Splitter....

[MrChristmas2000]

Probably just as cheap as well by the time you look at all the other parts necessary and the design and development needed to make it work.

KISS.

[chrisatpsu]

it took Einstein to give the best solution   

[RJ]

It looks like the DMX splitter here is dead? (a component no longer available)

And you would be wrong! LOL

The redesign and beta is done on the SSR4 and Splitter and the coop manager is inline to start his and was just waiting for the SS coop to finish.

RJ

[DanHouston]

It looks like the DMX splitter here is dead? (a component no longer available)

And you would be wrong! LOL

The redesign and beta is done on the SSR4 and Splitter and the coop manager is inline to start his and was just waiting for the SS coop to finish.

RJ

I like to be wrong.

Will the splitter handle my situation? (split the 4 universes coming out of the etherdongole to 2 or more runs of those 4 universes)

[DanHouston]

The reason that RJ developed the DMX splitter is that you can't send the same DMX signal to two different locations using a hardwired splitter. You ould need a Quad DMX splitter (or 4 of the DLA DMX splitters with a special hardwired cable arrangement See attached drawing.

It's not DMX that is "split" - it's RS-485 and it is possible to passively split RS-485.  There are some limits to doing this but I've personally split a single RS-485 line coming from an Lynx Dongle over 90 different T drops, each with a non-repeating controller.  Of course there are limits and those revolve around termination, wire length, shielding, load, etc.  This is an excellent article on the subject:

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This may also help explain the difference between DMX and RS-485:
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Excellent articles. Thanks!

[RJ]

Well the DMx splitters only split a single pair of DMX so not really what your wanting to do. I think the best thing is to daisy from the first hub to the second and use the splitter on the hub. I hear rumors of a tech gifted member might be planning to come up with a true Pixelnet splitter but only he knows for sure and since It is not me, I am not sure either.

RJ

[MrChristmas2000]

I still would vote for the dual edongle solution because the router would do the splitting. It could even be wireless with a wireless access point next to it.

[Steve Gase]

So...  why wouldn't this work for short distances?

3 Way Female CAT5 Splitter
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Since they duplicate (split) all 4 pairs, and this works in other DMX installations -- why wouldn't this work just as well for 4-pair DMX -OR- Pixelnet coming out of the EtherDongle?


Yes, with long lengths of wire there will be fallout, but for a short 5-ft and another 100-ft length of cable it should be fine.

[rm357]

Trying to avoid the engineering technobabble, it all depends on how lucky you are... The split itself is going to introduce an "impedance mismatch" in the wire which will cause reflections of the signal and distortion. If you are lucky, it won't be a problem. If you are not lucky, you will get errors in the transmitted data. Since we use one way communication, there is no opportunity for corrections to the data errors...

If you want to dig deeper, you can explore transmission lines and smith charts. However, you don't need to know any of that stuff to have fun with blinky...

[DanHouston]

I still would vote for the dual edongle solution because the router would do the splitting. It could even be wireless with a wireless access point next to it.

Definitely a possibility.

[CW]

 <md..I have to ask a question, from the ET plug in to a nec switch and use that as a splitter?

[CW]

 <md..I have to ask a question, from the ET plug in to a nec switch and use that as a splitter?

[MrChristmas2000]

You could plug 2 ethernet dongles into a switch or router. Both dongles would receive the same communications and send the SAME DMX or Pixelnet data out of each of the respective e-dongles. It's kind of like 2 DMX devices with the same addresses responding identically.

[n1ist]

I have the basic design done for the pixelnet splitter.  I just sent the schematic and layout to RJ to get his opinions on it; if all is well, I will send off for some boards to test the design.

It is a 3-way splitter (one pixelnet in, 3 out) and fits in a TA200 case (the same one as RJ's DMX splitter).
/mike

[n1ist]

I just sent the boards out for fab; I should get the protos in a few weeks.  Of course, I already found a few minor issues in the silkscreen, but that's not a big problem.

/mike