zax123

26 minutes ago, BuffaloC4 said:

Ramorous has worked for me for 3 years. 

Oh great, thanks!  I should be receiving and testing it tomorrow.  Thanks

Hi all, this is reviving an old thread, but I was wondering if you guys could point me in the direction of the free wemo socket driver.  I can't seem to find it.  I did find Ramourous' driver but it's from 2014, not sure it will work.  I receive the socket tomorrow.

Thanks!

Rob

Thanks @jackstone, the GC driver worked perfectly!  Much appreciated!!

Hi @jackstone,

I'm trying your generic ethernet to serial driver with a sainsmart NCS1 unit.  The driver says it finds the serial port one ONLINE and I've configured the unit for 115200, but it isn't able to connect to the DMX Engine.  

Do you know if your generic driver works with sainsmart?  Is there something I could do to verify the protocol of the unit to see that it's compatible?

Thanks!

- Robert

UPDATE:

Just as an update to this.  I re-installed the driver and re-did the connections in Composer and I managed to get the firmware version out of the DMX Engine, but only once.  And whenever the Generic Serial over IP driver is installed in my project, the status bar in Composer flashes like crazy.  The text: "Direct Status: Idle" and "Connected to #ip_address# (SSL)" flash constantly.

My serial device has only one serial port, could it be because it is polling the other 3 ports and finding nothing?  My Composer even froze up completely and became not responding at one point.  It all goes away when I remove the driver.

I telnet'ed to the IP->serial converter box and tested communication with the DMX Engine just by typing simple things like "SET" or "GET" and I got some responses like "syntax error" or "incomplete command", so the converter is definitely working, I just don't speak DMX so not sure what I could type to get a coherent response.

Please let me know if you have any ideas, thanks!

UPDATE 2:

I put the driver into debug mode, and I get Lua Output of:

[10/25/17 21:48:17]: Trying to connect to Serial-over-IP device

but repeated 64 times per second.

Serial 1 Status still says "ONLINE" though...

Sorry for all the message, just trying to help diagnose the problem.
 

I ordered this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371440606660?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It'll take a while to get here, so not sure how it will work.

Hopefully it'll be good.

Oh cool thanks, I'll wait to hear if you have any interference with ZigBee.  Thank you!

1 hour ago, jackstone said:

What's nice about Wireless DMX is that you don't have to follow the chain, just plug the transmitter anywhere, it just need the DMX feed, and it'll work. Do you use the Double DMX Engine with both XLR5 and XLR3 output? You can just plug the Wireless sender to the XLR3 output of the engine while letting your wired DMX stuff on the XLR5 and you're good to go. So in your case, the simplest solution is to use a transmitter connected directly on the DMX Engine and a wireless decoder in the kitchen cabinet. As long as you have electrical power there, it'll work.

As for transmit power, those devices are "SUPOSED" to allow 400m range, 400m is very far! I'm not sure if this is true but I'm confident the range is enough for indoor use in a wooden frame building. Not tried in a commercial building or concrete home.

Unfortunately, I have the one port version of the RS232->DMX controller.  But that's ok, I've already made a couple XLR cables, no worries to make a couple more.  So, should I just grab some generic ones from Amazon/eBay/aliexpress?  

Thanks for all the advice!

Yes, all the LED strips under the cabinets are daisy chained, so I just need one decoder in the kitchen.  Do you sell the generic solution?  Would I just put one of my PX24500 boxes in the kitchen and build another XLR->RJ45 cable in the kitchen, and then I'd have to build one last one in the theater to go BACK to XLR at the end of the daisy chain to put this wireless transmitter on it?  What powers these transmitter/receivers?  I suppose the transmitters always has to be at the end of a chain of decoders since it only has one input and no output?

3 hours ago, jackstone said:

For those interested, we have tested some new Wireless DMX decoders and fixtures and they work flawless with our Control4 solution. This may help some of you with retrofit jobs. You only have to connect the sender to the DMX Engine XLR Output and install the wireless fixture or decoder anywhere in the house (400'). No DMX cable to daisy chain, just connect the power and LEDs to the decoder and done, it work. Perfect for kitchen, pool, patio, garage and more. It's not Wi-Fi, it will not stop working if the kids are doing Netflix on their tablets. Ask us if you want to purchase the hardware, we have it all. We may add it to Houselogix if there is interest.

 

 

Hi @jackstone,

I do have some LED strips under my kitchen cabinets which have RGB inputs... I was thinking of chaining them on the DMX Controller I bought from you for my theater.  If the wireless adapter is cheap enough, I'd go for it, how much is it?  Does it have an XLR in and out?  Because right now, I go from DMX Controller by XLR to a star ceiling, then an XLR to RJ45 cable comes into the DMX power adapters and all are daisy chained on RJ45.

Please let me know, thanks!

Has anyone else found a bi-directional RS232 driver for this unit?

@liquidfer had one but I can't seem to reach him. 

I am thinking I might have to build one from scratch -- would be my first time making a driver...

Thanks Jerome.

I'm actually a pretty serious DIYer.  The last theater I built myself completely and I plan on doing the same with this one.  Electrical is often my favorite part.

For now, I'm just learning everything about DMX-controlled LED lighting.  Once I get it all in my head, I'll be golden.

Thanks again for the help and the referral to alkom.  I'll check with him for buying the fixtures and mention you for sure.

---

Edit: Jerome, the recessed fixtures you mentioned -- do you have a link for them?  I've found some at rgbw.com but they have DMX control built in.  I'd rather use a bank of PX24500s to control the whole theater, so the fixtures just need to have an RGBW (and V+/V-?) input.  Thanks!

Thanks for the super fast answer @jackstone!

I do want to do some recessed wall-wash lights, but I'm not sure I need those to be RGB.  I think just standard 12V LED dimmable will be good, probably save a bit of money too.

I'm not sure where to get all this material in Canada yet, still just at the beginning of my research, but I'm definitely looking for a place to get the the LED controller modules and the strips and recessed fixtures and maybe some kind of strip mounting channel with a diffuser.  Something like this:

http://www.724light.com/led-aluminium-channel-8mm-recessed-u-type-led-aluminum-channel-1-meter394inch-led-profile-inside-width-122mm-p-857.html?zenid=23l8uv382s52f82v1mgaa13q46

Thanks again for your quick response, I'm looking forward to this part of the project

Hi all, new recruit here.  I've been trolling for a bit, but this thread really caught my eye.

@jackstone, I'm a fellow Quebecer and proud to see all the work you've done on this stuff, congratulations!

I'm building a home theater (my second serious one - my first Unity Theater and second Comfort Theater) and I want to use LED lighting all over the place and so I'm just learning the ropes.  It's very exciting what's possible.  I'll be using a C4 processor to control the whole theater including lighting.

So far, everything I've read is very straightforward, but I have one question specifically about using another PX24500 to power only the white lines on some LED strips.  @jacksone you mentioned using an amplifier if you have too much stripping to use only one channel on a spare PX24500.  Can you recommend a model as you have the PX24500, the ES RS-232 DMX engine, etc?

Thanks!

- Rob

-------

An add-on to my question... if I'm using WRGBV LED strips and not RGBV strips, I would need 18/5 wire.  I was thinking speaker wire would be perfect for 18/4 (and from pictures it looks like that's what you use), but what are you guys using for 18/5?