DMX36 Printable version

[[Image:DMX36.jpg|400px|thumb|right|]]

The DMX36 controller accepts DMX input and drives 36 DC channels.

For sales see [http://www.hansonelectronics.com.au www.hansonelectronics.com.au]

Features

• Quad (4)zone DC input (5V - 35V) (large screw terminals)
• 4x 30A blade(ATO automotive style)fuses (30A overall max per 15 channel zone)
• 36 DC outputs (5A max per channel)
• Output terminals arranged as V+, Ch, Ch, Ch (suits RGB)
• True isolated DMX input (2x RJ45 sockets for looping)
• Jumper for terminating DMX cable
• Remaining zone/s will continue working if other zone/s fuse blow or aren't in use
• PCB size is 165mm x 93mm
• Supplied fully built and tested
• Upgradeable firmware
• Integrated test mode
• Software selectable start address

DC Input

The 4 large 2 way green connectors on the PCB are the DC inputs from your power supply/supplies. Each zone (9 channels) of the DMX36 can use a separate power supply, or you can feed all zones from one common power supply. Separate wiring (back to the power supply) for each zone is recommended to minimise voltage drop. The + terminals are positive and the - terminals are negative. All - terminals are connected together on the pcb so the power supplies in use must be able to have the V- terminals joined. For almost all power supplies this will be the case.
There are no jumpers required when using different voltages or for any voltage withing the 5V to 40V range.

Fuses

Each zone of the DMX36 has a 10 Amp blade fuse installed at shipping time. For greater protection, you can replace them with lower value types if the maximum current draw from that zone will be significantly less than 10 Amps or conversely if a higher current is required they can be replaced with a fuse up to 30A. The fuses used are conventional ATX automotive fuses.

Channel Outputs

There are 36 channel outputs; 9 per zone and 18 per side. Each zone can be run at the same, or a different supply voltage. The channels are arranged in groups of 3 (with a common V+) to suit RGB applications, but they are all individual circuits.

The maximum load per channel is 5 Amps, but the overall limit per zone is 30 Amps. This means that you can't turn on all 15 outputs of a zone with the maximum load. In reality, this should not be a problem as most loads will be less than that. A fair degree of care will need to be shown with the wiring if high currents are used. A short distance between the power supply and the pcb and thick cables will be required if the full 30 amps per zone is to be used.

DMX Input

There are two RJ45 connectors for DMX input / passthrough. They are wired in parallel so it makes no difference which one is used as the input. The RJ45 connection is wired to ESTA standard wiring.
See the user manual for details.

Termination

If there is only 1 connector in use the termination jumper for the DMX line should be installed as there should always be a termination at the end of DMX lines. If both connectors are in use then the jumper shouldn't be installed.
See the user manual for details.

LEDs

There are 3 small LEDs adjacent to the micro.
Red led-Power, Blue led-Mode, Green led-Data
-Red led 5V power to micro and electronics
-(MODE) Blue led flashing slowly (1Hz ). (DATA) Green led off. Test mode
-(MODE) Blue led flashing 10Hz. (DATA) Green led off. Address setting mode. No address yet
-(MODE) Blue led flashing 10Hz. (DATA) Green led on. Address setting mode. Address set
-(MODE) Blue led on solid. (DATA) Green led flashing 10 Hz. Normal run mode. Dmx packets being received
-(MODE) Blue led on solid. (DATA) Green led off. Normal run mode. No dmx data

Test mode takes precedence over normal running so errors/status message other than test mode won’t be displayed if in test mode

Start Channel

When you receive your DMX36, it will be set to DMX start channel 1. That is, it will respond to channels 1 to 36. To change the start address use the procedure in the user manual.

* There is no need to restart the DMX36 to use the new address. The address can be changed at any time time with power on.

Firmware Updates

The firmware can be updated via the onboard ICSP header. Details of the procedure are in the user manual.
The latest version of firmware is V1.1. Extract it and use the instructions in the back of the manual. A pickit2 or pickit3 is required.

User Manual

[[File:DMX36-user-manual-1-2-pdf]]