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DMX Signal dropped with new lights

Posted: 26 Dec 2012, 02:58
by DJ Higgumz
I just bought some Chinese pars to go with my Martin 812s and cx2s. it seems if I have more than 4 fixtures connected, the signal stops or is dropped. I had issues with connecting the cx2's to the chain before, but I didn't look into it. I have the DMX king ultraDMX Micro, and after the dmx signal stops sending information, it slowly flashes, which indicates "Receive mode, no DMX512 stream detected. Power ON indication". I run 32bit xp on a strong desktop computer, through a standard usb slot, not 2.0 I don't know if this is a freestyler, pc, or dongle problem, but regardless any help is appreciated!

Re: DMX Signal dropped with new lights

Posted: 04 Jan 2013, 11:36
by BillsGate
That's one known drawback of cheap Chinese fixtures; they tend to mess up the DMX signal.

I've had similar problems with Chauvet Led colorstrips, using a long (non-twisted) XLR cable. On changing a DMX value, all lights went off or started resetting.

There are a few solutions:
- Use proper DMX cable (twisted-pair) instead of just microphone XLR cables
- Plug a DMX terminator into the last fixture of the DMX chain. DMX terminators are cheap and easy to build
- Use a DMX Splitter/booster to separate the different types of fixtures (slightly more expensive)
- Replace your fixtures by a more trustworthy brand