Can anyone please point me in the direction of a good tutorial on running LOR controllers in dmx wit

[mberta2]

Hey everyone. I am finally working the bugs out on my setup for this year. I am running into an issue with my LOR controllers lagging (like 5-10 secs behind) when run through xlights. I'm running them using the LOR dongle as a usb network. It's 96 channels. That, along with 2-27ch rbg controllers running on usb as well, I think it's just too much. I'm under the impression that my best option is to run my LOR controllers in dmx mode for better results. I have been searching for a while now and it seems like there is alot of info on it, but no full tutorial from start to finish on how to switch LOR to dmx and then add them to xlights. Could you guys point me in the direction of some good, reliable information on doing this? Thank you so much in advance.

[Gilrock]

The auschristmaslighting.com website is a good resource.  Here's a link that has a nice presentation that I've always used for figuring out the LOR to DMX mapping settings:
http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php?topic=1139.0

But...5-10 secs delay doesn't sound right.  Are you saying there is no lag when running the equipment through LOR software?  When I've mentioned the LOR stuff lagging I meant in the millisecond range not several seconds and that was only when I was running several hundred channels to their CCR ribbons.

[jnealand]

I have sold off all my LOR controllers, but years ago when I combined LOR and Lynx in the same show, I used my LOR in DMX mode and all I had to do was to make a simple little adapter cable.  The LOR controllers already understand DMX and I used a Lynx usb dmx dongle.  Very easy, but I did not use any LOR software as I converted to vixen at that time.

[mberta2]

I had it setup for all 96 channels and it was way behind in xlights. In LOR it is dead on, perfect. I dropped down to 32 channels in xlights and it works perfect. So I'm guessing it's just too many channels to use in xlights with the LOR dongle. Am I correct by saying that running it in dmx will solve this problem?

[mberta2]

O ya, setup at 96 channels in xlights I roughly timed the lag. It's about 2 to 3 seconds. I exaggerated a little before. Haha

[Gilrock]

If it works in LOR and not in xLights then it sounds like a software problem.

[flyinverted]

Do you have the High speed LOR USB adapter? 

[mberta2]

I didn't know there was a high speed lor usb adapter. I have the small black one that comes with the startup package from wowlights

[Phrog30]

I think they are red in color. Just know that not all lor hardware will work with the 500k speed. I think the older generation boards will not. Another thing, I've been told that some of the 250k adapters will run at 500k. It's worth a shot.

[mberta2]

I'm not following the 250k and 500k. Sorry guys. I'm not a tech guy by any means. Just a holiday light enthusiast trying to figure this all out. Haha.

[flyinverted]

250k means 250,000 bits of data per second.
500k means 500,000 bits of data per second.

When the instructions are sent out the USB port to your light controller at 40 times per second (25 ms timing with Xlights)  you can easily get up to 250,000 bits of data per second trying to be sent.  If your LOR controller can't receive and process that much data, you'll get apparent lag. Some blame the software, some blame the cable, the controller the USB to serial adapter, but they're all part of the start/finish end points to make the lights do what you want.

Translation: Your wife talks to you at 500k speed, but you hear everything at 250k,  and a few seconds later you say HUH?  That is the pause/lag/delay in the lights you see.

[mberta2]

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. So where do I start? If I buy the high speed adapter and use that, is that all I need to do? My controllers are all newer (4 purchased last season and 2 this year.) Any settings I need to change? Would I be able to avoid all of this if I ran my LOR controllers in dmx? If so, how do I go about doing that?

[mberta2]

I'm sorry about my ignorance. I'm really trying to understand this stuff. I don't just want to fix it, I want to understand how it gets fixed. I'm learning here.

[flyinverted]

Yes the easiest way to speed up those LOR controllers would be to put them in DMX mode.  There plenty of resources out there to help get the LOR controllers and wiring set for DMX.

[mberta2]

Could you point me in the direction of a good, reliable, place to start?