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chuddy117

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  1. chuddy117
    Tried PM'ing you but it says you cannot receive messages....
  2. chuddy117
    It's been over a week but I've finally straightened out my issues, and thought I would offer my solution for posterity. I grabbed a DMX splitter/amplifier and put it AFTER the 15th decoder to try and boost the signal to the last 3 decoders, no change. I then ran DMX XLR3 (with an XLR3->XLR5 adapter on the ES side) out to my first decoder, then ran an XLR3 from port 1 of my 8 port splitter into the 10th decoder. Still no change. Then I thought maybe my actual LED lighting was bad so I disconnected the load, connected two short wires to COM and Channel 1 on the decoder only to find out the decoder was indeed outputting erratic voltage. Finally (and this is what fixed it), I ran port 1 of the splitter into the LAST decoder (handling the problematic lighting), and I am now getting clean voltage. For some reason, that 18th decoder (which I've swapped several times with other decoders) needs a dedicated connection from the splitter. The other 17 loads are daisy chained via cat5 and they all work perfectly. Thanks for everyone's help, off to add more decoders!
  3. chuddy117
    That is the first decoder, there's nothing coming out of the last encoder (although I've tried the XLR3 terminator without any change in behavior).
  4. chuddy117
    Ah, yes that blue cable is going out to the DMX engine about 25ft away.
  5. chuddy117
    Can you clarify what you mean by remote unit? The only remote unit is the ES DMX engine back in my server closet. I have tried installing a 3-pin DMX terminator on the last decoder but that didn't help. And actually, if I'm using cat5 for daisy chains, are the XLR's even "active"? Or do I need a cat5 DMX terminator?
  6. chuddy117
    Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I'd rather not trash all my decoders (have a lot of money invested), is it possible to simply use another Engineering Solutions DMX engine for another bank of decoders?
  7. chuddy117
    I tested the DMX amplifier/splitter tonight (I put it in between the 15th and 16th decoders) and I'm still getting flickering. When you say to run the splitter outputs to "each section" of DMX decoders, what constitutes a section? Right now I'm using Cat5 from the Engineering Solutions box to the DMX IN of the first decoder (not XLR). Do you mean to split all of my decoders into two "groups", with one side of the splitter going to one group and the other side of the splitter going to the other group (but NOT connecting the groups together via cat5 daisy chain)? Thanks!
  8. chuddy117
    Thanks, I will try adding additional decoders. Can you describe where I would add the DMX splitter? Are you saying take the single end of the splitter from the DMX "out" of the 17th decoder and plug the dual end of the splitter into the "in" 18th decoder?
  9. chuddy117
    Correct, I am using pre-made cat5e cables, most are 2ft long, the longest is a single cat5e at 7ft. I do not have a "real" dmx fixture lying around, unfortunately:( I haven't tried going beyond the 18th decoder, I suppose I could try that. Here's how my setup is laid out:
  10. chuddy117
    To take it a step further, I disconnected the known working 17th decoder, and kept the "non-working" 18th controller in place, connected via DMX to the 16th decoder (so i effectively skipped the 17th physical decoder and am putting the 18th physical decoder in its place). I get constant voltage out of first DMX channel which SEEMS to indicate the DMX signal is getting messed up by adding the 18th decoder. Thoughts? Hopefully that wasn't too confusing....
  11. chuddy117
    I just switched the 17th and 18th decoder in my universe. The 17th works great, the 18th was the one that caused flickering. Now that the 17th is in the 18th position and vice versa, I'm still getting flickering. Now knowing that, does it still make sense the DMX signal could be getting mixed up?
  12. chuddy117
    I will try connecting to a known working decoder. I'm using a 1500w TDK/Lambda PSU that is lightly loaded, so power is not a problem (confirmed by having solid 24.4v going into the decoder). The lighting is actually 24v warm white round fixtures from FredLighting. I have ordered a DMX amplifier with an opto-isolater to see if that resolves anything. Is it possible the DMX signal is getting mixed up due to the amount of decoders I have in my universe? I'm not super well versed with troubleshooting these issues with DMX.
  13. chuddy117
    Hi all, I've been using this DMX solution for control4 for probably a year now ,and it works great! However, I recently ran into an issue that I was hoping someone could help with. I'm running 17 of the cheap 3ch DMX decoders, daisy chained using Cat5e. Tonight I added the 18th controller and the connected load flickers like crazy. I've confirmed I'm getting a solid 24.4v into the decoder, but the output fluctuates wildly between 10v-24v. I've tried different decoders as well as installed a 3-pin XLR terminator to no avail. The other 17 decoders in the universe are functioning PERFECTLY. Any ideas?
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