The debug probe is the TagConnect 6-pin, promoted by Microchip for PIC programming. It has 6 pogo pins for data and power, 3 alignment pins for the small holes. The "with legs" model has 4 plastic snaps the grab into the 4 big holes so ypu don't have to hold it. The TagConnect plugs were originally promoted as a way to provide a zero cost JTAG connection point, but the designers thought that all JTAG attachments needed the extra signals added by some proprietary solutions, so they focused on their larger plug with more pins (I think it was 10).
@@edc1569 yep. it's usually a small header, they call it "mini simplicity" connector. Its basically SWD+UART+Energy Monitor+ Packet tracer. A handy connector, I like them, and adopted them for other non-Silabs designs
I've always liked how elegant DMX is in principle. 512 channels, each with a value 0-255. You decide what each means and who listens to what. Couldn't get much simpler.
Wish we had these back in the day when I was still scrambling around in grids attempting to solve comms and fixture problems. We used a simple little 16ch desk (Most fixtures then were not usually more than 16ch) although we did have a few fixtures that used two channels for pan and 2 for tilt to give greater granularity over the standard 255 (0-254) steps, they were fancy back then...
Wow you can really tell the difference between Patreons & us mere mortals, given you posted this 10 days ago. And can I say thankyou for doing so, I been trying to start doing UA-cam creation for many years but my disabilities get in the way & I save money to be equipment by not eating for days. So I cannot afford to be a patreon, but your can!! So I wanted to say thank you for all the help your giving Clive!!
My god, I didn't know your job was mostly fixing lights of this nature. That's awesome! I worked as an electrician/lighting designer for awhile in my adolescence and early 20s but fell out because of the low pay here for designers. Electricians made good work but I moved on to IT. What I amazed with is how incredible the technology is in theatrical lighting these days. I thought DMX was dope back in the early 00s and that wasn't considering any wireless or advanced electronics.
@@hyperionlink Admittedly, it _is_ a little insane to require the stupid 5-pin plug that isn't nearly as common, and doesn't hardly ever actually use the extra diff pair anyway, which ends up wasting perfectly good copper and making the resulting cables thicker and more expensive for no reason at all. It would've made FAR more sense to embrace 3-pin XLR and just standardized on a connector color instead, the way, after PC97, keyboard mini-DIN connectors were _always_ purple and mouse mini-DIN connectors were _always_ green.
@@nickwallette6201 nope completely wrong. We want dmx on 5pin even though universe splitters and second pair rdm aren't a thing anymore. We want it on 5 so people don't use mic cable and also so you never end up with phantom power hitting a light. Almost nobody actually uses 5 core cable on 5 pin except if they have a legacy standard so no wasted copper.
Ive been on a mission to make my own version of a DMX cat that I would mainly use in the shop for quickly addressing large number of lights. I use my dmxcat on showsite all the time though.
The probe they use is called Tag connect. It is a commercially available debug / programming probe and is advertised as a way to add programming headers without any additional BOM cost. There are two versions of this probe. One locks in with the outer holes and is used for debugging and the other version just pushed in. Both probes use pogo pins for the connection. I also use it because it flexible an not that expensive for the probe and as sayed above, no BOM cost for debug headers.
Is that connector proprietary? I didn't have any luck finding off brand versions. I was thinking about including it in some of my projects, but even the "barest" cable (6 pin pogo tagconnect with no legs to 6 pin IDC) costs about 40€ (for something that should be in the low single digits). I know the purpose is to save cost on mass produced items, but that price of the connector is prohibitive to just have around, especially when it would be useful to have multiple to have them permanently connected to different programmers for SWD, ISP, TPI aso.
Thanks for sharing this! That's a neat tool... I like the way the industry has matured, it's come a long ways!... Story time friends... I'm going to take you back to my "theater" days so-to-speak in the late 70's early 80's I volunteered to work the sound/audio at a small church. For special musical productions when we needed stage lights someone at the church made a control box... (big heavy thing) out of plywood with 8 rotary dimmers (the ordinary kind used in residential wall with push on/off and rotate for dimming) and 8 outlets... I'll give him credit at least he used some pretty whopping heavy duty extension cords to run to other boxes with lights... These "Light" boxes were also heavy duty... It had sockets for 3 outdoor incandescent flood lights some were colored inside the box was some aluminum foil for reflection the box had a 45 degree angled sides to it (ASCII sketch: [ ]< )... these were made to either be hung or sit on the floor and point up at the stage, If you cranked those babies up, you could feel the heat... wonder if you could cook a hotdog? Seriously... LOL! Overall, I think we only had 3 or 4 in use and not at max brightness... but thinking back on it, if you powered all 8 of those suckers I wonder if that "control" box could handle it... I think it had 2 AC inputs one for each bank of 4... but I give the guy credit for using extra beefy extension cables, but our wimpy power supply here in the U.S. (LOL) 120VAC / 15A /20A circuits and all those flood lamps? Not a chance! Heck, I don't even know if those rotary dimmers could handle 3 outdoor floods just by themselves. On a side note: I borrowed that box to run the lighting at the Halloween events at the church... I will say that the guy that made this setup was handyman and kudos to him, because it worked for what we needed to do.
Looks like a really well made device, except the R18, which looks a bit like an after thought, even though it was screen printed. Definitely a great testing tool. Thanks for the tear down. I am enjoying the teardowns of current DMX tools.
I'm not in the entertainment industry (I mean, I am: animation, but I meant this industry lol) yet somehow I just really love this hardware. Like, everything used in the stages are things I fall in love with
9:05 Almost at the end of the video and you're telling it can be plugged into a network :) Makes much more sense to me now because all the time I was thinking it had to be plugged in to each individual light.
we use these large DMX hub boxes that can handle 16+ outputs to lights from a controller - once you have the system connected to an internet network you can control it all remotely. if you have cameras, you can even use some ETC software to focus lights using a smartphone camera.
I think you may have misunderstood. DMX is a bus. You can connect one, or any number, of things to it. You have 512 channels of data, each carrying 8 bits, sent in serial fashion. You can use that any way you'd like. You can have a single device that has a single control that has a variable range of 256 steps (1x 8-bit channel used), or 512 devices that each have a single control with 256 steps (512 x 8-bit channels used), or 1 device that has 512 controls with 256 steps (512x8), or 32 devices with 8 controls of 65,536 steps (32x8x16-bit), or whatever combination you need. For example, a pan-tilt light fixture might use one channel for pan position, one channel for tilt position, and one each channel for red, green, and blue luminance values. That would use 5 channels out of your 512, leaving lots left over for additional fixtures. Each device has an address selector, that determines which channel it _starts_ on. So the first will have an address of 0. If we are using the fictional pan-tilt fixture above, then the next would be assigned address 5, and would use channels 5 to 9. The next would be assigned an address of 10, using channels 10-14. And so on. So, it's a "network" of devices. It's not on a network, such as Ethernet, or WiFi. Although there are, of course, adapters to connect DMX devices to a data network for the purposes of controlling them remotely without having to run DMX cables between the adapter and a computer that is running the lighting program, for example. Ethernet is ubiquitous, after all, and WiFi is convenient. But, that essentially just tunnels the DMX data stream over the Ethernet / WiFi / whatever infrastructure.
Thanks for the demo with the light. actually nice if you can walk us through the app screens so we can see all the functionality and how it's been made accessible.
It's a shame this tech didn't make it's way out of stage/event lighting and into domestic spaces. This sort of control would be ideal to adapt to all the smart home automation systems we have now.
it sort of has but not into the diy low end home space just into the professional space, cresnet is rs485 based as are a handful of other automation protocols
On home automation front we still have the RS232 port/system (serial) it is in so much stuff, and can pull off a ton of magic. Always interesting how even HD touch screen home automation systems still use it, want your TV to pop up from floor on a motor? Rs232 commands! Want the shades to all close and a custom song to play when you start up your movie night? RS232 for the win!
USB and Ethernet to DMX converters are common enough. Just even stage lighting wouldnt switch TO DMX atm, it has a bunch of issues esp with multiple luminaires and poor cables and/or long runs, theres better options (art-net - aka DMX over ethernet for a start)
Wow. Where the hell was _this_ when I was regularly doing stage lighting?! 😳 That's really neat. One of these days the wife and I are gonna make it across the pond to come see that show. It looks pretty epic, just from what I've seen on your channel. 👍
We gotta appreciate Clive taking the time to do the big-ass color print of the PCB while away from home. (And that the "big mo-fo light" is indeed labeled "BMFL" in the app)
I have the feeling these guys have their revision numbering flipped backwards - the lower it gets the better working and thought through the product ^^
The most notable thing I saw was the connector on the circuit board. You made the comment that professional theatrics use a five pin connector and that night clubs will often use a three pin because it's a cheaper connector. This five pin device only has three wires connecting to the circuit board. I'm not sure if that means that you don't really need a five pin connector or not, but I find it very interesting that they spend the extra money (and then pass the cost along to the consumer) for a five pin connector when they only use three pins.
DMX was originally specified with xlr-5 connector. which made sense so cabling would not be mixed up with microphone or even speaker lines (XLR 3pin has a nice history of (ab)uses) Pins 4 and 5 were also designated to have an optional spare pair connected to them. Intended for something like an optional backchannel. But this basically never really caucght any traction and most cables hence did not connect those pins either. With the general push to save cost and the fact that many good-quality microphone cables (let alone AES/EBU rated 110Ω lines, which are kind of the official preferred cable choice) will perform nicely with DMX (which has a rather modest 250kBit/s data rate and the robust RS-485 electrical layer) 3pin connectors became a relatively common thing, first on the more "budget" lights, later even on higher end stuff, then likely with both 3pin and 5pin at the same time. 3pin5pin adapters are one of the more common adapters to find in a stage-tech's toolbox. Even when you have dedicated DMX wiring you sometimes are super happy if you can "borrow" a cable from the audio guys when in a pinch.
DMX only requires three pins (data+, data-, and ground). The other two pins can be used as the data pins for a second universe (sharing a common ground pin) because a DMX universe has a maximum of 512 channels. This device has a 5-pin connector because it's intended to interface with professional lights, which all have 5-pin connectors.
The 5 pin DMX standard was to differentiate between data and audio cables and also has the option to carry a second data pair on pins 4 and 5. In this case all the work is being done on pins 1,2 and 3 on a single network.
Local theater group I work with has absolutely primitive stuff in comparison. It's nice to get a peek at what groups with more budget have to work with.
Sold mine and bought an old school Swisson. Bluetooth always took ages to connect, software constantly wanted to update. Could never find every fixture in a rig for RDM. Unfortunately one of the worst £250 I'd ever spent. The guys I work with think I'm crazy, until we're standing in the rain on a festival site at 2am trying to connect their phones to it 🤣. Now my Swisson just plugs in and works.
with a dmx cat if you favourite your fixtures it stores the profile locally so no need for a net connection. Hardly anybody seems to notice that feature. Swissons still work but the UI is mingin.
Cool light! Wanted to recommend the blackout app if you've got an ipad around, you can pair with a wireless dmx xmitter and organize and control quite large setups. Loving to see this kind of content on the chan, thanks Clive!
While you're talking about stage equipment, i've often wondered how those spark machines work, is it basically an angle grinder, or is there more magic ?
@@TheErador those are usually "cold sparklers", they spray some kind of titanium granule into the air to create sparks - they're usually controlled with DMX, ime
They are basically a giant lighter, they use the same kind of flint but much larger. The moving part hardly needs any RPM. They are safe to use indoor/studio where pyro restrictions do not allow real pyro..
Many options. For stage use it may be titanium dust being blown through a heater to ignite it. For high use theme park use it evolved from motorised flint strikers to systems that either involve a mig welder feeding wire onto a spinning drum or two mig wires being fed onto each other with a jet of air behind the contact point.
I like to use ETC concert for RDM. Troubleshooting and configuration. A lot of technicians I know have this. It’s an upgrade for most people using a Swisson dmx tester
city theatrical making test gear reasonably-priced is a life-saver for me as a lighting phone support tech. Maybe they aren't as rock-solid as a Swisson or whatever but at least your average community theater might actually have one or I can recommend they get one without having to blow through their whole budget...
@@bigclivedotcom It truly seems leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, if for no other reason than its accessibility... but ease of use and convenience sure don't hurt either!
Found an SMD cross reference that says XB1 is a n Infinewin LN6219B LDO in SOT25 or SOT-89-5 The Bluetooth module appears to be a U-Blox BMD-350 bluetooth 5 module based round the Nordic nRF52832 Arm Cortex-M4 with FPU, 512k Flash, 64k RAM
xb1 is possibly LN6219B322MR however the pin hooked to the secondary mcu is labeled nc in that datasheet so it might be slightly different the mcu looks like a freescale kinetis from the power and ground lines
This is Totally COOL. the 'where's Waldo' action, _should_ take a Bow. Anything that gives Clive "Control" has got to be admired if still in One Piece. lol Cheers!
I think it is hilarious that they came up with the metaphor "universe" for basically a bus with at most 512 units on it, leaving no relevant metaphor for a setup of several such buses. That level of foresight beats Gates' infamous 640k RAM prediction...
DMX512 was originally intended for controlling dimmers. At that time they didn't realize it would be used for moving lights. 512 dimmers would be a lot.
I am a firmware developer for DMX/RDM light fixtures. A wireless DMX/RDM unit from the City Theatrical outputs very weird DMX data frame where it breaks the DMX data frame into chunks. It would hold the signal line high for a brief moment in between the chunk until it is finished sending all 513 bytes of data. This resulted in the DMX frame get stretched and the timing got thrown out of the window. I had a major problem as my firmware relies on a break condition of the UART to signal the start of a each DMX data frame and a timer. So it would only detect the data that sits between the UART break condition and expired timing while the rest got lost as a result. My fixture works with so many other popular DMX controllers that has a proper DMX data frame with strict timing such as Enttec, DMXKing etc.. except this thing. The client (quiet big) would not wanted to change the controller system, I ended up rewritten the whole low level receiving end mechanism to support this device. To these days, there is no explanation as to why the City Theatrical would allow such deformed DMX frame like that in their commercial product.
Keep in mind that the DMX standard does allow for quite long gaps during transmission of the data. Many simple DMX generators use that tolerance to do other processing.
Can’t find the video, but you spoke about dodgy uk style mains plugs with semi shielded supply pins. Just bought a lamp in Argos, and it has that type of plug.
Yes, used the over priced Tag-Connect in the past to program my ARM boards but in reality, the footprint is no smaller than a much cheaper 1mm pitch connector which I use on all my boards these days.
How can any connector be "much cheaper" than no connector? TagConnect is good - but those four massive holes are best avoided - use the "NL" (No Legs) version of the TagConnect.
@@IanJeffray The no-leg versions are better for production floors to quickly connect and release (i.e. like a bed-of-nails test stand). But when developers have to spend hours staying connected to a device in a debug session where you also are connecting/disconnecting, flipping switches, or making other kinds of physical adjustments to the device being debugged, having something a bit more physically secure is nice. And I do have to give the Tag-connect props that they ARE secure from even moderate bumps. The Tag-Connect's redeeming value is how compact the connection is and how it requires no additional BOM parts on the device. Edge connectors can accomplish this too, but have their own set of disadvantages both in development and production. And for tiny products where you are trying to size as small as possible, there is value in this setup. But overall, I do have to admit they are pricey. And personally, I still prefer a standard 2-row 8-pin keyed JTAG plug. But as things get smaller and more compact, interconnect pads like Tag-Connect will be more and more common on products that require programming a chip in situ. So as a developer, I'm glad there are solutions like Tag-Connect. I'm just amazed a cheaper and standardized alternative interconnect hasn't emerged. But given firmware development is dwarfed by software development, any tools made for us will be low volume and high priced even if standardized.
@@mycosys It is slightly more compact. The surface area size of the Tag-Connect pads is just a bit smaller than a 2x4 header, but admittedly not by a lot particularly when you consider you do have to include clearances around the pad so the connector can connect without obstruction. I don't know if there is an surface area saving over a 2x3 header...there may not be. My point was header pins are an additional BOM item. On low-volume equipment, this is hardly a problem. But for high volume, cost-constrained, devices, additional components are a cost that is much greater than the part itself. From a manufacturing standpoint, these are just a few of the costs that every BOM item imposes: -the part itself -procurement (i.e. shipping and receiving) -real-estate cost to stock the part -inventory/accounting/reordering/taxes on unused parts at the end of the year (yes in the US, mfgs get taxed for stock on the shelf that just hasn't made it into the product) -install cost (paying a person or for equipment to perform the placement) Eliminating a BOM item, even sub $.01/item part yields savings to a manufacturer of high-volume equipment...and especially parts that are thru-hole and often are manually installed on the board by a human. I don't recall the cost of a 2x4 header, but I venture it is greater than $.01.
Clive (and everyone) have you seen Tom Scott's video this week? He is in the roof space at the Royal Albert Hall in London, walking across the mesh grid in the very top of the dome. Interesting to see the engineering of the roof, and how various hoists and lighting rigs are suspended. Shame it is such a short video though.
Poll: DMX with 3-PIn XLR connectors is better because the pins are larger diameter, they don't bend as easily, But they should have a slightly different chasis, a bit like 240v and 110v ceform power connectors or Powercon/Speakercon connectors.
I've seen people ram a speakon into a powercon, also seen trucons forced in at the wrong position (which can result in live casings) bent pins in dmx are actually pretty rare so I say leave 3 pin to the DJs.
Answer 1: I wish all equipment would use 5 pin, then I could do cabling while half asleep without worrying about pushing a microphone cable into DMX and vice versa. Answer 2: I wish 5pin connectors were as cheap as 3pin connectors. Rebuttal to your thinking: yes, DMX is a current loop. No, the amount of current is so low that a 0.14mm^2 (26 AWG) wire can carry it without even noticing. The housing around the pins is already so robust that it is almost impossible to bend the pins by using the plugs in a normal manner - you'd have to shove in a screw driver and screw up the driver to bend them.
@@KonradTheWizzard 5pin and 3 pin are pretty much the same price, bit of difference in panel mounts but inline theres maybe only a penny in it and if you buy any sort of quantity that difference vanishes.
@@Savagetechie If you buy from Neutrik, then yes absolutely. If you buy the really cheap chinese connectors then the difference is factor 2-3x. The 3pin ones are so cheap that a hobbyist is able to live with the sh*ty quality. The 5pin ones make you think whether you wouldn't be better off buying quality for double the price instead.
@@bigclivedotcom Both directions is trivial: you need a 2-channel coupler from µC to driver and a 1-channel in the other direction - the second channel is needed for switching between sender and receiver mode and the driver already separates the Tx and Rx lines. Downsides: you need a lot more space in a device that really wants to be small and you waste a few percent of precious battery power in the conversion. Mitigating factors: this is geared towards professional lights with RDM, which probably obey the standard and are isolated themselves. The standard does not require isolation for the controller.
I keep contemplating using DMX as a way of "outsourcing" switching a light with an AC plug on a project of mine. Unfortunately, nobody seems to actually make a low cost off-the-shelf compact "2 relay-switched outlets with DMX control" product. Lots of much bigger/fancier things that could do a similar job, but they're all huge and/or expensive.
Besides cheap controllers, theres a lot of DMX-stuff from china that fullfills his needs without abusing something (put "DMX relay" into Ebay-search), ... However, years ago my own successfull abuse was to solder wires onto the 3 pins of an external RGB-Pixel controller (WS2811) instead of an RBG-LED and wired these (including the negative) to a standard relay-board using optocouplers to drive the relays, ... that also worked fine (additional decoder for RGB-strips needet). Any standard 3- or 4-channel decoder/dimmer can do the same.
If your coding skills are sufficient to greet the world hello in C, you can pretty much roll your own DMX whatever. There are, naturally, Arduino libraries a-plenty, and I'm sure you can't swing a dead cat in a hackerspace without smacking into the schematics for an RS-485 gadget.
@@nickwallette6201 It has nothing to do with what I can build, and everything to do with product liability and certification for switching mains AC if I want to sell a product that needs to ultimately do that.
Nice little device. I have my doubts about that little sounder if you have the Tattoo going on though. I doubt if it could be heard over the sound of one piper never mind a complete band, and as for the fireworks....
The (not) fun of DMX. I put my hand up to design and build a bespoke lighting system for a large marquee on a small island . Apart from anything else it was a marine environment so 3 or 5 pin Amphenol connectors did fare too well and neither did the marquee itself when the gale force winds hit it. As I worked though the various issues and tried different kinds of lights I found one we had that was made for film and TV lighting that used 2 bytes for each of the RGB sources, the only way to get very precise colors it seems. DMX was probably as good good as could be done when it was first thought up but I feel today there could be a demand for something less prone to confusion and more robust.
It could certainly do with a bit of a revision to add FEC and a little more bandwidth. But the longer it stays viable, the less likely anything is going to dethrone it, just for the sheer ubiquitousness of it.
Very useful tool.. to prank your colleague with the flamethrower on stage. :-) - How are safety features handled, movement or "flames" in the protocoll, wired or wireless, so there is no equipment going crazy on interferences ?
While doing some research on can bus for a DIY CNC project I came across the following tit bit."The EU has mandated the use of CAN SIL 2 for automation in new products which are safety critical to the public". But I haven't been able to verify this. I know DMX has being used to control Safety critical items like lasers as well as winches and hoists for moving rigs and staging. Dp you know if DMX/RDM is SIL 2 rated and do you think this might affect the future of DMX.
DMX has been fudged to work with those systems but as it has no error checking built into the protocol you need extra electronics/software to "sanity check" the data as well as separate hard wired E Stops/deadmans. Sanity checking methods depend on the type of device and can include :- Same data must be seen on two or more channels. Must receive the same value over 3 or more frames. Ignore sudden huge jumps in value (filtering) Values must be within a specific tight range (for basic on/off triggering) Only send cues to trigger sequences controlled by a safer system. Ideally several of those methods would be used together. I don't know the requirements for SIL 2 but DMX is almost certainly not compliant but it's possible if could feed control data/cues into a SIL 2 rated system.
On one system I designed there were two channels that had to be set to 50% (within about +/-10 to account for analogue desks) to arm it and also if the fader was moved too fast (someone knocked ot for example) it wouldn't arm the fore command was again 50% but a single channel and no restriction on speed, there was a stage manager acting as a spotter with a deadmans to physically kill power if necessary after which the system would have to be disarmed and re-armed. Another thing you have to be careful of is that some "smart" DMX repeaters can carry on putting out the last values recieved if they loose input so flame effects etc. mustn't be used with them.
@@bigclivedotcom I found the device a wow it's expensive lol maybe not then but I really love the devices you review especially the lighting stuff. Could you do a gig log of a rig setup and teardown at an event just so we can see what goes on at these big events. Many thanks, tony
No it was just to make it different to the audio guys, to avoid someone connecting an audio line to the dmx network. In reality different colours is plenty good enough
A question I was thinking of standardising on Apurture lights etc but should I instead standize on DMX for ligjting The advantage of apurture is they can standardise their light colour thus making balancing colour science from different cameras Any thoughts??
@@UA-camcensoredmyusername I wonder how many of those technicians who are trans think it's damn funny, because I do. Personally, I once wanted to buy a DB25 gender changer and wear it as a necklace :D
The cost is in the software. There are generic disco units available, but with very little functionality. This unit has a frequently updated library of different lighting fixtures.
You'd have to make it yourself. I'd guess an esp8266 or esp32 using a web interface would be good for DIY, you could write a mobile web app for it then instead of having to learn how to program a native mobile app - you could even program a full lighting controller/desk as a web page too, if you liked. You'd have to implement the rdm protocol and dmx output and some method of mapping device functions to dmx channels. A nice little project.
For completely random reasons I’d really enjoy a video series with you introducing the viewers to different example configurations of DMX lighting :)
The debug probe is the TagConnect 6-pin, promoted by Microchip for PIC programming. It has 6 pogo pins for data and power, 3 alignment pins for the small holes. The "with legs" model has 4 plastic snaps the grab into the 4 big holes so ypu don't have to hold it. The TagConnect plugs were originally promoted as a way to provide a zero cost JTAG connection point, but the designers thought that all JTAG attachments needed the extra signals added by some proprietary solutions, so they focused on their larger plug with more pins (I think it was 10).
Silicon labs like the 10 way version too
@@edc1569 yep. it's usually a small header, they call it "mini simplicity" connector. Its basically SWD+UART+Energy Monitor+ Packet tracer. A handy connector, I like them, and adopted them for other non-Silabs designs
I've always liked how elegant DMX is in principle. 512 channels, each with a value 0-255. You decide what each means and who listens to what. Couldn't get much simpler.
Wish we had these back in the day when I was still scrambling around in grids attempting to solve comms and fixture problems. We used a simple little 16ch desk (Most fixtures then were not usually more than 16ch) although we did have a few fixtures that used two channels for pan and 2 for tilt to give greater granularity over the standard 255 (0-254) steps, they were fancy back then...
Wow you can really tell the difference between Patreons & us mere mortals, given you posted this 10 days ago. And can I say thankyou for doing so, I been trying to start doing UA-cam creation for many years but my disabilities get in the way & I save money to be equipment by not eating for days. So I cannot afford to be a patreon, but your can!! So I wanted to say thank you for all the help your giving Clive!!
I agree. What we had in the 80's, was a panel with light switches and dimmers. Nothing computer controlled.
@@Farm_fab We built an interface card between a BBC Micro and our (40 channel Zero-88) analogue lighting desk.
Wish we had stuff like this when I was a kid in the 60's. I would have ruled the school theater club LIKE A GOD.
My god, I didn't know your job was mostly fixing lights of this nature. That's awesome! I worked as an electrician/lighting designer for awhile in my adolescence and early 20s but fell out because of the low pay here for designers. Electricians made good work but I moved on to IT.
What I amazed with is how incredible the technology is in theatrical lighting these days. I thought DMX was dope back in the early 00s and that wasn't considering any wireless or advanced electronics.
As someone who worked with three pin DMX (alongside XLR, so easy to confuse the two!) in high school a tool like this would have been amazing to have!
It's so frustrating to me how often 3 pin xlr microphone cables are marketed as DMX cables. Causes so many problems over distance. 🤷🏼
@@hyperionlink Admittedly, it _is_ a little insane to require the stupid 5-pin plug that isn't nearly as common, and doesn't hardly ever actually use the extra diff pair anyway, which ends up wasting perfectly good copper and making the resulting cables thicker and more expensive for no reason at all.
It would've made FAR more sense to embrace 3-pin XLR and just standardized on a connector color instead, the way, after PC97, keyboard mini-DIN connectors were _always_ purple and mouse mini-DIN connectors were _always_ green.
@@nickwallette6201 nope completely wrong. We want dmx on 5pin even though universe splitters and second pair rdm aren't a thing anymore. We want it on 5 so people don't use mic cable and also so you never end up with phantom power hitting a light.
Almost nobody actually uses 5 core cable on 5 pin except if they have a legacy standard so no wasted copper.
@@Savagetechie OK, interesting. I was under the assumption it was all wired that way (5p5c), unless it was a custom-made cable.
@@nickwallette6201 nope, pins 4 and 5 are marked as not connected in the dmx spec so it's pretty rare to see any dmx cable that has them connected.
Nifty little device indeed! Thanks for sharing mate 😁
These come in handy nearly every day. I work on moving lights and I always have these near by. Especially if I don't have a console available
Funny, I just bought a dmxcat from a buddy who ordered 1 too many, very glad to see this vid.
i love teardowns of cool specialized stuff like this stuff most of us probably wont get a chance to tear apart ourselves
Ive been on a mission to make my own version of a DMX cat that I would mainly use in the shop for quickly addressing large number of lights. I use my dmxcat on showsite all the time though.
The little holes + pads programming headers are for a standard cable from Tag Connect.
The probe they use is called Tag connect. It is a commercially available debug / programming probe and is advertised as a way to add programming headers without any additional BOM cost. There are two versions of this probe. One locks in with the outer holes and is used for debugging and the other version just pushed in. Both probes use pogo pins for the connection. I also use it because it flexible an not that expensive for the probe and as sayed above, no BOM cost for debug headers.
Is that connector proprietary? I didn't have any luck finding off brand versions. I was thinking about including it in some of my projects, but even the "barest" cable (6 pin pogo tagconnect with no legs to 6 pin IDC) costs about 40€ (for something that should be in the low single digits). I know the purpose is to save cost on mass produced items, but that price of the connector is prohibitive to just have around, especially when it would be useful to have multiple to have them permanently connected to different programmers for SWD, ISP, TPI aso.
that "I'm here" dance is very cute 🙂
Gotta love the algorithm, was just looking into one of these less than 12hrs ago, and lo and behold one of my favorite youtubers has a video on it 😂😁
Thanks for sharing this! That's a neat tool... I like the way the industry has matured, it's come a long ways!... Story time friends... I'm going to take you back to my "theater" days so-to-speak in the late 70's early 80's I volunteered to work the sound/audio at a small church. For special musical productions when we needed stage lights someone at the church made a control box... (big heavy thing) out of plywood with 8 rotary dimmers (the ordinary kind used in residential wall with push on/off and rotate for dimming) and 8 outlets... I'll give him credit at least he used some pretty whopping heavy duty extension cords to run to other boxes with lights... These "Light" boxes were also heavy duty... It had sockets for 3 outdoor incandescent flood lights some were colored inside the box was some aluminum foil for reflection the box had a 45 degree angled sides to it (ASCII sketch: [ ]< )... these were made to either be hung or sit on the floor and point up at the stage, If you cranked those babies up, you could feel the heat... wonder if you could cook a hotdog? Seriously... LOL! Overall, I think we only had 3 or 4 in use and not at max brightness... but thinking back on it, if you powered all 8 of those suckers I wonder if that "control" box could handle it... I think it had 2 AC inputs one for each bank of 4... but I give the guy credit for using extra beefy extension cables, but our wimpy power supply here in the U.S. (LOL) 120VAC / 15A /20A circuits and all those flood lamps? Not a chance! Heck, I don't even know if those rotary dimmers could handle 3 outdoor floods just by themselves. On a side note: I borrowed that box to run the lighting at the Halloween events at the church... I will say that the guy that made this setup was handyman and kudos to him, because it worked for what we needed to do.
Love this info, i only used dmx briefly and was fascinated by it
Looks like a really well made device, except the R18, which looks a bit like an after thought, even though it was screen printed.
Definitely a great testing tool. Thanks for the tear down. I am enjoying the teardowns of current DMX tools.
I'm not in the entertainment industry (I mean, I am: animation, but I meant this industry lol) yet somehow I just really love this hardware. Like, everything used in the stages are things I fall in love with
9:05
Almost at the end of the video and you're telling it can be plugged into a network :)
Makes much more sense to me now because all the time I was thinking it had to be plugged in to each individual light.
we use these large DMX hub boxes that can handle 16+ outputs to lights from a controller - once you have the system connected to an internet network you can control it all remotely. if you have cameras, you can even use some ETC software to focus lights using a smartphone camera.
I think you may have misunderstood. DMX is a bus. You can connect one, or any number, of things to it. You have 512 channels of data, each carrying 8 bits, sent in serial fashion. You can use that any way you'd like.
You can have a single device that has a single control that has a variable range of 256 steps (1x 8-bit channel used), or 512 devices that each have a single control with 256 steps (512 x 8-bit channels used), or 1 device that has 512 controls with 256 steps (512x8), or 32 devices with 8 controls of 65,536 steps (32x8x16-bit), or whatever combination you need.
For example, a pan-tilt light fixture might use one channel for pan position, one channel for tilt position, and one each channel for red, green, and blue luminance values. That would use 5 channels out of your 512, leaving lots left over for additional fixtures.
Each device has an address selector, that determines which channel it _starts_ on. So the first will have an address of 0. If we are using the fictional pan-tilt fixture above, then the next would be assigned address 5, and would use channels 5 to 9. The next would be assigned an address of 10, using channels 10-14. And so on.
So, it's a "network" of devices. It's not on a network, such as Ethernet, or WiFi.
Although there are, of course, adapters to connect DMX devices to a data network for the purposes of controlling them remotely without having to run DMX cables between the adapter and a computer that is running the lighting program, for example. Ethernet is ubiquitous, after all, and WiFi is convenient. But, that essentially just tunnels the DMX data stream over the Ethernet / WiFi / whatever infrastructure.
Thanks for the demo with the light. actually nice if you can walk us through the app screens so we can see all the functionality and how it's been made accessible.
It's a shame this tech didn't make it's way out of stage/event lighting and into domestic spaces. This sort of control would be ideal to adapt to all the smart home automation systems we have now.
it sort of has but not into the diy low end home space just into the professional space, cresnet is rs485 based as are a handful of other automation protocols
The utility companies have them to over ride your settings. They are not so smart homes.
On home automation front we still have the RS232 port/system (serial) it is in so much stuff, and can pull off a ton of magic. Always interesting how even HD touch screen home automation systems still use it, want your TV to pop up from floor on a motor? Rs232 commands! Want the shades to all close and a custom song to play when you start up your movie night? RS232 for the win!
USB and Ethernet to DMX converters are common enough. Just even stage lighting wouldnt switch TO DMX atm, it has a bunch of issues esp with multiple luminaires and poor cables and/or long runs, theres better options (art-net - aka DMX over ethernet for a start)
Ethernet will take over. It’s the core of CAN is cars too. Dmx512 over rs485 is archaic!
Fancy bit of kit there, makes the lighting I played with at an amdram theatre years back look positively archaic, but then again, it was archaic... :P
Resistor banks
Holy hell, I had no idea you were a fellow lampie! What a pleasant surprise.
Wow. Where the hell was _this_ when I was regularly doing stage lighting?! 😳 That's really neat. One of these days the wife and I are gonna make it across the pond to come see that show. It looks pretty epic, just from what I've seen on your channel. 👍
Very useful, for those who install and must test during assembly 😃
We gotta appreciate Clive taking the time to do the big-ass color print of the PCB while away from home. (And that the "big mo-fo light" is indeed labeled "BMFL" in the app)
I got a printer specifically for the task at the job. Hopefully it will survive storage for a year.
I have the feeling these guys have their revision numbering flipped backwards - the lower it gets the better working and thought through the product ^^
Super handy for techs/riggers as LD you just use the console, nice Robe fixture
The most notable thing I saw was the connector on the circuit board. You made the comment that professional theatrics use a five pin connector and that night clubs will often use a three pin because it's a cheaper connector. This five pin device only has three wires connecting to the circuit board. I'm not sure if that means that you don't really need a five pin connector or not, but I find it very interesting that they spend the extra money (and then pass the cost along to the consumer) for a five pin connector when they only use three pins.
Because most 'serious' users (who are more likely to buy this kit) are working with kit that has 5 pin XLR
DMX was originally specified with xlr-5 connector. which made sense so cabling would not be mixed up with microphone or even speaker lines (XLR 3pin has a nice history of (ab)uses)
Pins 4 and 5 were also designated to have an optional spare pair connected to them. Intended for something like an optional backchannel.
But this basically never really caucght any traction and most cables hence did not connect those pins either.
With the general push to save cost and the fact that many good-quality microphone cables (let alone AES/EBU rated 110Ω lines, which are kind of the official preferred cable choice) will perform nicely with DMX (which has a rather modest 250kBit/s data rate and the robust RS-485 electrical layer) 3pin connectors became a relatively common thing, first on the more "budget" lights, later even on higher end stuff, then likely with both 3pin and 5pin at the same time. 3pin5pin adapters are one of the more common adapters to find in a stage-tech's toolbox.
Even when you have dedicated DMX wiring you sometimes are super happy if you can "borrow" a cable from the audio guys when in a pinch.
DMX only requires three pins (data+, data-, and ground). The other two pins can be used as the data pins for a second universe (sharing a common ground pin) because a DMX universe has a maximum of 512 channels. This device has a 5-pin connector because it's intended to interface with professional lights, which all have 5-pin connectors.
The 5 pin DMX standard was to differentiate between data and audio cables and also has the option to carry a second data pair on pins 4 and 5. In this case all the work is being done on pins 1,2 and 3 on a single network.
The primary lighting companies are now implementing the full two network wiring in their DMX cables. That has resulted in the cables being bigger!
Quite a lot to like here... nice use of TC2030 TagConnect footprints, sounder to find a black thing in the dark on a black stage... clever.
Local theater group I work with has absolutely primitive stuff in comparison. It's nice to get a peek at what groups with more budget have to work with.
Aye most of our group's intels are chinese knock-offs, they don't do too badly considering.
That’s an awesome tool for lighting 💡!!!
Sold mine and bought an old school Swisson.
Bluetooth always took ages to connect, software constantly wanted to update. Could never find every fixture in a rig for RDM.
Unfortunately one of the worst £250 I'd ever spent.
The guys I work with think I'm crazy, until we're standing in the rain on a festival site at 2am trying to connect their phones to it 🤣.
Now my Swisson just plugs in and works.
with a dmx cat if you favourite your fixtures it stores the profile locally so no need for a net connection. Hardly anybody seems to notice that feature. Swissons still work but the UI is mingin.
Cool light! Wanted to recommend the blackout app if you've got an ipad around, you can pair with a wireless dmx xmitter and organize and control quite large setups. Loving to see this kind of content on the chan, thanks Clive!
While you're talking about stage equipment, i've often wondered how those spark machines work, is it basically an angle grinder, or is there more magic ?
Are they not pyro?
@@TheErador those are usually "cold sparklers", they spray some kind of titanium granule into the air to create sparks - they're usually controlled with DMX, ime
@@TheErador I thought of pyro, but they seem to be able to turn them on and off at will, like with the beat of the music
They are basically a giant lighter, they use the same kind of flint but much larger. The moving part hardly needs any RPM. They are safe to use indoor/studio where pyro restrictions do not allow real pyro..
Many options. For stage use it may be titanium dust being blown through a heater to ignite it. For high use theme park use it evolved from motorised flint strikers to systems that either involve a mig welder feeding wire onto a spinning drum or two mig wires being fed onto each other with a jet of air behind the contact point.
@2:13 so you cannot refer to the plug as her since it may identify with use of the adapter as him; very modern... and useful. 😀
Maybe the plug is a ze, you never know
I like to use ETC concert for RDM. Troubleshooting and configuration. A lot of technicians I know have this. It’s an upgrade for most people using a Swisson dmx tester
Back in my day we had 12-channel desks connected with a 14-pin analog cable and we liked it. (Get off my lawn!)
36 channel desks just had 3 cables XD
city theatrical making test gear reasonably-priced is a life-saver for me as a lighting phone support tech. Maybe they aren't as rock-solid as a Swisson or whatever but at least your average community theater might actually have one or I can recommend they get one without having to blow through their whole budget...
I think some of my colleagues have the Swisson units, but the DMXcat has a very convenient format and the firmware seems to be evolving.
@@bigclivedotcom It truly seems leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, if for no other reason than its accessibility... but ease of use and convenience sure don't hurt either!
Light this way...Cheers to you. ...
DMX Cat from City Theatrical is a great tool. Actually, everything I’ve ever seen from City Theatrical has been excellent.
We have two of these at work. Co-workers kept them on chargers 24/7/365.24. The lipo sacks were swollen, and I desoldered them.
That's interesting to know.
Surely the small microcontroller is there to provide a non-DMX API over Bluetooth so the phone app is able to talk to it?
Found an SMD cross reference that says XB1 is a n Infinewin LN6219B LDO in SOT25 or SOT-89-5
The Bluetooth module appears to be a U-Blox BMD-350 bluetooth 5 module based round the Nordic nRF52832 Arm Cortex-M4 with FPU, 512k Flash, 64k RAM
Awww that is a cute dance of the BMFL, when it says "i'm here" dance. Though we should call these Bite My Fucking Lip
Thanks Clive
xb1 is possibly LN6219B322MR
however the pin hooked to the secondary mcu is labeled nc in that datasheet so it might be slightly different
the mcu looks like a freescale kinetis from the power and ground lines
This is Totally COOL. the 'where's Waldo' action, _should_ take a Bow.
Anything that gives Clive "Control" has got to be admired if still in One Piece. lol Cheers!
🙋♂️ Please do a VL-5 next!!! They’re so beautiful inside.
I took a brief look at a vl5 in the past.
@@bigclivedotcom Haha of course you did.
2:16 "Good night, everybody!" - Yakko Warner
I think it is hilarious that they came up with the metaphor "universe" for basically a bus with at most 512 units on it, leaving no relevant metaphor for a setup of several such buses.
That level of foresight beats Gates' infamous 640k RAM prediction...
DMX512 was originally intended for controlling dimmers. At that time they didn't realize it would be used for moving lights. 512 dimmers would be a lot.
How many universes does the tattoo run to Clive? And what’s the main lighting desk?
Brother I’ve been watching your videos for YEARS. I had know idea you were a lampy!! That’s awesome man!
I am a firmware developer for DMX/RDM light fixtures. A wireless DMX/RDM unit from the City Theatrical outputs very weird DMX data frame where it breaks the DMX data frame into chunks. It would hold the signal line high for a brief moment in between the chunk until it is finished sending all 513 bytes of data. This resulted in the DMX frame get stretched and the timing got thrown out of the window.
I had a major problem as my firmware relies on a break condition of the UART to signal the start of a each DMX data frame and a timer. So it would only detect the data that sits between the UART break condition and expired timing while the rest got lost as a result. My fixture works with so many other popular DMX controllers that has a proper DMX data frame with strict timing such as Enttec, DMXKing etc.. except this thing. The client (quiet big) would not wanted to change the controller system, I ended up rewritten the whole low level receiving end mechanism to support this device. To these days, there is no explanation as to why the City Theatrical would allow such deformed DMX frame like that in their commercial product.
Keep in mind that the DMX standard does allow for quite long gaps during transmission of the data. Many simple DMX generators use that tolerance to do other processing.
The programming connector is for TagConnect
I'd love to send you a list of the typical DMX setup I use for installs, as far as what's available in the states.
When you left manual control and it started moving faster I was prepared to jump in and grab it since I feared it would fall down :-D :-D :-D
Can’t find the video, but you spoke about dodgy uk style mains plugs with semi shielded supply pins. Just bought a lamp in Argos, and it has that type of plug.
In the UK plugs should have the live and neutral part-sleeved.
@@bigclivedotcom You're right, it was the earth that shouldn't be. My bad.
The programming interface looks typical for use with a Tag-Connect cable.
Yes, used the over priced Tag-Connect in the past to program my ARM boards but in reality, the footprint is no smaller than a much cheaper 1mm pitch connector which I use on all my boards these days.
How can any connector be "much cheaper" than no connector? TagConnect is good - but those four massive holes are best avoided - use the "NL" (No Legs) version of the TagConnect.
@@IanJeffray The no-leg versions are better for production floors to quickly connect and release (i.e. like a bed-of-nails test stand). But when developers have to spend hours staying connected to a device in a debug session where you also are connecting/disconnecting, flipping switches, or making other kinds of physical adjustments to the device being debugged, having something a bit more physically secure is nice. And I do have to give the Tag-connect props that they ARE secure from even moderate bumps.
The Tag-Connect's redeeming value is how compact the connection is and how it requires no additional BOM parts on the device. Edge connectors can accomplish this too, but have their own set of disadvantages both in development and production. And for tiny products where you are trying to size as small as possible, there is value in this setup. But overall, I do have to admit they are pricey. And personally, I still prefer a standard 2-row 8-pin keyed JTAG plug. But as things get smaller and more compact, interconnect pads like Tag-Connect will be more and more common on products that require programming a chip in situ. So as a developer, I'm glad there are solutions like Tag-Connect. I'm just amazed a cheaper and standardized alternative interconnect hasn't emerged. But given firmware development is dwarfed by software development, any tools made for us will be low volume and high priced even if standardized.
@@chrisgrey9204 how does that take up less board than 2 row 8 pin 1mm pitch SMD header pins?
@@mycosys It is slightly more compact. The surface area size of the Tag-Connect pads is just a bit smaller than a 2x4 header, but admittedly not by a lot particularly when you consider you do have to include clearances around the pad so the connector can connect without obstruction. I don't know if there is an surface area saving over a 2x3 header...there may not be.
My point was header pins are an additional BOM item. On low-volume equipment, this is hardly a problem. But for high volume, cost-constrained, devices, additional components are a cost that is much greater than the part itself. From a manufacturing standpoint, these are just a few of the costs that every BOM item imposes:
-the part itself
-procurement (i.e. shipping and receiving)
-real-estate cost to stock the part
-inventory/accounting/reordering/taxes on unused parts at the end of the year (yes in the US, mfgs get taxed for stock on the shelf that just hasn't made it into the product)
-install cost (paying a person or for equipment to perform the placement)
Eliminating a BOM item, even sub $.01/item part yields savings to a manufacturer of high-volume equipment...and especially parts that are thru-hole and often are manually installed on the board by a human. I don't recall the cost of a 2x4 header, but I venture it is greater than $.01.
Clive (and everyone) have you seen Tom Scott's video this week? He is in the roof space at the Royal Albert Hall in London, walking across the mesh grid in the very top of the dome. Interesting to see the engineering of the roof, and how various hoists and lighting rigs are suspended. Shame it is such a short video though.
I've walked on tension grids. Very cool once you get used to them.
@Matt Quinn There's one at the CCA.
Way cool tool.
Looks like it could be made into a hell of a sentry turret 😀
Poll: DMX with 3-PIn XLR connectors is better because the pins are larger diameter, they don't bend as easily, But they should have a slightly different chasis, a bit like 240v and 110v ceform power connectors or Powercon/Speakercon connectors.
I've seen people ram a speakon into a powercon, also seen trucons forced in at the wrong position (which can result in live casings) bent pins in dmx are actually pretty rare so I say leave 3 pin to the DJs.
Answer 1: I wish all equipment would use 5 pin, then I could do cabling while half asleep without worrying about pushing a microphone cable into DMX and vice versa.
Answer 2: I wish 5pin connectors were as cheap as 3pin connectors.
Rebuttal to your thinking: yes, DMX is a current loop. No, the amount of current is so low that a 0.14mm^2 (26 AWG) wire can carry it without even noticing. The housing around the pins is already so robust that it is almost impossible to bend the pins by using the plugs in a normal manner - you'd have to shove in a screw driver and screw up the driver to bend them.
@@KonradTheWizzard 5pin and 3 pin are pretty much the same price, bit of difference in panel mounts but inline theres maybe only a penny in it and if you buy any sort of quantity that difference vanishes.
@@Savagetechie If you buy from Neutrik, then yes absolutely. If you buy the really cheap chinese connectors then the difference is factor 2-3x. The 3pin ones are so cheap that a hobbyist is able to live with the sh*ty quality. The 5pin ones make you think whether you wouldn't be better off buying quality for double the price instead.
@@KonradTheWizzard Cliff components do nice inline ones for £1.60 a connector, cheaper than neutric and not shit.
That *is* a termination resistor. It terminates the transmission line that is the dmx cable.
If you loose it still connected to something, it might beep from high up above in some truss hehe.
no optocoupler on the dmx board ?
Not practical for a device that is already fully isolated and needs to communicate in both directions.
@@bigclivedotcom Both directions is trivial: you need a 2-channel coupler from µC to driver and a 1-channel in the other direction - the second channel is needed for switching between sender and receiver mode and the driver already separates the Tx and Rx lines.
Downsides: you need a lot more space in a device that really wants to be small and you waste a few percent of precious battery power in the conversion.
Mitigating factors: this is geared towards professional lights with RDM, which probably obey the standard and are isolated themselves. The standard does not require isolation for the controller.
Why does it make so much sense that you are lighting guy.
Have you ever worked with mmx or mpx? Its got a really funky protocol.
I keep contemplating using DMX as a way of "outsourcing" switching a light with an AC plug on a project of mine. Unfortunately, nobody seems to actually make a low cost off-the-shelf compact "2 relay-switched outlets with DMX control" product. Lots of much bigger/fancier things that could do a similar job, but they're all huge and/or expensive.
There are some cheap chinese DMX LED controllers on ebay. You could abuse one of those to drive up to three relays (using 0 and 255 on RGB controls)
Besides cheap controllers, theres a lot of DMX-stuff from china that fullfills his needs without abusing something (put "DMX relay" into Ebay-search), ...
However, years ago my own successfull abuse was to solder wires onto the 3 pins of an external RGB-Pixel controller (WS2811) instead of an RBG-LED and wired these (including the negative) to a standard relay-board using optocouplers to drive the relays, ... that also worked fine (additional decoder for RGB-strips needet).
Any standard 3- or 4-channel decoder/dimmer can do the same.
If your coding skills are sufficient to greet the world hello in C, you can pretty much roll your own DMX whatever. There are, naturally, Arduino libraries a-plenty, and I'm sure you can't swing a dead cat in a hackerspace without smacking into the schematics for an RS-485 gadget.
@@nickwallette6201 It has nothing to do with what I can build, and everything to do with product liability and certification for switching mains AC if I want to sell a product that needs to ultimately do that.
Whats going on with that resistor soldered wonky onto the IC in the bottom middle of the board?
Stop, drop, shut 'em down, open up shop!
Nice little device. I have my doubts about that little sounder if you have the Tattoo going on though. I doubt if it could be heard over the sound of one piper never mind a complete band, and as for the fireworks....
It would only be used pre or post show.
In my short foray into DMX, the techs used a Swisson device to test things with. How do their products compare with the ones you've demonstrated ?
Both have a good reputation.
Yay, it is actually a 5 pin XLR.
So interesting
Can I borrow that setup for a minute, I want to impress a neighbor!
Good luck. 👍
On the board it says 94v-0, I've seen that a few times, what does it mean
Light sounded like it needs some grease
You know it's a serious piece of gear, when it has an XLR connected to it.
5 pin cannon style connector, but still just 3 pins onto the cct board.
Have a whole bunch of these hacked with a microcontroller and they all "dance" and shine lights 🤣
Cool little gadget. I wish I had a use for DMX... But that background is messing with my brain! What is it?
Temporary carpet to stop reflections while I was working away from home.
It could be very embarrassing if your nan rings half way through your lightshow Clive!
That’s pretty awesome ⚡️⚡️⚡️❤️🤍💙
The (not) fun of DMX. I put my hand up to design and build a bespoke lighting system for a large marquee on a small island . Apart from anything else it was a marine environment so 3 or 5 pin Amphenol connectors did fare too well and neither did the marquee itself when the gale force winds hit it. As I worked though the various issues and tried different kinds of lights I found one we had that was made for film and TV lighting that used 2 bytes for each of the RGB sources, the only way to get very precise colors it seems. DMX was probably as good good as could be done when it was first thought up but I feel today there could be a demand for something less prone to confusion and more robust.
It could certainly do with a bit of a revision to add FEC and a little more bandwidth. But the longer it stays viable, the less likely anything is going to dethrone it, just for the sheer ubiquitousness of it.
Very useful tool.. to prank your colleague with the flamethrower on stage. :-)
- How are safety features handled, movement or "flames" in the protocoll, wired or wireless, so there is no equipment going crazy on interferences ?
The flamethrowers we use require specialist controllers. The cheap eBay ones are not safe at all, as DMX has no error detection.
@@bigclivedotcom ah, thats really bor..
i mean interesting to hear 🙂
Will this work on older fixtures like technobeams??
It will test plain DMX fixtures, but the RDM features like remotely finding a light and setting its address will only work with modern ones.
While doing some research on can bus for a DIY CNC project I came across the following tit bit."The EU has mandated the use of CAN SIL 2 for automation in new products which are safety critical to the public".
But I haven't been able to verify this.
I know DMX has being used to control Safety critical items like lasers as well as winches and hoists for moving rigs and staging. Dp you know if DMX/RDM is SIL 2 rated and do you think this might affect the future of DMX.
DMX has been fudged to work with those systems but as it has no error checking built into the protocol you need extra electronics/software to "sanity check" the data as well as separate hard wired E Stops/deadmans. Sanity checking methods depend on the type of device and can include :-
Same data must be seen on two or more channels.
Must receive the same value over 3 or more frames.
Ignore sudden huge jumps in value (filtering)
Values must be within a specific tight range (for basic on/off triggering)
Only send cues to trigger sequences controlled by a safer system.
Ideally several of those methods would be used together.
I don't know the requirements for SIL 2 but DMX is almost certainly not compliant but it's possible if could feed control data/cues into a SIL 2 rated system.
On one system I designed there were two channels that had to be set to 50% (within about +/-10 to account for analogue desks) to arm it and also if the fader was moved too fast (someone knocked ot for example) it wouldn't arm the fore command was again 50% but a single channel and no restriction on speed, there was a stage manager acting as a spotter with a deadmans to physically kill power if necessary after which the system would have to be disarmed and re-armed. Another thing you have to be careful of is that some "smart" DMX repeaters can carry on putting out the last values recieved if they loose input so flame effects etc. mustn't be used with them.
I thought this was some kind of Audio Controlling Device by looking at that plug, lol.
What happens if you have a dmx channel clash can you remotely reasign the channel or do you need to prod the back of the light/s?
You can have multiple lights on the same range of DMX addresses. The RDM address is different, so each light can still be remotely accessed.
This is really great can I use one with 3 pin dmx? Thanks
Also what software would you use with this?
3 pin and 5 pin DMX are electrically identical, the 5 pin is so you dont plug audio in and destroy something
Yes, with a suitable adaptor.
You can download the DMXcat app for your phone.
@@bigclivedotcom I found the device a wow it's expensive lol maybe not then but I really love the devices you review especially the lighting stuff. Could you do a gig log of a rig setup and teardown at an event just so we can see what goes on at these big events. Many thanks, tony
Cool.
More PRO A/V/L!!! :D :D
I notice that the professional 5 pin plug only has 3 wires!?
The DMX standard allows for two independent networks with a common 0V reference. Only one is needed in this application.
5 Pin connector but only 3 wires used, I guess it must be for compatibility?
No it was just to make it different to the audio guys, to avoid someone connecting an audio line to the dmx network. In reality different colours is plenty good enough
A question I was thinking of standardising on Apurture lights etc but should I instead standize on DMX for ligjting
The advantage of apurture is they can standardise their light colour thus making balancing colour science from different cameras
Any thoughts??
Wherever possible go for a standard protocol to make replacement easier in the future.
@@bigclivedotcom thankyou Clive for your advice. Guess I need to find software that replicates what Aperture gets me!
"It converts a female to a male"
Now we're talking about transitions - an important topic in electrical engineering!
You beat me to it by an hour.
But you still didn’t point out how awesome it was that it’s called a “gender bender” by professional technicians
@@UA-camcensoredmyusername I wonder how many of those technicians who are trans think it's damn funny, because I do.
Personally, I once wanted to buy a DB25 gender changer and wear it as a necklace :D
I have a feeling all these bits of equipment are a bit eye-watering in price
Anything specialist has to have a high price to justify designing and selling it. The value to the user is in how it helps them with their work.
@@bigclivedotcom Dang. I was hoping I'd coax you into bragging about it :3c
Is it possible to get something like this, but way cheaper?
It doesnt look like it would be too expensive to build.
The cost is in the software. There are generic disco units available, but with very little functionality. This unit has a frequently updated library of different lighting fixtures.
You'd have to make it yourself. I'd guess an esp8266 or esp32 using a web interface would be good for DIY, you could write a mobile web app for it then instead of having to learn how to program a native mobile app - you could even program a full lighting controller/desk as a web page too, if you liked. You'd have to implement the rdm protocol and dmx output and some method of mapping device functions to dmx channels. A nice little project.