Ray's 27ch DMX controller woes

twinkleclaus

twinkleclaus

New elf
Joined
Jan 6, 2011
Messages
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I have a few of the Ray's 27 channel DMX RGB controllers. One works great, but two others are causing me pains. When running in 'Fun' mode, each channel lights up. However, I cannot control each channel individually. That is, using LSP or other DMX controlling software via the J1SYS ECG-DMXREN8, I can only get the channels to respond when I turn everything on. If I try to control channels individually, they may respond, but often times, they do not. Watching the DMX activity light, it has DMX input, then goes solid for 2-3 seconds like there is no DMX activity, even though I am outputting DMX. The other controller I have does not behave this way. Is there a firmware update or some other trick? I have the 2 faulty ones configured the same as the one that works, except on a different universe. I tried switching the universes around so the faulty ones were on the 'working' universe, but the problem followed the controllers.
 
i don't know if is possibly the fault but 1 of the 5 I had here had 1 of the dipswitches with 1 position that wouldn't work. I'd try testing them with something like da_131, da_dmx, xlights or a similar test up to see what start address they are responding to. The dipswitches are cheap, easily available and are socketed so they are easy to replace.
 
I had the same deal. About 3 of mine had 1 dip switch faulty, so that dip switch got moved to somewhere where the faulty part was not needed :)
 
Since I am using channels 1-27 on one (faulty) board and 28-55 on the second (faulty) board, I may be better off just pulling off the DIP switches and plugging in jumpers to set the start addresses to see if that helps.
 
I was able to do some more troubleshooting, and think the issue is with LSP. The DIP switches are good (I even removed one and used jumpers to set the start address). DA_131 and DA_DMX both control the 27 channel boards on the proper channels through the ECG-DMXREN8 without any problems. However, they fail to work properly when using LSP. The only thing LSP will do with these boards is light up every channel. If I run a single channel, I go either no output or it is hit-or-miss. I did change the universe number and the ports on the DMXREN8, but the problem followed the changes. I'll do some sniffer traces next to see if the packets for this universe/multicast address are corrupt.
 
twinkleclaus said:
I was able to do some more troubleshooting, and think the issue is with LSP. The DIP switches are good (I even removed one and used jumpers to set the start address). DA_131 and DA_DMX both control the 27 channel boards on the proper channels through the ECG-DMXREN8 without any problems. However, they fail to work properly when using LSP. The only thing LSP will do with these boards is light up every channel. If I run a single channel, I go either no output or it is hit-or-miss. I did change the universe number and the ports on the DMXREN8, but the problem followed the changes. I'll do some sniffer traces next to see if the packets for this universe/multicast address are corrupt.
Click to expand...

If you are thinking its LSP but it runs with these other softwares then there must be something that you are missing in LSP because DMX is DMX and the 27 channel controller and the ECG combination with LSP is being used bt many members including myself without any issue. So i have a couple of things to try that I hope will solve your issue.

How are you testing in LSP, are you createing a sequence and testing that way or are you testing through the hardware tester. If you are testing by using the grid and testing a sequence then the very first thing I ask is have you done an optimization of that sequence. The reason I ask is if you use the sequencer to output a sequence and make changes without optimizing the sequence then the output of LSP will be messed up as it has not optimized the fresh data that has been added/modified in the sequence and thus get weired output results.

To do an optimization right mouse click in the music wave area and then goto properties and then select optimize entire sequence. Give that a go and see if its improved your output. If you still have issues then try setting the output of the ECG-DMX/REN8 to have the keep alives active. With the j1sys DMX bridges an output will only send data when it is needed to, so if you find that the controller is loosing connection then this may be the cause.

If you still have issues then posting your E1.31 LSP setup and the ECG-DMX/REN8 setup and also a screen shot of your 27 channel controllers setup in the grid and their start channels as these pics help solve over 90% of configuration issues with LSP and e1.31
 
All of my other e1.31 and other DMXREN8 connected devices (expect for these two 27 ch controllers - I have two other 27 ch. controllers and a bunch of 3 ch controllers on other DMXREN8 outputs w/o issue) work just fine. I'm just having problems with these 2 controllers (others of the same type, but purchased at different times work well). I have tried it through LSP Hardware tester and sequences with the same results. At this point, the display is live, so I'll need to stave off any further testing with these 2 boards until later. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Oh how I wish that dmx was just dmx. There are fairly massive differences in the dmx signal that hardware has to respond to and that hardware/software generates. The update rate can vary from probably more than 100 updates a second if not all 512 channels are being broadcast (they don't have to be) down to 1 update per second. The timing of the sync pulses that indicate the start of the stream vary wildly too as I discovered. LOR, LSP, da_dmx, lights up, xlights all produce significantly different start pulses which I have screen grabs of from my oscilloscope. I hate serial data and above all other types of serial data dmx is the new winner,
 
I have 4 of these 27 channel controllers and have on and off problems with all of them. the address's don't seem to set properly or stay set. Isuspect the issue is in fact with the dip switches. The controllers work in the test mode (#10 on) and respond but occassionaly seem to fall off channel settings (dmx range changes). REALLY need a better solution (9 small 3 controllers work but not as convenent as a single 24 or 27 channel or more solution. Any body have a better solution (that is NOT $100+ )? I am running LOR 3.9 so I would suspect it is not a LSP issue as the previous posts, since i am having the same problems.
 
I have 8 of these boards and 6 LOR boards all running in DMX through LSP and I have not seen any of the problems mentioned above. I have mine being used via E1.31 and a D4.


I also had 3 of them running in DMX through LOR earlier this year without a problem using a LOR USB485.
 
If using a E1.31 to DMX bridge like the ECG-D4, D2 DR4 ect then make sure you have the keep alive settings active as the DMX signal will not be always be sent depending on what is happening. This will ensure the controller is aways seeing a constant flow of DMX data
 
Thanks for the tip FE! I sniffed the e1.31 packets for the universe that was having problems between the da_131 and LSP outputs and found that the da_131 continuously sends out packets, thus the controllers work. LSP does not send out as many packets, thus my problems. I set keepalive params on my ECG-DMXREN8 without luck. I disabled all of that and checked the LIOP box (what ever that is??) for the universe in question and my controllers came to life! Any idea what the LIOP box on a DMXREN8 is for?
 
twinkleclaus said:
Thanks for the tip FE! I sniffed the e1.31 packets for the universe that was having problems between the da_131 and LSP outputs and found that the da_131 continuously sends out packets, thus the controllers work. LSP does not send out as many packets, thus my problems. I set keepalive params on my ECG-DMXREN8 without luck. I disabled all of that and checked the LIOP box (what ever that is??) for the universe in question and my controllers came to life! Any idea what the LIOP box on a DMXREN8 is for?
Click to expand...

Great to hear

This post sums up what LIOP does
 
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