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PROTECT YOUR LIGHTING EQUIPMENT
Each industry introduces its own dangers, in the environment in
which Lighting Operators control their lighting-rigs, there are
several eminent hazards which must be addressed for safe working
practice. This text will cover and offer a solution to problems
that threaten the technician's ability to operate his lights and
may seriously damage the equipment.
What can garble the communication between your control board and
the fixtures; resulting in them not "reading" the DMX signal
you're sending out?
Why does a fixture sometimes end up being damaged, disabling its
DMX communication, for no obvious reason?
Why do some types of equipment have a higher failure rate then
others, requiring you to replace 'line driver' chips with a rate
as if they were batteries in your Mini-Maglite?
What would happen to your control board if there was a
short-circuit in one of the fixtures, causing a high voltage to
spark onto the DMX cabling?
Or the other way around: What if your board, for any reason,
starts putting 220 Volts on the DMX bus? A disturbing thought if
you are a freelancer owning your own board, hired to control
somebody else's rig full of expensive lights.
Concerning issues to say the least, fortunately, some events are
less likely then others:
A short-circuit in a board or fixture can be prevented with
proper maintenance on the equipment and cabling. Other problems
are inherent to the environment we work in. Consider the
scenario in which the Front of House and the stage are being fed
with separate power sources, this can create a difference in
potential between the two grounded points of your board and your
fixtures. When two devices are connected and their ground
potentials are different, voltage flows from high to low by
traveling through the data cable. If the voltage potential is
large enough, your equipment will not be able to handle the
excess voltage, and one of your ports will be damaged. Even
small ground loop voltages cause transmission errors with data
signals riding on top of the ground loop current. At worst,
ground loops are a long-term condition that can slowly heat, and
even cook your circuits.
Additionally, the DMX wiring could be surrounded by power lines,
motors, or equipment that produces static electricity. If this
is the case, the communication parts of your lights could be
damaged by sudden surge waves produced by these types of
equipment.
To address these problems and prevent any miscommunication and
damaged equipment, you should choose lighting equipment fitted
with a proper protection against these hazards. This protection
comes in the form of Surge Suppression and Optical Isolation.
Devices equipped with these security measures will prove to be
more stable and more fault tolerant, allowing you to rely on
them during your time-critical work.
But what exactly are Surge Suppression and Optical Isolation?
Surges are high amplitude electrical pulses lasting only several
millionths of a second in duration. They can be caused, for
example, by heavy-duty equipment, power lines, short circuits,
or large motors. A Surge Suppressor has the ability to
effectively absorb the high energy in an extremely short period
of time, preventing the connected devices from damage.
The purpose of Optical Isolation is to electrically isolate two
circuits that need to communicate with each other. This is
achieved by using a photo coupler that transforms an electrical
signal into light, and then retransforms the light back into an
electrical signal on the other end. In this way, the two
circuits are completely isolated from each other electrically.
Does VDMX offer Surge Suppression and Optical Isolation?
Yes: VDMX feels that it is imperative to supply reliable and
high quality DMX products. VDMX engineers have incorporated
Surge Suppression and Optical Isolation in their design of the
hardware products. Our aim is to develop safe and stable DMX
control products that can be relied upon by our users and
protects the client's investment.
SPECIFICATIONS
No. of DMX channels: 512
Data isolation: typically 1600V rms (1 minute)
Dimensions: 100 x 86 x 37 mm (3.9 x 3.4 x 1.5 inches)
Weight: 300 gram (0.7 lbs)
MINIMAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
- USB-port
DUE TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS, SPECIFICATIONS MAY CHANGE
WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.
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