Terminater - Do you use one?

[matt]

(see poll)

[LJ_krede.dk]

always!!! well, i haven't tried to use a daisy chain without terminator, so i cant say if it works, but with my experience (have studied electronics) i know it makes a big different.

[remco_k]

Yes, I use one all the time.

Except when doing some tests at home. Then I "forget" the terminator. It works always.
But "home" is a clean electric environment. Not even close to whats happening in bigger buildings with big aircos, fridges, other big electric equipment and 800+ cellphones, causing more interference. Therefore ALWAYS use a terminator when doing shows. If it works at some point without the terminator and it stops working when tons of people walking under your rig(s) then its too late to put in a terminator. So do that on forehand, "prevention is better than cure". (thats an expression often used here in NL, not quite sure how to use it in english).

ps. Matt, having some time on your hands? I see many posts within few hours...

[matt]

ohh yea.. lol i have time to kill right now as i wait for some new lights to come in via UPS.

[Onge]

Yep, every single time and on every chain.

[Snowcat]

I do now!

Made up a box of them for the studio and assembly hall rigs.

The burns caused by my cack-handed soldering should heal up in a week or 2...

[Onge]

An old topic but I thought it is worth bringing back up again.

Read this article on why you should terminate your DMX lines.

Why Terminate?

[LJ_krede.dk]

All of the pro companies (around 5) I know people in don't use terminators, and they have 15+ fixtures on each daisy chain across the stage. however they use DMX splitters between controller and stage. I guess they don't have any problems, otherwise they would have used terminators.

[GaryBonaducci]

I would definitely use one if they all looked like this:






(And the answer is yes, I terminate my DMX connections...)

[remco_k]

All of the pro companies (around 5) I know people in don't use terminators, and they have 15+ fixtures on each daisy chain across the stage. however they use DMX splitters between controller and stage. I guess they don't have any problems, otherwise they would have used terminators.

About the same goes here: I often rent fixtures and audio. Most of the time the pro's never put in an terminator when they put up the stuff. They say: "if it works, it works." and "When the trouble begins, its time to put one in". In practice they never use terminators in such small setups.
So thats why I have my own terminator next to my Enttec USB DMX PRO in my pocket. You'll never know. In such situations I let the line open ended without terminator, but only if the line ends at a point I can reach normally in the middle of the gig to plug in an terminator. Never had to do that (small setups, 10 heads, 4 active sunstrips, few par's, Martin Atomic strobe's and other small stuff).

But don't let this fool you: I still find that one should always use a terminator, that I play around not using one is no resort. But I make sure I can put one in at any given time if I have problems. And I never had to do that in such sutuations. (I did plugin a terminator once because there was a problem, but it turned out a fixture was bad).
Using a terminator always prevents (small) problems and its frankly impossible that using one creates a problem. (If it does, something else is REALLY wrong).

The article Onge points out is the truth, looking at the signal with and without a terminator makes us people aware of how the DMX signal gets "fucked up" when using no terminator. Really. In fact, I find it incredible that some (if not most, even the cheap chinese ones) fixtures are able to work normally with such a "bad" signal.

[stuv]

I work and run all kinds of shows ranging form 1 fixture upto 30+ fixtures, and also help on shows using upto 100 fixtures. I regularly use DMX splitters, however rarely do I (or any other lighting tech in Adelaide) use a DMX terminator. They are something I have with me incase I need it, but I find with most setups and most fixtures I rarely need one. Even using mic cable a lot of the time, DMX ghosting is just something that i don't seem to have a problem with often. That said, I have had a few situations (usually in Night Clubs or the like) where a terminator has been needed to fix an issue with the DMX chain.

[dmxlighting]

I never terminate. I fit rigs in clubs and never bother. Never have any problems but I do make my own comms cables with high quality xlr plugs and very good quality universal 1 pair cable.

As some said earlier - it works or .. Well it always works for me