Custom Channel Number

[soakes94]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could tell me how easy this would be to pull off. I have lots of different custom made lights, some are 3 Channel RGB, some are 4 Channel RGB+A, some are 5 channel, RGB+White+UV and some are 6 Channel Strings RGB+RGB. How easy would it be to have a controller for each of these lights and not waste channels? Because just now I'm using a ren48lsd with DMX firmware running these and while it works it means everything has to run back to the same place and I cant use the RJ45 ports are they waste channels in some area's or cant support enough channels per port.

So really what I'm looking for is a schematic and some firmware that I can modify each time to suit each controllers need. So maybe for example using a Ren48LSD design but have the pic only read the channel I specify because the DMX code for that pic eats the channels if that makes sense. I dont mind if the PIC could support 8 channels, but I only want the firmware to listen to the first 4 channels if that makes sense.

I'm really just after a seperate controller for each fixture that I can program to only listen to a set number of channels. Just brainstorming outloud here but maybe something like an 8 channel DMX board that you can program the firmware and tell it that its Start Address is 12 and its end address is 15. But I could change that if I changed the light so it could then support channel 21 to channel 25 if that all makes sense. Also if the firmware didnt eat the channel when it used it that would be great so no matter what order I plug my controllers in they always react to the channel I assigned them, if that makes sense.

Any ideas would be great or links or things to read, I have no expereince in programming pics but I'm not affraid to learn haha.

Stephen

[tbone321]

I can't speak for Ren's implementation of DMX but the Lynks controllers don't "eat" DMX channels.  In a true implementation of DMX, you can have muliple controllers assigned to the same or overlapping channels and all of the controllers will receive all of the channel commands regardless of the channel that they are assigned to.  As for schematics and firmware, RJ doesn't release either the schematics or the source code for the firmware.  If you want to to that route, you might want to stick with Renard.

[RJ]

Because Renards were designed to work that way with the native protocol my understanding is it is a hang over of the nature in the their version of DMX. You would need to modify the renard firmware to try and make it work different.

This will function in the Lynx stuff only because they were designed to be native DMX devices. No modification is needed for them to function this way and it is how we all do it. I normally leave one extra channel per device unused in case of a channel failure I can just use the extra but I have only had to do this once.

RJ

[budude]

I don't think there's anything that will specifically address your requirements. The Ren48LSD was designed for RGB+W devices and there's no way to skip channels internally - but this is true for most controllers whether Renard or Lynx. You could choose to not use the RJ45's and wire directly to the board instead. Another option - and one I used for some LED strips was to get an RJ45 punchout block - wire directly to the board but configure the RJ45's in any configuration you wish and run straight Cat5 patch cables out to your devices.

If you are interested, there is Renard/DMX code available that supports just 4-channels and it's possible it could be configured for 3 as well. It's very easy to get around the Renard "channel eating" process by going with a THRU connection. This would make it operate just like any other DMX device and allow overlapping addresses, etc. I'd suggest that you move that discussion back to DIYC however if you want to go that route. There are several code examples for other microcontrollers that support DMX as well.

[soakes94]

Thanks for all your info, I through together a breadboard using a PIC16F688 and the DMX code and so far its all working. I still need to fully test my DMX pass but in theory it should work.

[budude]

Thanks for all your info, I through together a breadboard using a PIC16F688 and the DMX code and so far its all working. I still need to fully test my DMX pass but in theory it should work.

I have this on the Ren4Flood if you are interested.

[soakes94]

I have this on the Ren4Flood if you are interested.
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Do you have a link to info on the Ren4Flood? I had a look about the DIYC wiki but couldnt see anything about it