One problem though is that with the UART (old terminology) you get time to do things while it is processing a block of data but I don't know if that is possible with the SPI port. Maybe providing a clock and the uart data to the device will get you there. Just don't know enough about the protocol.  I also noticed that the TX only supports up to 250KHz so it would not work for PixelNet.

[RJ]

Roger,

 Please PM him on this. This is techincal in nature and really does not fit in the DLA intent of keep things non techincal on the forums. I am sure he will be more than happy to discuss it with you that way.

RJ

[n1ist]

We haven't looked into supporting Pixelnet yet.   As for wireless, yes, that's planned in the current version and has been prototyped and tested.  There are no jumpers to play with; it's all controlled from a front-panel switch.

I'm hoping the boards will be here this week for more testing.
/mike

[gforman]

Thanks for the update

 

[dlhoppe]

Quick update.

Mike just got word that the prototype PCBs were delayed. Looks like another couple of weeks, give or take.

[dlhoppe]

Just assembled the first of my Express kits. Went very well. I must say I never really gave this scenario much thought as a good use for the tester. It was ultra convenient to just plug in the tester and put the Express through it's paces to verify the build. No need to be near a computer with a dongle to test. Nice! Can't wait to release this to the coop managers for everyone. Hopefully soon...


Dave

[n1ist]

Just got word that the proto PCBs have shipped and should be here this coming week.
/mike

[inzeos]

Just got word that the proto PCBs have shipped and should be here this coming week.
/mike

Nice, looking forward to building one of these

[n1ist]

Of course, just when I get tired of waiting and order a set from a US board house, the ones from China finally ship...

I have loaded one, but haven't  had a chance to test it.
/mike