Sean Meighan
Welcome => Do You Need Help? Post it here => Topic started by: RobertB on October 18, 2015, 07:39:33 PM
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I just came to the realization that the max channels I can run on a LOR dongle is 96. Is this true? It looks like I have 7 LOR controllers I will be using. Not all of the channels are used on each though.
I honestly had not made up my mind if I was going to try and run the shows with xlights or with LOR. I wasn't too sure on how I was going to run a startup file for my projector (which is a big deal for me and spent a lot of time in LOR perfecting that). However I think that trying to run it in LOR with the new pixel stuff I have added, might drag LOR down. Thus my looking at xlights. Also wasn't real happy with how my progress with Pixel Editor was going.
I know I can run LOR in dmx. Is this what I am going to have to do?
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One of the smart guys can give a good technical answer to this. But if you are running your display from xlights, you can run your LOR controllers using their native LOR protocols; DMX not a "requirement" so to speak.
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Robert, the LOR RS-485 dongle was designed to output the LOR Protocol at slower baud rates than DMX.
DMX has a fixed (required) baud rate of 250,000 while the fastest LOR Protocol was 115,000.
So, the LOR dongle is running at a higher speed than intended and seems to choke when required to output a lot of channels. A true DMX Dongle is a better choice. An E1.31 (Ethernet to DMX) Bridge is an even better choice.
If you are outputting LOR protocol (not DMX) from an LOR Dongle, I don't think that "96" limit applies. (I abandoned LOR protocol years ago for DMX and don't do this, so I could be out of date)
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Didn't realize that the LOR protocol was limited by speed issues. Makes sense though. Guess I might have to make a separate dmx lead in cable for the first controller. (LOR) There is nothing else you have to do on the LOR side, right? Also does it have to be run on Universe 1? Hope not. I do use E1.31 on other props and controllers.
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Are the channels of the LOR controllers in order of the controller number?
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LOR controllers act this way:
Device 1 is DMX 1 to 16
Device 2 is dmx 17 to 32
Device 3 is dmx 33 to 48
And so on
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Pretty sure lor has a 500k adapter. I think it's the red one.
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I wonder if the 500k one would give me more channels? Almost would just go dmx. Working out channels on spreadsheet now.
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The 500K one helps with CCR/CCB. If you run your LOR via Comm ports then you are limited to
http://www1.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf
But if you run under DMX , you can have multiple identical ID's. For example Off my Pixlite's I run a crossover connector off the 485 ports, map that output as Universe X, make my LOR boxes ID 1, 2, 3, and channels (hardwired) 1-48. So each output can have an ID01, 2, 3.
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Ok,
As most of you have come from the LOR world and am diving into the RGB world...so have I. So I have several LOR controllers I am no longer using. I got all the way up to 13 controllers before switching a ton of stuff to RGB controllers (both dumb and smart, both dmx and e1.31). I have left the "Holes" in the sequences when those controllers got replace with RGB. For example I have nothing on controllers 9, 10 and 11 because I am using RGB mini trees instead of incan mini trees. Same thing on my mega tree (incan) that has now moved to pixel. However I have stuff on controllers 12 and 13, for example.
So I have 99 channels that I will be using. I know a couple of those I probably can consolidate to move to 96. Will I have to fill in the holes? In other words will the channels have to be in order, or can I split them apart? Like having to move everything up towards controller #1? Pain since I have so many sequences to change.
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If I understand the question, you don't need to "fill" in the holes. I have 2 CCB's in my sequences but they don't exist. I also have a universe that starts at 451 for 16 channels. Nothing else. I try not to have too many blanks and use as many of the 512 channels as I can but not sure it makes much difference performance wise. Just cumbersome programming.
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Understand on the Universes. But in the LOR document, it assigns the dmx channels to the "Units". I guess that xlights is consecutive channels and won't skip units? I would love it if it would. Just really don't want to go and change things around, especially if I end up having to run it in LOR anyway.
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If you mean XL's model won't skip channels, yes. But I believe in the setup, you can assign 512 channels per universe and use any that you want or not. I have say LOR ID 06, 0B, 10 16ch boxes on Universe 55, IP 198.162.0.104 as below. 06 starts at 81 then some empties then OB starts at 161 then 10 starts at 241. Numbers on the right are XL channels. It "skips" the empties in between the LOR's. In Models LOR 06 is 14559 for 16 channels.
Empty 104 55 80 14479 14558
6 485 IK 104 55 81 81 96 16 14574
Empty 104 55 64 14575 14638
OB 485 Spirals 104 55 161 161 176 16 14639 14654
Empty 104 55 64 14655 14718
10 485 IK trees 104 55 241 241 256 16 14719 14734
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Ok but are you running your LOR boxes in dmx? I was talking about running my LOR boxes in LOR on xlights. That is where I was worried about the skipping. Skipping in LOR protocol not DMX protocol.
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Even with LOR protocol you still have to program a unit ID which means the unit is capable of picking out the slice it needs from the data stream and that not all units need to be connected.
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I'm so sorry I am not making myself clear on this.
I know that in setting up your models you have to assign channels. Be it in dmx or LOR. In the LOR DMX Addressing Table on http://www1.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf it shows the unit 06 has a starting dmx address of 81. That would make it end at 96.
My question is this;
I have controllers on Unit 01, thru 04. I skip 05 and 06. Then I go to 07. Skip 08 thru 11 (don't even use the 0A thru 0F thing). Then I have units 12 and 13.
In all of that, I use 100 channels. YES. I know I need to do some cleaning up. But time is not on my side and trying to figure which way to go. I can quickly shave down to 96 total used channels.
So... yes to the question now ;-)
Can I leave the sequences as is and move them over, or do I have to clean up all of those holes before I do? I want to use the LOR dongle if possible. I do not have the 500k one and really don't want to spend more money on LOR stuff... if possible
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It depends on how you plan to bring the sequences over. If you have X number of channels and bring them over as a conversion or a data layer then you will still have X number of channels in the resulting data and you can't reduce it to a smaller number in xLights. If you are importing as effects then it's possible but you would need to first bring in the sequences using the full channel count and an exact model mapping including the gaps and THEN you could delete the channels/models you aren't using and the imported effects would remain on the other models which you can then move around to anywhere you want.
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So... yes to the question now ;-)
Can I leave the sequences as is and move them over, or do I have to clean up all of those holes before I do? I want to use the LOR dongle if possible. I do not have the 500k one and really don't want to spend more money on LOR stuff... if possible
In SE set your Lor boxes up on whatever COM port the LOR dongle is on. In XL make the first entry COMx. I think this is where the confusion is as XL kinda says 96 is the max for a COM port. This is just a recommendation and you can have more. I have 112 channels on my COM6 in XL setup. I think you could put more in your case 304 channels. I could be wrong so maybe a guru can pipe in?
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So... yes to the question now ;-)
Can I leave the sequences as is and move them over, or do I have to clean up all of those holes before I do? I want to use the LOR dongle if possible. I do not have the 500k one and really don't want to spend more money on LOR stuff... if possible
In SE set your Lor boxes up on whatever COM port the LOR dongle is on. In XL make the first entry COMx. I think this is where the confusion is as XL kinda says 96 is the max for a COM port. This is just a recommendation and you can have more. I have 112 channels on my COM6 in XL setup. I think you could put more in your case 304 channels. I could be wrong so maybe a guru can pipe in?
If this is the case..... you would have just made my day... maybe week! :-)
It will be easy for me to get rid of ID #'s 8,9,10 and 11. I can just move up controllers 12 and 13. The others are little more of a pain.
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If this is the case..... you would have just made my day... maybe week! :-)
It will be easy for me to get rid of ID #'s 8,9,10 and 11. I can just move up controllers 12 and 13. The others are little more of a pain.
I think that XL sends to the COM port only what it needs to. COM ports can't handle the traffic like networking can so there is a limit. 96 total channels is a safe number but your mileage will vary. I suppose if all 96 were repeatedly turned off/on at once it might cause problems? I run 112 with no problems and on the slow dongle.
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http://nutcracker123.com/forum/index.php?topic=1306.msg7239#msg7239
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Next tutorial will be how to post a link. :)
http://nutcracker123.com/forum/index.php?topic=1306.msg7239#msg7239 (http://nutcracker123.com/forum/index.php?topic=1306.msg7239#msg7239)
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Next tutorial will be how to post a link. :)
I can barely make the lights blink let alone learn anything more! :P
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Pretty sure lor has a 500k adapter. I think it's the red one.
What is a 500K adapter? Red one?? Huh??
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Pretty sure lor has a 500k adapter. I think it's the red one.
What is a 500K adapter? Red one?? Huh??
Look here.
http://www1.lightorama.com/converters/