Adding second controller - new start channel??

[Charger]

Hi all,

I have had one DMX controller working well for me the last few years, however this year I have bought a second controller (both DMX-36).

I am struggling to get the second one working properly. I am thinking several things could be the cause.

1. Start channel of the second controller - I have tried to set the start channel of the second controller to 37 using da_start, however I don't know if I am doing it correctly as there is no save option.

2. I have ethernet cable running from the second port of the first controller to the 1st port of the second controller (not sure if that is correct)

3. I have not changed any settings in my E1.31 Bridge (not sure if I need to do this)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[AAH]

Yes you need to set the 2nd 1 to 37.
You may need to change things in your bridge and/or xlights. Pop up pics if you're not having any luck.

 

[Charger]

Yes you need to set the 2nd 1 to 37.
You may need to change things in your bridge and/or xlights. Pop up pics if you're not having any luck.

Thanks Alan,

I tried changing the start channel to 37 using 'da start' (see below), using a USB dongle but there is no option to save it or anything??



I am using Vixen 3 as my sequencer and I added in the second controller in there, but I haven't seen anywhere to select the start channel in there. Should I be calling it the one controller and say it has 72 channels?

 

[i13]

Remember to remove the termination jumper on the first DMX36 and have it in place on the second one.

 

[AAH]

With da_start you set it up as you have above. Turn on the PGM dipswitch on the DMX36. The blue led will flash at 10Hz. The green led will be off. When you click on "open port" the dongle light will start flashing madly and then the green led on the DMX36 will turn on solid. Turn off the PGM switch. The below bit is from the DMX36 user manual.
-Blue MODE led flashing 10Hz. Green DATA led off. PGM/Address setting mode. No valid address yet
-Blue MODE led flashing 10Hz. Green DATA led on. PGM/Address setting mode. Valid address received

To check if everything worked right you can close da_start and run da_dmx or da_tester and on the faders tab turn on channels 1 through to 72 in turn and confirm that they work as expected.

As far as vixen goes I have absolutely no idea. I've had 3 attempts over the years to try to use it but initially went back to LOR but now I'm sticking with Xlights as it's easy, powerful and has by far the biggest user base.

 

[Notenoughlights]

When adding the controller in Vixen, what controller did you add? I.e what is sending the DMX signal to the controller
View: https://i.imgur.com/KGaEf5p.png

 

[Charger]

With da_start you set it up as you have above. Turn on the PGM dipswitch on the DMX36. The blue led will flash at 10Hz. The green led will be off. When you click on "open port" the dongle light will start flashing madly and then the green led on the DMX36 will turn on solid. Turn off the PGM switch. The below bit is from the DMX36 user manual.
-Blue MODE led flashing 10Hz. Green DATA led off. PGM/Address setting mode. No valid address yet
-Blue MODE led flashing 10Hz. Green DATA led on. PGM/Address setting mode. Valid address received

To check if everything worked right you can close da_start and run da_dmx or da_tester and on the faders tab turn on channels 1 through to 72 in turn and confirm that they work as expected.

As far as vixen goes I have absolutely no idea. I've had 3 attempts over the years to try to use it but initially went back to LOR but now I'm sticking with Xlights as it's easy, powerful and has by far the biggest user base.

Ahh! Thank you Alan. Looks like that did the trick. I obviously glossed over the PGM part of the manual. Looking at it now - it is obvious.

Thanks to others for the suggestions.