ECG-D2 Pinout ?

[randallr]

I've hooked up my first D2 to a basic 3ch DMX controller (holidaycoro model). I have the D2's Pin1 going to the Red lead, and Pin 2 going to the Blue lead.
The DMX contoller never senses the DMX signal and stays in the default sequence.
I've not had to use a terminator before, but grabbed a 150 ohm 1/2 watt resistor to no avail. (didn't have a 120 ohm one handy and didn't know if the 150 would work or not)

 

[garyh]

Randall, short answer (which is actually a long answer):

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,2885.0.html

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,2888.0.html

If you still have questions let me know. Firmware update is coming soon j1sys says

 

[randallr]

Actually, I've never got the DMX modules to respond correctly. When I attach the Red wire to the Orange/White wire, the default colorfade stops. If I start a sequence in LOR, the test LED will blink intermittently. When I attach the Blue wire to the Orange conductor, it starts it's default colorfade.


Having only used XLR cables etc with DMX in the past, I'm still sketchy on the RJ45 cabling on the DMX, as well as termination. My goal here is to have 36 DMX controllers for my snowflakes. I'd planned to have them in four boxes in groups of 9, with 2 ECG-D2's- 4 seperate universe's for the groups of 9 controllers. For now, I have a single D2, with a single 2' CAT5, going to a single DMX box and single 8mm LED setup on my desk.


I've read that I don't need the ground, and also that I need a 150 ohm resistor. (I screwed up yesterday and picked up 150 ohm package. Will get 120's today.)


Figured I needed to backup and make sure that I'm using the correct wiring before moving forward. Which wires to where and also how the resistor needs to be placed, i.e., between which two and does it matter which way it goes?


FYI, the D2 is set to DMX 30. I've got the DMX module set to Ch 1,2,3 and confirmed it works with the holidaycoro dongle. I've got 3 LOR USB 485 adapters going to a CCR tree and original LOR network, and a P12 controlling another 12 pixel strings (Universe 1-12) and several P2's (Universe 20-26). No problems there.


I'm starting to panic so I appreciate your help!

 

[kane]

Actually, I've never got the DMX modules to respond correctly. When I attach the Red wire to the Orange/White wire, the default colorfade stops. If I start a sequence in LOR, the test LED will blink intermittently. When I attach the Blue wire to the Orange conductor, it starts it's default colorfade.

I don't know anything about these controllers, but can try to help with some general info

Having only used XLR cables etc with DMX in the past, I'm still sketchy on the RJ45 cabling on the DMX, as well as termination. My goal here is to have 36 DMX controllers for my snowflakes. I'd planned to have them in four boxes in groups of 9, with 2 ECG-D2's- 4 seperate universe's for the groups of 9 controllers. For now, I have a single D2, with a single 2' CAT5, going to a single DMX box and single 8mm LED setup on my desk.

I've read that I don't need the ground, and also that I need a 150 ohm resistor. (I screwed up yesterday and picked up 150 ohm package. Will get 120's today.)

Yes, certainly best to focus on getting one going - and work on the big picture once that's all good.
From the wiki, Pin 1 to DMX+ and Pin 2 to DMX- And Ground to Pin 7 or 8. I'm pretty certain you do need ground, so make sure that you've got that wired in.

View: https://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/File:Connector_RJ45-gif

Figured I needed to backup and make sure that I'm using the correct wiring before moving forward. Which wires to where and also how the resistor needs to be placed, i.e., between which two and does it matter which way it goes?

In terms of termination, I wouldn't worry too much about this for initial testing, as it's unlikely to be causing your issues.. But basically, you need to have the 120ohm resister between the DMX+ and DMX- on the very last controller in your string.. (resisters do not have polarity, so it doesn't matter which way around they are)

FYI, the D2 is set to DMX 30. I've got the DMX module set to Ch 1,2,3 and confirmed it works with the holidaycoro dongle. I've got 3 LOR USB 485 adapters going to a CCR tree and original LOR network, and a P12 controlling another 12 pixel strings (Universe 1-12) and several P2's (Universe 20-26). No problems there.

"DMX 30" - I assume that means universe 30? To isolate things, I would use a third party e1.31 program (such as Da_131), and set it up to send data to universe 30.. Then, load up the D2 web config and click the "Statistics" menu item, and make sure that you're getting packets through against the slots. (I assume the D2 is similar to the DR4 which I have) Once this is happening, you know that the D2 is getting data from your network, and can then focus on the potential issue from there to your controllers.

Hope this helps a bit - it's late, so sorry if I've made it more confusing!!

 

[garyh]

Actually, I've never got the DMX modules to respond correctly. When I attach the Red wire to the Orange/White wire, the default colorfade stops. If I start a sequence in LOR, the test LED will blink intermittently. When I attach the Blue wire to the Orange conductor, it starts it's default colorfade.

Randall, I have the same controllers from HolidayCoro! The solid orange goes to the blue, the white/orange goes to the red, the black is cut off.

Figured I needed to backup and make sure that I'm using the correct wiring before moving forward. Which wires to where and also how the resistor needs to be placed, i.e., between which two and does it matter which way it goes?

As far as termination, I've not even messed with that at this point. Termination if needed should be at the last item in the DMX line to avoid reflection--but that's only if you have a problem.

FYI, the D2 is set to DMX 30. I've got the DMX module set to Ch 1,2,3 and confirmed it works with the holidaycoro dongle. I've got 3 LOR USB 485 adapters going to a CCR tree and original LOR network, and a P12 controlling another 12 pixel strings (Universe 1-12) and several P2's (Universe 20-26). No problems there.

Here's the thing, depending on if the HolidayCoro programming software picked up your Holiday Coro DMX controller as V1 or V2--that's gonna change how the unit acts when the ECG-D2 is actually sending keep alive, and at this point what it sends will NOT stop the colorwashing of the RGB controllers if they came up V1. If they came up V2 then you might have a chance, but only for as long as the Orange LED stays on for the RJ45 cable--which for mine is 1 to 15 mins--after that the orange LED goes off and the only way to get light control back is to reboot the D2 via webpage or recycle power to it.

I just screenshot my settings for the Keep Alive portion--there's a new firmware update coming out. If you set your D2 to the same Keep Alive parameters, watch the orange LED in the front where you have your Cat5 cable plugged in. When you reboot the orange LED will be lit, as long as it's lit the HolidayCoro V2 RGB controllers will stop colorfading with whatever color they were on at the time. Unfortunately the V1 controllers (as determined by the HolidayCoro programming software) will keep colorfading.

I've spent about 20 hrs working on it now, and here's the thing, the ECG-D2 won't stop the colorwashing on the V1 controllers at this time. The V2's will stop at the color they were colorfading with when the D2 is rebooted and the orange LED is on. Once the orange LED goes off (1 to 15 mins for me) then both V1 and V2 controllers will colorfade and the D2 appears to be non-responsive until reboot.

At this point I'm not sweating it as I can either try to reprogram the HolidayCoro DMX controllers not to colorfade which would take a few hours if a guy can even get a V1 to not colorfade on default sequence--it would be a lot of work! Now here's the fix for me, I pull out my USB Lynx Dongle, hook the RJ45 to it and viola, no colorfade all the controllers see the DMX signal and go off.

I'm hoping the D2 firmware update fixes the keep alive, but at this point the HolidayCoro RGB controllers don't consider what's coming out of the D2 as a DMX signal as compared to the USB Lynx Dongle. I probably need to tell Ed all of this, I've been testing as I was hoping to move to E1.31 this year, but right now it's looking like another year of USB for the majority of my DMX elements.

I believe HolidayCoro released another version of their programming software, I'll have to see if I can pick up the V1s as V2s now and kill the colorfade... seems the only real way to use the D2 as it's set up at the moment.

 

[garyh]

took an easy to get to HolidayCoro RGB controller and reprogrammed it turning the colorwash off (V2). Now there is no colorwashing which solves that problem.

As far as RGB cycle testing in xlights, if you don't have Keep Alive on with the Orange LED on, the RGB pattern will go to Red, blink 3 times then go to Green, blink 3 times, then Blue and blink 3 times--apparently these controllers need a constant DMX signal or they default to their built-in mode (which in my case is off).

Since LSP from what I've read will buffer the DMX output using the hardware controller, you can turn keep alive off on the D2 and go into LSP hardware controller and set blue and it will be a solid blue with no flashing.

So the workaround for now is to reprogram the RGB controllers default mode to be Off if you have a V2 controller. The V1s that were sold before Sep 2012 are gonna colorwash and you can't change that from what I've read. Keep alive makes the controllers respond much better--without it there's a delay.

 

[dmoore]

took an easy to get to HolidayCoro RGB controller and reprogrammed it turning the colorwash off (V2). Now there is no colorwashing which solves that problem.

I assume by problem, you mean that when you turn off your sequences at the end of your show, that the controllers will not go through their pre-programmed sequences.

As far as RGB cycle testing in xlights, if you don't have Keep Alive on with the Orange LED on, the RGB pattern will go to Red, blink 3 times then go to Green, blink 3 times, then Blue and blink 3 times--apparently these controllers need a constant DMX signal or they default to their built-in mode (which in my case is off).

That is correct - if there is not a DMX signal present, and you don't have the built-in sequence turned off (V2 controllers only), they will default to their built-in sequence. This shouldn't matter for testing only as you would have a constant output signal.

Since LSP from what I've read will buffer the DMX output using the hardware controller, you can turn keep alive off on the D2 and go into LSP hardware controller and set blue and it will be a solid blue with no flashing.

If there is a valid DMX signal, there should be no interferance from the built-in sequence. A keep alive is usually a DMX output device specific function (such as in the Lynx or the DR4).

So the workaround for now is to reprogram the RGB controllers default mode to be Off if you have a V2 controller. The V1s that were sold before Sep 2012 are gonna colorwash and you can't change that from what I've read. Keep alive makes the controllers respond much better--without it there's a delay.

This sounds like maybe we are discussing two different things. Here are the details for these controllers:

* V1 and V2 controllers will default to a built-in sequence if there is no valid DMX signal (no matter what the DMX intensity levels are).

* V2 controllers can be programmed to have "OFF" as a sequence type, thus disabling this test function/feature. V1 controllers always default to the built-in sequence where the is not a valid DMX signal present.

* There should be NO issues with any kind of interferance/delays/reponse delays with the DMX signal as a result of the built-in sequence on V1 or V2. If there is a valid DMX command and the controller is being addressed, it will perform that intensity level.

 

[randallr]

FYI- I had made no changes from the default on all of the options but the Universe # and the port light always stayed on as long as LOR Control panel was running..


I've solved my problem of never getting a signal. I put Universe 30 in Port 2 of the D2 and it works perfectly. Must be a bad port. Will worry about that later. Now it's time to play!


Thanks ALL!