Is THIS a good light controller?

[fueledbymusic]

As for the cables, the quality is not good in that I had signal issues with the cables provided. The wire/connectors they used was so bad that it made the signal dirty and it confused the lights. (I have since moved away from running DMX cables to using wireless with 17 receivers and 2 transmitters (1 for backup)) As for the pars that I run, I have each on a separate set of channels so I can control each individually. My full lighting system utilizes about 250 DMX channels.



DMX requires you to daisy chain all your fixtures together. Go from the controller to light 1, light 1 to light 2, light 2 to light 3, light 3 to light 4. As a side not, at this point, I would strongly suggest using a DMX terminator at the end of the run to avoid any signal bounce back that will cause your lights to run erratic. Now, let's clarify the channel discussion. Each DMX lights run on a set of channels. When you configure your light, you only set it to the first channel that is used, but it will require the use of subsequent channels. A simplified LED DMX light will use 3 channels. Channel 1 will control the Red LED, Channel 2 will control the Green LED, and channel 3 will control the Blue LED. So, the fixture will use channels 1-3. If you want purple, you will put channel 1 and channel 2 to 100% and leave channel 2 at 0% (this tuns on red to full and blue to full.)

When you hook up multiple lights, each one will have to have it's own dedicated set of DMX channels for each light to work independently. If you don't mind each light doing exactly the same thing (All red, all blue, all purple, etc), then assign them to the same starting channel. With your setup, I would set it up as following. I would put Fixture 1 on channel 1, Fixture 2 on Channel 17, Fixture 3 on Channel 33, Fixture 4 on Channel 49. This is because the Obey 40 assigns a group of 16 DMX channels per fixture. This will give you more options on control and give room for more fixtures later. You will have quite a few channels that are not used in between, but for what you are doing , that is fine. Does this help clear it up?

So the Obey 40 says in the specs that 1 can control up to 12 lights. OK so if I hook all four of my pars and set them all at the same starting channel (all do the same thing simultaneously). Would those 4 pars be assigned as 1 out of 12 it can control?

Well I know its easy to know that starting par 1 at #1, par 2 at #17, par 3 at #33, par 4 at #49. Each of those is considered 1 out of 12. So in this case, I'll have used up 4 out of 12 that Obey 40 can control. Right?? Yeah, it sound like a dumb question. But I just don't know all that much!

[BillESC]

You have options....

If you plan on using your par cans in 3 channel mode, you can do the following to conserve Fixture Button use.

Address can # 1 to DMX address 1

Address can # 2 to DMX address 5

With this addressing both fixtures will be controllable separately and be located on Fixture Button 1. Can #1 will use faders 1, 2, and 3 while can #2 will use faders 5, 6, and 7.

To keep things simple, you can do the same with Fixture Button 2, can # 3 will be addressed as DMX 17 and use faders 1, 2, and 3 and can # 4 will be addressed as DMX 21 and use faders 5, 6, and 7.

[Silver Man]

So the Obey 40 says in the specs that 1 can control up to 12 lights. OK so if I hook all four of my pars and set them all at the same starting channel (all do the same thing simultaneously). Would those 4 pars be assigned as 1 out of 12 it can control?

Well I know its easy to know that starting par 1 at #1, par 2 at #17, par 3 at #33, par 4 at #49. Each of those is considered 1 out of 12. So in this case, I'll have used up 4 out of 12 that Obey 40 can control. Right?? Yeah, it sound like a dumb question. But I just don't know all that much!

Yes, you got it all squared away. If you assign all the fixtures to the same starting address, then they would be considered 1 of the 12 "fixtures" the Obey 40 can control. If you assigned them to the starting addresses you described, then they will be 4 of the 12 fixtures. Bill is also right in what he is saying as well.

Chauvet uses the term fixtures and it is a little confusing. The easiest way to think of this is that Chauvet Obey 40 gives you 12 blocks of 16 DMX Channels to control at at time. Each block is then broken down into 2 pages of 8 dmx channels. Where Chauvet calles it a fixture, I call it a block. So, with this you can divide it out however you want. You can still put all 4 cans on a single fixture and still have each do something different. To accomplish this, you will do the following (for a 3 channel LED Par):

Par 1: DMX 1-3 (Obey fixture 1, page 1, sliders 1-3)
Par 2: DMX 5-7 (Obey fixture 1, page 1, sliders 5-7)
Par 3: DMX 9-11 (Obey fixture 1, page 2, sliders 1-3)
Par 4: DMX 13-15 (Obey fixture 1, page 2, sliders 5-7)

This will essentially place all 4 lights into a single fixture on the Obey 40 but allow them to be controlled independently. My best suggestion is to place them in the DMX starting addresses of 1, 17, 33, 49 and let each one be controlled by a different "fixture" button on the controller. When you add more that expands outside the "fixture" range of the Obey 40 (12 fixtures), then you can go back and double up on a single fixture range.

By keeping them all on the beginning address of each fixture, it will help you set a single setting faster. If you want them all to be red, you would select fixtures 1, 2, 3, & 4 and then just set the slider 1 to set all to red. If you wanted purple, you would do the same, but just add slider 3 for the blue. If you break them out, you will have to either set each light individually or set a pair of lights at a time and not all 4.

[fueledbymusic]

Well guys! You guys explanation could NOT get better than this! THANKS!

Well, I had just ordered an Obey 40. $120 incl ship. I ordered the one with the 4 cables incl. Ill just try them out. Then Ill probably just get better cables later.

Again THANKS ALL!

[Silver Man]

Well guys! You guys explanation could NOT get better than this! THANKS!

Well, I had just ordered an Obey 40. $120 incl ship. I ordered the one with the 4 cables incl. Ill just try them out. Then Ill probably just get better cables later.

Again THANKS ALL!

Good luck. Just FYI, I am not saying that the cables are junk, but just be careful when they come packaged together. They could be (more times than not in my experience and mine came from Martin and ADJ.) Keep us posted on how it turns out.

[fueledbymusic]

COOL! I received the Obey 40 yesterday! Absolutely love it! As of now I hook up all for the the chauvet ledsplash 86bs. Playing around with controller a little. It can get complicated. But I managed to be able to fiqure it out.

Well anyway. The cables I recieved are branded Accu-Cable. And its funny, cause I saw that guitar center has those cables in stock. I think they are $10 for a 5 footer. I also bought 2 new Chauvet color strip minis. NICE! They look so cool!

Well anyhow. It seems to me that I got the 4 par cans to work well as of now. BUT when I hook up the color strip minis from the last par can. Par can 3 and 4 act erracticly as well as the color strip minis. BUT, when I hook the colorstrip minis as the first fixture hooked from the controller. It works great! In other words, The more fixtures I hook up, the more erractic they act. But its more like. The "further awy" the fixture is daisy chained away from the controller, the more erractic. So for now, Im just doing the 4 cans!

I guess its a DMX terminator I need, right. I believe Silver Man told me. Or is the cables that are crappy? Oh well! (if they are)

[BillESC]

Could be a defective cable.