Do I have to run my LOR boxes in DMX to run it in Nutcracker?

[msiebri]

I got a response on the LOR forums.  You just change it in Network Preferences, the controllers will detect the speed.  However, I don't have the 500K dongle, so I had to order one of those.  I should have that tomorrow.  But that brings me to another question. The possible speed settings are different between LOR and xLights.  There is a 250K in xLights that is not in LOR, and the 500K setting in LOR is not in xLights.  Is it possible to add that setting to xLights?  I enclosed a screenshot of the speed settings available in LOR.

Martin

[attachment deleted by admin]

[JonB256]

I believe that the 250k in xLights is the standard DMX speed. For an LOR adapter in xLights, I do have a 250,000 setting for Baud Rate. 

running Ver 3.6.4 of xLights, but that hasn't changed in a long time.

[msiebri]

Is it possible to get a 500K setting for the LOR network speed in xLights?  I looked at a few charts of RS485 baud rate vs. distance, and it looks like I should be able to run at 500K, although I am getting towards the upper end of the distance range.  My total cable run to all my LOR controllers is about 650 feet.

Martin

[Lights On Fifth]

Is it possible to get a 500K setting for the LOR network speed in xLights?  I looked at a few charts of RS485 baud rate vs. distance, and it looks like I should be able to run at 500K, although I am getting towards the upper end of the distance range.  My total cable run to all my LOR controllers is about 650 feet.

Martin

What is the length of the first run of cable from your computer to your first Lor controller? I am not sure but I thought it could only be 100 feet, and then after that it doesn't matter. But I am not sure if this applies to Dmx.

[msiebri]

It's only 50 feet to my first controller.  Do the controllers regenerate the signal and pass it on?

Edit:  Found my answer here.  http://blog.holidaycoro.com/2013/03/dmx-lor-protocols-and-rs-485.html

They do not regenerate the signal, they just tee off the data line.  I guess that is whey there is a maximum cable length specified.

[JonB256]

They do not regenerate the signal, they just tee off the data line.  I guess that is why there is a maximum cable length specified.

It is also why they usually list a limit of 32 devices per daisy chain, since each device degrades the signal a little bit even with perfect connections.

Some DMX controllers do regenerate. The Lynx Express AC do, for sure.

[CoasterBP]

Quick question that I thought would be ok if I tagged along in this thread...

If I'm running my LOR controllers in DMX mode this year, I can come out of my Entec Open DMX (which is 5 pin female) to a converter that changes it to Ethernet, then to my first LOR controller. But then to daisy chain between the controllers do I need to use crossover cables or standard ethernet to daisy chain?

I hope this makes sense...

-=CoasterBP

[flyinverted]

Once you make it to the first LOR controller, it's normal cabling to the rest of them.

[JonB256]

Quick question that I thought would be ok if I tagged along in this thread...

If I'm running my LOR controllers in DMX mode this year, I can come out of my Entec Open DMX (which is 5 pin female) to a converter that changes it to Ethernet, then to my first LOR controller. But then to daisy chain between the controllers do I need to use crossover cables or standard ethernet to daisy chain?

I hope this makes sense...

-=CoasterBP

CoasterBP, just to clarify terminolgy - you would go from the Entec Open DMX to a converter that changes it to "CAT5 cable"  not Ethernet. CAT5 cable can be used to carry many things other than Ethernet.

And, I'll second the answer you got - once converted by your adapter, you don't need another one as long as all your boxes are LOR.

[CoasterBP]

Yes, sorry, bad terminology on my part. I have the 5 Pin DMX to cat5 convertors that Seasonal Entertainment sells. So once I convert to cat5 from the dongle and get to my first controller, standard cat5 will still daisy chain correctly between the rest of my controllers.

Thanks for the help everyone!

-=CoasterBP

[michaelc]

This is why I converted all my lot controllers to Dix several years ago and have never looked back.  Other thing to keep in mind is your sequence timing. Are you using 10ms or 50ms.


Sent from my bat phone  using Tapatalk

[CoasterBP]

This is why I converted all my lot controllers to Dix several years ago and have never looked back.  Other thing to keep in mind is your sequence timing. Are you using 10ms or 50ms.


Sent from my bat phone  using Tapatalk

Does it matter? Not sure I understand the question. I'm taking all my old LOR sequences and converting them to xLights in the software....

-=CoasterBP

[michaelc]

I had issues since most of lor originally were 10ms.   Xlights used 50ms.  I converted them to 50 before converting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[deacon]

I had issues since most of lor originally were 10ms.   Xlights used 50ms.  I converted them to 50 before converting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm a bit confused about this as well and has me a bit panicked.  For example, if I used LOR's 'beat wizard' to detect and set the timings will this not work with xlights conversion?  I also have a few sequences with different timing settings; one for beat wizards timings, and one with 'Fixed grid: 0.05'.

Also, regarding converting to 50ms, how is this done?  I haven't looked into it yet, just mentally planning my conversions of LOR sequences and adding Nutcracker RGB effects into them has my head swimming.

[Lights On Fifth]

Don't panic just yet this is the first I have heard about the timing I am also using my Lor controllers in Dmx and am having a heck of a time myself