DMX Troubleshooting

toodle_pipsky

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Hey all,
Just after some things to try and troubleshoot as my DMX items are not working. I used this stuff 2 years ago (missed last year) and it worked then.


Dongle showing data going out, board showing it's receiving data, but lights not working. Checked polarity of lights and for boards with test function lights ok when test run. Using Vixen 3, but went back to Vixen 2 to do simple testing - no go on either. 2 dongles - ADV & Lynx - neither work. So far just trying 2 different boards - AVD 48DC and 27 channel from Ray Wu. Set start channel ok.


About the only thing I haven't tried since they last worked is that it's a new computer. Do the dongles need drivers? When I connect them you get the little ding dong of a device connected, so figured it wasn't necessary.


Anything else to check or try? Thanks heaps.
 

Superman

I Have C.L.A.P and its very infectious
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DMX dongles certainly need drivers and you can find links and instructions in the wiki HERE (FTDI drivers for dongles)

Start with that and see how you go.
 

David_AVD

Grandpa Elf
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Maybe use my da_DMX software to send some known data to the boards. Make sure you shut down any other sequencer software first.
 

toodle_pipsky

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Thanks for that guys. It said drivers up to date (so i must have installed something!) but I reinstalled and nothing.
I'd forgotten about that test DMX program, thanks for that David. When I set it to full intensity under the single tab, all the lights come on. None of the other tests work though.
 

David_AVD

Grandpa Elf
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The red, green and blue sliders should also bring up portions of your lights too.

Which channel faders affect the lights will depend on that start channel set on the controllers.
 

toodle_pipsky

Minister of Silly Walks
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Ok, problem solved. I tried a few things over the course of the afternoon, so I can't say for sure what fixed it, but I think it was just as simple as resetting the start channel again. I had reinstalled Vixen (side bonus of getting the latest release) and reinstalled/connected one of the dongles. Could be all these things, but like I said I suspect it was just resetting the start number, I may have not quite done it right the first time, I did a fresh download of da_start, who knows what it was. All I know is I powered down with everything working.
Thanks for the tips though guys.
 
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