Sean Meighan
Hardware => Falcon Hardware => Topic started by: bobschm on September 03, 2018, 01:16:53 PM
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This should be very simple, but I can't seem to get it addressed. (F16V4 pun intended)
I have cat5 plugged into DMX3, with the jumpers all on the LOR side. The other end is plugged into an LOR ServoDog, which in the LOR world is just an 8 channel light controller. You program it as if you are talking to a single color light string on each channel. The ServoDog converts those 0-100% ramps into PWM data and sends it to the servos. So in theory, I should be able to pick the right channels and send typical 0-100% bulb dimmer data and get my servos working.
The LOR board is unit 1, which gives it a DMX start channel of 1.
The Falcon is at 192.168.0.60 with a Universe at 203 with 510 channels that will be dedicated to the LOR board. The absolute channel numbers in my setup is 8035-8544.
On the Falcon setup screen, I set the serial output 3 to DMX. I tried absolute Address 8035. I tried Universe and start channel, 203 and 1.
There's no indication the LOR board is receiving any data from the Falcon output.
What am I missing?
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How are you testing the output?
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Watch out for connecting the servo dog to a F-16 controller.
There seems to be a compatibility issue that will burn up the pins on the connector.
You're best off making a crossover cable using only the two data wires.
Lor likes to send voltage out on a couple of the pins.
If the servo dog has digital signal the red light Stops blinking.
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WHAT?! It burns up the pins?
Actually, I'm using a V3, not V4 as I put mistakenly in the title. It has the LOR jumpers so no crossover cable needed. Maybe the old V2 burned up pins? Are you talking about the pins on the F16 or the ServoDog?
Is there some kind of DMX tester I can buy to see if the socket on the F16 is sending data?
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I kind of figured you were talking about the V3.
Technically it shouldn't happen but when you made your post I decided to test it and I hooked my Servo dog to my F-16 V3 and the servo Dog Saw the data for a short time then it quit and before I knew it one of the rj45 pins was melting on the servo dog.
I double-checked the schematic on the servo dog and on the F-16 and it shouldn't have happened, but it did.
The pin that melted shows that there should be no connection on the F-16 side when the jumpers are set to Lor.
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Wow. That's scary. So far my boards show no melted pins or signs of damage. I've been running them on and off for about 20 seconds at a time just to see if they move the servos.
So how do you run your ServoDog from xLights?
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The servo dog was for an animated skull that I built a while ago but never did use it in the show.
Since then I gave up dealing with Lor nonsense and started using xlights so when you posted I got it out and tested it so I could give you exact answers.
I tested the cable and it's fine it could be that the pins crossed on the servo dog when I plugged it in but my response was to err on the side of caution.
The Lor stuff is a little dangerous with its 10 volt output pin that they use to drive their Showtime director and a few other things.
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Also remember this about Lor equipment it looks at the data input and selects what protocol it's going to be listening to upon startup so plug in the data line first then turn it on.
At least that's how I remember it working.
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I'm not married to LOR either. I'm not against swapping the ServoDogs for something that works. What board would you recommend to run my penguins? Each penguin has 7 servos.
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If I was to do it over again I would probably look into the skulltronix board I think it's called son of Chucky and board of Chucky?
Maybe Gil will chime in and mention what he tested on.
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I worked out a deal to get a full up Skulltronix skull at a discount because Jerry knew I would be doing a lot of work to get it working in xLights. It has one of those boards inside but I never had to open it up. Also someone mailed me a ServoDog and an InputPup. I got the InputPup working but I never got far with the ServoDog after looking at the manual.
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I've been reluctant to go with BOC (chucky) because there is no warranty whatsoever.
I'd be happy if I could find someone who got ANY LOR board working with the F16V3. Theoretically, the Servodog should appear to the controller as an 8 channel AC light controller. All the PWM and limits are handled internally by the board. Send it 0-100% voltage stream and it should go.
So I guess I'll look at chucky boards again. But has anyone run one of those from a V3? Or just the V2?
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Did you read Gil's post?
He tested on a skulltronix skull and it had one of those two boards in it.
If you're worried about warranties you might be in the wrong Hobby.
I don't know how many items I've bought at the store brought home opened the box and immediately voided the warranty to do a DIY modification to put it in the show.
Anything worthwhile doing for fun involves some risk.
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I haven't run the skull in a show yet I've only used an Entec Pro DMX dongle to run the skull but I'm sure it would run from a falcon. I also do run three 16 channel LOR PRO AC controllers in my show from F16v2 serial outputs.
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I replaced the RJ45 connector on my Servo dog and did a little further testing.
When I plug the servo dog into an Lor adapter and set it up in xlights I can get a solid status light on the servo dog indicating that it's receiving a signal.
But so far when I try to plug it into a DMX source I can't get a solid light showing that it's receiving a signal using a DMX to Lor crossover cable.
I'm not sure if this might be related to a firmware update that would make it compatible with DMX.
At this time I don't have any Lor software on any of my computer's so I don't have a hardware utility setup anywhere to check it.
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Just a thought but are you guys supplying power to the ServoDog boards? If it's only working with the LOR dongle I would suspect its being powered over USB which will not happen with a Falcon serial output so it would need the board to have external power.
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Just a thought but are you guys supplying power to the ServoDog boards? If it's only working with the LOR dongle I would suspect its being powered over USB which will not happen with a Falcon serial output so it would need the board to have external power.
Lor USB adapter does not Supply Power.
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I'm very suspicious that something deeper is wrong with the V3 implementation. There are lots of LOR boards running with V2 boards, but not a single V3 that I find has been successfully connected to any LOR board.
I just ordered a Son of Chuckie board so I hope to have a backup plan. It says it can operate 16 servos (8 bit, which is all I need). Since Gil has done the heavy work by getting Skulltronix to work, I should be able to jury-rig something from that. But there again, I don't know what Gil was using for a DMX bridge from xLights.
I do have a generic multicast e1.31 to DMX bridge I can use if the Falcon is no go.
I have an LOR dongle somewhere. Perhaps I should try that as well.
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Actually I upgraded one of my controllers to a F16v3 and it ran one of my LOR controllers. I thought I stated it in the other thread with the same topic that I used an Entec Pro DMX adapter to run my skull.
Also for the record some LOR USB adapter do supply power. I have a LOR USB 485-ISO that does.
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I completely forgot about the USB485-ISO and the USB485B.
I don't know too many people that have them but I guess you're one of them.
The most common adapter is the USB485 and now the USB485 high speed.
I downloaded and installed the Lor software again to look at my Servo dog and no matter what I do I can't get it to except a DMX signal from my Falcon, but it will take a DMX signal from my E1.31 6port bridge.
It's just freaking weird.
Everything else I have will run off of the DMX from the falcon just not that Servo dog.
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I'm afraid to hook it to my Falcon after that report....lol.
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If I think of it later when I get home from work I may try again with using 120 ohm shunt.
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I pretty much think the ServoDog is mostly dog. Only works with LOR proprietary protocols.
I ordered a Son of Chuckie board which is in the Skulltronix skull.
I do have a DMX bridge as well, but I haven't fiddled with it. And I'd really like to get rid of the LOR dongle.
The Skull model looks like the best bet, except there's not enough servos and a lot of junk I don't need, like RGB eye lights. I'd love to see a generic stick figure animatronic creature model type, nothing but 16 servos to match the SOC board.
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If you set channel assignments at 0 the field is ignored so things like eye lights shouldn't matter if you don't need them. At this late time of year I don't see any enhancements being done. I haven't worked on my own show at all so far and its time to start.
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I downloaded and installed the Lor software again to look at my Servo dog and no matter what I do I can't get it to except a DMX signal from my Falcon, but it will take a DMX signal from my E1.31 6port bridge.
It's just freaking weird.
Everything else I have will run off of the DMX from the falcon just not that Servo dog.
How did you verify that it took a signal from the bridge? What kind of model/effect did you set up?
Can you run the ServoDog as an 8 channel AC controller? My SD won't operate from either the falcon or my bridge. But the bridge wont run anything else, so I'm awaiting a replacement.
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I was verifying that it was receiving a signal buy the status light on the servo dog.
I haven't gone back and looked at this for a while because I've been busy trying to get my sequences done.
The servo dog can only operate servos and a few dumb RGB it can't be used for an AC controller at least not in any practical way.
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So that pretty much confirms that no one has actually gotten a servo to move on a ServoDog using xLights.
It looks like I'll be running last year's show using LOR. I did get a Skulltronix board to work, but there is not enough time to learn how to program it and redo all my penguin routines before Thanksgiving.
Oh well. :-\ Just wait til next year!
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So that pretty much confirms that no one has actually gotten a servo to move on a ServoDog using xLights.
It looks like I'll be running last year's show using LOR. I did get a Skulltronix board to work, but there is not enough time to learn how to program it and redo all my penguin routines before Thanksgiving.
Oh well. :-\ Just wait til next year!
That only confirms that the 5 users reading the forum didn't get it working...lol.
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I pulled mine back down and this only took me a couple of minutes.
https://youtu.be/GASdseG8dfU
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I didn't have audio and I couldn't see the head move. So was it working?
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Sorry about that I was using my phone and I didn't realize that the start of the video was delayed.
But yes I did a crude test and it's working from an F4 V3 but when I go and try to plug it back into my F-16 it doesn't work.
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I just pulled out my old BK scope just to compare the DMX signal between the F4 and the F-16 and there's definitely a difference between the two.
The F4 Signal looks more defined with more amplitude.
I wish I could tell you more but the scope was never meant for digital signals and I have a hard time keeping the CRT focused.