Home

- Goddard Design Co.

1. 26 8 12 CLEAR 26 8 12 4 ERASE EEPROM DER RUE BR 26 8 12 2 ERASE FLASH 55 2 SR Ve REPS 26 8 12 3 CLEAR RAM AND SHUT DOWN LL YY FFF FFF YF n 26 O9 ELICKER EINDER nee ona go ede ee TAR NT ede ets Gy GR CN d 26 9 1 RE ENTERING FLICKER FINDER 28 9 2 TECHNICAL NOTES ON FLICKER 28 9 2 1 Low Battery Warnings During Flicker Finder 29 TOGHOWSAVER Pu itt at esed dett Cyn rise 29 10 0 1 ShowSaver Conventions and 29 10 0 2 Selecting Playback or 29 TO PLAYBACK err aont tha eet erst EET e os a Dog ee 29 10 2 DMX MONITOR 222 30 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 10 2 1 When the Monitor Mode Detects a 30 102 2 If Auto Statt Is Disabled eulos ero er obs Abbe DE DO domed 30 10 2 3 If Auto Start Is Enabled I FF FF RII 31 10 2 4 Now That You Are in Play Back 31 10 3 ABOUT PLAYBACK y YG eL YU eee Gy EE DWI 31 10 3 1 T
2. 44 11 8 2 3 GET STATUS MSG ADV 44 11 8 2 4 GET STATUS 5 5 45 11 8 2 5 GET STATUS 8 45 14 8 3Cleat Status ID i ute Senece Pi Y She Ryd Re eet 45 11 8 4 Sub Device Status Report 18 45 14 9 Send Bdit Device dt etd ede eese e gydd 45 Start Code rictus setts UXORI RC UA ERA UU 45 TT RDM User Options oes Bae UO V 45 11 11 1 Tdentify on Select ose ek we 45 11 11 2 Retry Lost Bad 45 11 11 3 Ignore Dise Warnimpgss oes Y leasing DU COSE EE UBI Ave a 45 11 11 4 Get Queued Messages ACK 46 11 11 5 Interleave Null Start 46 TL o Self Testun erue reget au htc cet dere ct Y 46 12 COLORTRAN 8 47 13 A Add Re E ELE AT CE EP WN 47 14POWERING THE MIND Ses aha RY d ets 47 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 V 14 4 LOW BATTERY WARNINGS POWER 48 14 2 Meal Penalty iiu p RR e XO EISE
3. 15 54 VIEWPARAMETERS oe pe ERAN Pee eee NN EATEN E ec 15 5 4 1 Break Length ooo URP ERR Yes 16 5 4 2 Mark after Break 16 5 4 3 List Received START 16 SAA 3 of Slots per Packet eu ci beh ee a Oe DT DF PPS 16 5 4 5 Interslot Time in 225224 Re YI YF ER 17 5 4 6 MARK BEFORE BREAK in 8 17 5 4 7 MARK AFTER START CODE 17 5 4 8 Average Routines for 5 4 5 5 4 6 5 4 7 17 5 4 9 Break to break Time seo esri ee Eatin sedate DF YA Pea GAR 17 5 4 10 Updates per 4 17 2 5 RETURN TO MAIN MENU Ynn dd SUR FT OON HP ea ER 17 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 II 5 6 CHANGING THE START 4 4 272 18 5 7 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR SEARCHES 18 5 8 DMX512 PARAMETERS NOT 18 5 9 RECEIVE 6 19 5 9 1 Displayed Character codo e RU E ERE E 19 5 10 RECEIVE UTF 8 TEXT
4. 10 4 10 1 MAB Accuracy Vs START 11 4 11 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR 5 11 4 12 ADVANCED TRANSMIT 11 4 121 Adjust All Slots un 59 b eed phew es ahs Dw bead Soupes 11 411 2 ADJUST SLOT RANGE Side BOE a ea dee DU GN oa ly eR 12 4 123 DMXSI2 TEST PACKET 55 12 4 12 4 Sending ASCII Text 12 4 12 5 Sending UTE 8 Text Packets e WT ERR 13 5 RECEIVE DMX512 eu ected GE RH O FRO DEU RUP FN 13 5 0 1 If a Non zero START Code 55 13 Sly MIBW GA UP EU e eH Re TOI EN PCS SC 13 5 1 1 Display and Timeout 14 5 1 2 UP Clears the Display Buffer and Restarts 14 5 1 3 lt DOWN gt Restarts the Receiver 14 5 1 4 Received Slot Summary 14 5 1 5 Data Error While Viewing 14 5 2 VIEW LEVEL GRAPHICALLY YY YF FFF FF FFF me mre 14 53 VIEW ON USB TERMINAL
5. 19 5 11 5 20 6INTERCEPT amp MODIFY 2222 52 Rer REESE EN bd ee E E e E ER ed 21 7 CABLE TESTER UEBER D E AMET Tele OS Gyd EN Y Coda 23 71 DOUBLE ENDED CABLE 8 23 7 11 Ending Cable FD 24 S SETUP OPTIONS oid ES So Gy CEA ddd dd y Md dd use odd ydd NG EIE E 24 SLAUTO SHUTDOWN 24 8 1 1 DISABLING THE AUTO SHUTDOWN 24 8 2 BACK LITE OFF OPTION i uu eme ER RARO HRN HU FYW RR DR O EG wens 24 8 3 DISABLING THE BACKLITE TIMER 24 8 4 NUMBER FORMAT 25 8 5 OPEN LINE DETECTOR OPTION iiu eine WR Kae nae DRE IR 25 8 6 ENABLE BUMP ALL eka RARE SERERE C FI WD EA E ee 25 8 7 SET THE INTERCEPT amp MODIFY FLAVOR 26 8 8 COPYRIGHT NOTICE Author Credits 26 8 9 FIRMWARE BUILD e he 26 8 10 26 8 11 NUMBER
6. 10 2 4 Now That You Are Play Back Mode The scene in the NEXT field will be the lowest recorded scene unless you preset a scene while the MiniDMXter4 was in monitor mode You are now in PLAYBACK and the rules apply See below Once you fade to another scene the emergency scene is gone 10 3 ABOUT PLAYBACK The following are several things that you should keep in mind when using PLAYBACK SCENE When you press lt BLUE gt entering PLAYBACK if the MiniDMXter4 does not detect valid DMX within 1 4 second the transmitter is turned on and the BLACKOUT scene is transmitted Therefore if any dimmers were on they will be taken to black To get lights up you must select a previously stored scene and press BLUE This will start a cross fade into that scene Entering PLAYBACK disables the auto power timer so that you do not have to worry about the DMXter turning itself off on you But you must consider the fact that it could run out of battery charge In PLAYBACK the transmitter is always on hence the drain on the battery is high Mini DMXter4 that is to be used as a back up must be kept well charged The cues are stored in non volatile memory Keep your MiniDMXter4 well charged and if you are going to use it to drive dimmers for an extended period plug it into external power Plugging the MiniDMXter4 into external power while it is running will cause the unit to reboot So you do not wish to do this while running ShowSaver I
7. Choice 1 Retest the DMX512 line press the lt UP gt or DOWN keys this will cause the DMXter to retest the incoming DMX line If valid DMX512 has returned the unit will return to monitoring the line If on testing the line the MiniDMXter4 does not find valid DMX it will go into ShowSaver playback just as if you pressed lt BLUE gt MiniDMXter4 V3 19 30 Choice 2 Go to playback press BLUE This will transmit the last stored transmission to the stage We cannot guarantee that this look is not corrupt It all depends on how the console failed The display will read STAGE 9 9 GM 100 NEXT 1 TIME 3 The stored scene will bump to the stage If your dimmers were holding level you may see little change If they were black During the time between FAIL appearing and pressing the lt BLUE gt key to start transmission the following apply The console is still connected to the dimmers The MiniDMXter4 is neither receiving nor transmitting lt BACK serves its normal functions 10 2 3 If Auto Start Is Enabled If you selected auto start on failure the MiniDMXter4 turns on its transmitter and sends the last look seen on stage to the dimmers We cannot guarantee that this look is not corrupt It all depends on how the console failed The display will be the same seen above when you started the MiniDMXter4 transmitting by pressing lt BLUE gt STAGE 9 GM 1003 NEXT 1 TIME 3
8. MiniDMXter4 V3 19 35 10 9 LOAD SHOW The MiniDMXter4 lets you store 4 shows in flash memory This display shows you the current show and the number of shows allowed Optionally a show may be given a 20 character name If the show was named the name will be displayed here 10 10 STORE SHOW The Mini DMXter4 allows you to store and name 4 copies of the stored scenes While they are only 8 cues long we call them shows This menu allows you to record and name a show Naming is done by means of the string editor described in Section 17 10 11 DELETE STORED SHOW This menu item will allow you to delete one of the stored shows 10 12 ERASE CURRENT SHOW This erases the show that is currently accessed by ShowSaver It does not erase one of the stored shows described above 10 13 RETURNING TO THE MAIN MENU 10 14 PLAYBACK SCENE This is where you will be given another chance to playback scenes if you did not choose to do so upon entry If you scroll thru the ShowSaver menu more than once this is where you will find the playback guery 10 15 GETTING A SUMMARY OF THE SCENES SHOW SAVER SCENE SUMMARY This last menu in ShowSaver is another way to get a scene summary If you enter this routine you will see the following display SCENE SUMMARY 142345678 Now you could get a summary display by pressing both the lt LEFT gt and the lt RIGHT gt keys but that display is only shown as long as you hold both keys If inst
9. could in her own mind as well as she for the hot day made her feel ve ry sleepy and stupid whether the pleas ure of making a daisy chain would be wor th the trouble of getting up Message 4 below is most of the common punctuation listed in numerical order Some displays may not provide readable results with all of these characters EXT MS4 DB 021 DB 022 DB 023 DB 025 DB 026 DB 027 DB 028 DB 029 DB 02A DB 02B DB 02D DB 021 Lj DB 03A DB 03B DB 03C DB 03D DB 031 DB 03F DB 05B DB 05D DB 05E DB 05F DB 060 DB 024 DB 02C DB 02F DB 040 DB 05C gt 7 DB 07B DB 07C DB 07D oo Ur we MiniDMXter4 V3 19 exclamation mark double quote number sign dollar sign percent amp ampersand single quote left opening parenthesis right closing parenthesis asterisk plus comma minus or dash dot forward sl colon semi colon less than equal sign greater than question mark AT symbol left opening bracket back slash right closing bracket caret cirumflex underscore left opening brace vertical bar right closing brace 60 DB 071 Ed a tilde Message 5 is some common ASCII formatting characters Many LCD displays do not interpret these characters as a dumb termina
10. 1 LiPDMXter DMXter4 and MiniDMXter4 are trademarks of Goddard Design Co MiniDMXter4 V3 19 1 One environmental threat that is always present particularly for a portable piece of eguipment is static electricity or ESD On a dry winter day a person walking across a wool carpet may easily become charged to 8 to 10 thousand volts Touch a piece of conductive material and a large pulse of current will flow The MiniDMXter4 has been designed to deal with this fact It s unlikely that normal ESD will damage the unit and if sensible precautions are taken ESD should not prevent it from operating normally 0 1 1 Use a Blanking Plug in Unused DMX Connectors When the unit is operating always have a plug in both the DMX OUT and the DMX IN connectors Since the MiniDMXter is often used with only one cable connection the other connector should be capped with an un wired XLR style plug This plug must be of the metal body type and should be totally un wired The purpose of this plug is to prevent ESD discharge to the open connector pins Such discharge is unlikely to harm the MiniDMXter but it may cause mis operation possibly reguiring power cycling to reset the unit 0 2 GETTING STARTED OUICKLY So you want to play NOW First read the SAFETY WARNING above Then go right ahead We feel that the operation ofthe MiniDMXterd4 is fairly straightforward But we would suggest that you read the following sections before you start taking our name in vain 1 0
11. 5 1 5 Data Error While Viewing Levels If a significant data transmission error is detected the first three characters of the second line of the display will read ERR instead of LEV You may view the error and clear the ERR flag by pressing and holding lt BLUE gt and then pressing lt UP gt The display will be the same as the first display in VIEW PARAMETERS 5 N n nil 5 2 VIEW LEVEL GRAPHICALLY 12 Innnn nnnn liri This routine allows 32 slots to be viewed at once for a quick overview The number s e MiniDMXter4 V3 19 14 at the beginning of the top line is the starting slot number for that line The remaining 16 character cells display a graphic representation for 16 consecutive slots Sixteen more slot values are displayed on the bottom line Each slot is displayed as a 10 state bar graph One state shows which slots are at zero one state shows which slots are at full The remaining 8 states show intermediate levels A blank character cell is a zero A fully filled character cell is a value of 255 hex FF The remaining levels are shown as a variable height goal post The graphic to the right shows the ten steps in the first 10 slots The break points are as listed in the table below Pressing lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt at the same time will change the display so that the bottom line displays the numeric value of the first displayed slot on the top line 0 01 32 64 96 128 160 192 224 255 31 63 95 127 159 191 223 2
12. O ni mean power option This can be done by removing the programming block from J3 see the drawing at right Et E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 Ell El El3 Elt E E15 El6 EU 21 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 47 14 1 LOW WARNINGS POWER MANAGEMENT Surprise The MiniDMXter4 like most battery powered equipment has a low battery warning When it needs a battery change but before it s truly critical it will give you the following message LOW BATTERY WARNING PLEASE FEED ME This message 15 displayed about every thirty seconds and lasts for about five seconds While this message 15 displayed the user interface 1s disabled Obviously you can t view received levels and functions such as CABLE TEST and AUTOFADE ONE SLOT while the unit 1s begging for a feeding The actual transmit routines continue to run The low battery warning does not cause any interruption of the data sent to the DMX receivers When you see this warning locate a set of batteries or an external power supply or plug it into your computer 14 2 Meal Penalty If you have been seeing the LOW BATTERY WARNING message for some time the unit will at some point shut down after first displaying this message for a few seconds MiniDMXter4 V3 17 MEAL PENALTY The unit will turn itself off within 10 seconds 14 3 BATTERY OPERATING TIME Table 13 1 Approximate operating times in Main Menu Receiving at end of line Tra
13. PURI eR ee 41 11 6 8 ON Mode ee eye RE ERO M end 41 11 6 9 Power stated Oeo Y 41 T1 6 1 0 Capture Preset o dei arenes ae Y GW GY 42 11 6 TT Playback Presets o eee ed Dae TES we 42 11 6 12 Reset Lamp Hours vog wh da NU CF PRESE C eR 42 11 6 13 Reset Lamp 5 1 42 IH 6 14 Warm seb DAN YF do Phe wb Rd wise eds 42 16 15 Cold Resets eia LC Hee dmn Ee 42 11 6 16 Restore Factory 1 42 11 7 Views Sensors eee mue oM duos cote e 42 11 7 1 Sensors Abbreviations sanee nC DAE RNV WN BR 43 HS DEVICE MESSAGES anni es ee CR eS oe e e Ee doe PATRONS CR PRAE dos 44 11 8 1 Get Queued 44 11 8 1 1 GET QUEUED 5 44 11 8 1 2 GET QUEUED MSG WRN 44 11 8 1 3 GET QUEUED 5 44 11 8 1 4 GET QUEUED 5 8 44 11 8 2 Get Status Messages 2 44 11 8 2 1 GET STATUS 5 44 11 8 2 2 GET STATUS
14. User Options These items allow the configuration of the RDM functions of the controller most are fairly obvious 11 11 1 Identify on Select This controls whether the responder is set into the Identify mode while you are selecting it 11 11 2 Retry Lost Bad Packets This item controls whether a packet is resent when the response is lost or corrupt The default setting is No You may set the Mini to send 1 to 4 retries before giving up 11 11 3 Ignore Disc Warnings MiniDMXter4 V3 19 45 Discovery can report a number of different errors The errors listed below can be suppressed A fully working system should not see these errors however it may be desirable to continue with discovery to get a system working or to continue debugging 4744 00004000 GD DUB RESP TOO LONG DUB RESP TOO SHORT IWARN BOOTLOAD BIT ON ON LVL 48 RESP CONT ON LVL 48 RESP CONT WARNING FRAMING ERR EUID DECODE ERRROR ION LVL 48 RESP CONT ON LVL 48 RESP CONT 11 11 4 Get Queued Messages on ACK Timer If an RDM responder cannot provide information requested by a GET command or respond to a SET command in the allowed time it can respond with ACK time message This response tells the controller how long it is likely to have to wait before that information is available This item allows you to have a controller retrieve data after a delay by sending a GET OUEUED MESSAGE command The item allows you to get
15. Select the sensor you wish to look at with lt UP gt or DOWN and then press BLUE 1 VOLTAGE px 212024 VDC Sensor 1 is a voltage sensor its current value is 12 1 volts DC RDM requires that a sensor be stored as a signed number between 32768 and 32767 It then allows for a multiplier in the range of 10 10 In the display above the responder returned the number 121 and the multiplier 10 The multipliers for 10 thru 10 will be handled by placing a decimal point in the correct position in the display Other multipliers will be identified by a standard abbreviation 2 VOLTAGE 12000 milli VDC This sensor reports a value of 12000 and a mulitplier of 107 This is displayed by the SI abbreviation milli A list of the abbreviations used by the DMXter 4 are in 11 7 1 Multipliers with negative exponents use lower case abbreviations while ones with positive exponents use upper case abbreviations MiniDMXter4 V3 19 42 Range Minimum Maximum Value LOW lt DETECTED gt HIGH LOW lt DETECTED gt HIGH 11999 12001 NOT AVAILABLE These are signed 16 bit values that represents the lowest and highest values registered by the sensor Support for this data is optional Range Minimum Maximum Value MIN RANGE MAX 0 32766 These are signed 16 bit values that represents the lowest and highest values the sensor can report A value of 32768 i
16. for the standard English characters the encoding is the same The packets have the same format They use a different Start Code UTF 8 use Start Code 90 hex The user interface for UTF 8 is identical to the ASCII interface 5 RECEIVE DMX512 EIVE Answering lt BLUE gt to the REC user needs to answer is DMX512 query puts you in the RECEIVE menu the first question the RECEIVE DMX512 AT END OF LINE DMX5 12 systems may be wired as a daisy chain with multiple receivers connected in series by a cable going from the console to receiver 1 another cable going from receiver 1 to receiver 2 and then on from there until all the receivers are connected in a chain The last receiver in the chain is required to terminate the line For more information on termination please see Section 20 6 3 The MiniDMXter4 always terminates the line This a major difference between it and its big brother the DMXter4 However the MiniDMXter4 may be inserted at any point in the daisy chain That is because its transmitter circuit can be switched on to forward an identical DM X512 data stream Answering No to the at end of line question switches on the transmitter for all receive menus If you do not need to drive additional devices down stream of the Mini answer lt BLUE gt to this question Turning on the transmitter increase current consumption and decreases battery operating t
17. lt LEFT gt Moves the cursor to the left lt BLUE gt lt LEFT gt Acts like a backspace key lt RIGHT gt Moves the cursor to the right lt BLUE gt lt RIGHT gt Shifts characters to the right inserting a space lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Clear to end of line lt DOWN gt lt RIGHT gt Clear to end of line lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt Return cursor to beginning of the display lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt held Asks if you wish to clear the string lt BLUE gt Exits saving text to the calling applications menu lt BACK gt Exits saving text to the calling applications menu MiniDMXter4 V3 19 57 19 WARRANTY The GODDARD DESIGN CO warrants each unit it manufactures to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for the period of 1 year from date ofpurchase This warranty extends only to the original purchaser This warranty shall not apply to fuses disposable batteries rechargeable type batteries are warranted for 90 days or any product or parts which have been subject to misuse neglect accident or abnormal conditions of operations In the event of failure of a product covered by this warranty GODDARD DESIGN CO will repair a unit returned to us within 1 year of the original purchase provided the warrantor s examination discloses to its satisfaction that the product was defective The warrantor may at its option replace the product in lieu ofrepair With regard to any unit returned within 1 year of the
18. lt RIGHT gt cycles thru the three number formats in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 If percent is used LEV is changed to read LEV If hex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h If you wish to change the display format immediately use the short cut keys shown in the side bar to the left of this text 5 1 1 Display and Timeout Rules When the Li DMXter was first built very few devices made regular use of Alternate START Code packets While most DMX is still Null START Code packets ASC packets are seen far more often than in the past In the past if you saw data on the screen it was likely that was the only data on the link If the null packets stopped coming you would soon see a no data message If you are dealing with a DMX512 system that mixes Null and ASC packets it is helpful to understand the display and timeout rules If after 3 seconds MiniDMXter4 does not receive DMX512 data on any START Code the display will change to NO DIGITAL INPUT OR INPUT NOT DMX512 When this message is displayed reception of DMX512 stops However the buffer is not cleared Whatever was last received is still in the buffer This is a latched display After correcting the problem you may clear the NO DIGITAL INPUT display by restarting the VIEW LEVELS section This is done either by using the lt UP gt or DOWN keys If a system that mixes Null and ASC messages stops updating the Nul
19. you may bypass changing it by pressing the DOWN key Pressing lt BLUE gt allows you to change the compare limit in a manner similar to changing START Code When you have set the compare limit or bypassed setting it you will see the following message FLICKER FINDER AT END OF LINE Is the MiniDMXter4 the last DMX512 device in line or do you have a loop thru to other receivers Answering this question starts the data comparison The display will read COMPARING INCOMING DATA TO REFERENCE As long as no errors are detected and the battery has sufficient charge you will continue to see this message When an error is detected the message will change to ERRORS DETECTED PRESS BLUE TO VIEW The test continues to operate with no further indication of other errors if any So let the test continue to run for whatever period of time you want 15 minutes one hour etc Pressing lt BLUE gt will show you a summary screen of the errors found 3 SLOTS W ERRORS FIRST 2 LAST 216 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 27 It will show you the number of slots with errors 1 512 On the second line of the display you will see FIRST and a number representing the lowest slot with errors and LAST and a number representing the highest slot with errors To see details of the slots press DOWN You will now see a display SLT XXX ERRS XXXXX L XXX H XXX R XXX This screen means the number following
20. 2 Select Current Device This item lets you scroll thru the discovered devices The current device will be displayed as 12 hexadecimal digits The first 4 digits are the manufacturer s ID string in this case 47 44 which is Goddard Design s ID The next 8 digits are a unique serial number for that manufacturer The last two characters are the manufacturer s ID converted to ASCII characters if possible The second line of the display is the device Model Description text 11 2 1 Short cut keys lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt By default the currently selected device will be set into its identify mode However this feature may be switched on or off using these keys While the keys are held the second line of the display will display IDENTIFY ENABLE or IDENTIFY DISABLE MiniDMXter4 V3 19 37 lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt selects the first device of the next manufacturer in the lt BLUE gt lt UP gt selects the last device of the previous manufacturer in the TOD If the TOD was populated by running Discover All it will be in numerical order If it has had additions made by Discover New or manual addition of UIDs the additions will be at the end of the table We do not sort the table When you have selected a device the DMXter will check if the device has any sub devices If it does you will see the next set of displays If it does not you will return to the menu pointing to Device Information SELECT SUB DEVI
21. 60 71 B5 B6 B6 4 0 0 0C 38 61 62 62 72 B7 B9 B9 S 0D 0F 39 63 65 65 73 6 10 11 11 40 66 68 68 74 T 12 14 14 41 69 6A 6A 75 C0 8 15 16 16 42 6B 6D 6D 76 C1 C3 C3 9 17 19 19 43 6E 6F 6F THI 5 C5 10 1 1 1B 44 70 72 72 78 C6 C8 C8 1 1 1 45 73 74 74 79 9 12 1 20 20 46 75 77 77 80 CC CD CD 13 21 23 23 47 78 79 79 81 CE DO DO 14 24 26 26 48 7A 7C 7C 82 D1 D2 D2 15 27 28 28 49 7D 7E 7E 83 D3 D5 D5 16 29 2B 2B 50 7F 81 81 84 D6 D7 D7 17 2C2D 2D 51 82 83 83 85 D8 DA DA 18 2E 30 30 52 84 86 86 86 DB DC DC 19 31 32 32 53 87 89 89 87 DD DF DF 20 33 35 35 54 8A 8B 8B 88 E0 E1 El 21 36 37 37 55 8C 8E SE 89 E2 E4 E4 22 38 3A 3A 56 8F 90 90 90 E5 E6 E6 29 3B 3C 3C Sil 91 93 93 91 E7 E9 E9 24 3D 3F 3F 58 94 95 95 92 EA EC EC 25 40 41 41 59 96 98 98 93 ED EE EE 42 44 99 9A EF F1 2 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 52 28 48 49 49 62 9E 9F 9F 96 F4 F6 F6 29 4A 4C 4C 63 0 2 A2 97 F7 F8 F8 30 4D 4E 4E 64 A3 A4 A4 98 F9 FB FB 31 4F 51 51 65 5 7 AT 99 FC FD FD 32 52 53 53 66 AS AA 100 FE FF AA 33 54 56 56 67 AB AC AC 15 6 STANDARDS DMX512 EIA485 Detailed discussion of DMX512 is beyond the scope of this manual We would recommend that persons wishing to know more consult a good book discussing asynchronous serial communications in computers FF The electrical standard on which DMX512 is based is EIA485 Many textbook
22. DATE The date that software was built is listed here Note this date is stored in an area of the EPROM that is not included in the checksum 8 10 FIRMWARE CHECKSUM On the top line this item reports firmware checksum in hex On the bottom is technical information about stack usage It is only there for debugging purposes and may generally be ignored 8 11 SERIAL NUMBER and UID Serial Number abcd IRDM UID 47440040abcd Need we say more 8 12 CLEAR MEMORIES 8 12 1 ERASE EEPROM The E 2 memories are used to store persistent data such as ShowSaver shows and RDM table of device information Other data such as the current display format are stored here It is advisable to clear this memory after a software update After clearing this memory the unit should be turned off the lt BLUE gt key depressed and held and the unit turned on This will store certain default values 8 12 2 ERASE FLASH Certain large files are stored in flash memory A backup copy of the code is also stored in flash memory but this is not erased by this command Using this feature is seldom necessary 8 12 3 CLEAR RAM AND SHUT DOWN This feature is primarily a factory test feature The unit will shut itself down in the same manner that it would if it timed out from inactivity 9 FLICKER FINDER Running a cue causes DMX512 levels to change When your console is sitting there not running cues the levels should be constant Sometimes they aren t and that s not an easy p
23. DEVICE COUNT SENSOR COUNT Sub devices are yet to be widely supported A sub device allows RDM responder to contain a root or base device and multiple sub devices which have separately addressable properties The classic case for sub device is a dimmer rack where each dimmer is a sub device This allows each dimmer to be individually patched with parameters individually set All sub devices will have an identical set of parameters A sensor reports such things as temperature and voltage measurements Another menu item will let you read the values of any sensors 11 3 8 Product Category PRODUCT CAT 7101h TEST EQUIPMENT In the above example 7101 describes a product categorization according to the standard in Tabe A 5 The first two digits 71 denote it as a piece of test equipment The second two digits 01 are available to be used as a more specific categorization We use the second line to provide a label which is determined by the first two digits 11 3 9 RDM Protocol Version RDM PROTOCOL VERSION 1 O Any reply other than the one shown would be from a newer version of RDM than this software is designed to decode 11 3 10 Device Power State The Standard defines four power states OFF Completely disengages power to device This is a set only parameter SHUTDOWN _ Reduced power mode may require device reset to return to normal operation Device still respond
24. Discover Devices Each RDM device has a unique 48 bit ID This number serves as its address and must be discovered before a controller can communicate with the device 4744 00004000 GD FOUND 5 DEPTH 48 The above display is shown during discovery The top line shows the current low address being searched The first two Hex digits are the manufacturer ID here 47 44 This is the ID of Goddard Design Company Note that if possible the ASCII characters for the manufacturer ID are shown to the right in between quotes 11 1 1 Discover Newly Connected Devices This item looks for all devices connected to the system since the last discovery It will discover only new devices 11 1 2 Discover All Devices This item erases the table of devices and re discovers all connected devices This item should be used anytime you connect the DMXter to a new rig 11 1 3 Load Rig The DMXter can store in non volatile flash up to 4 named Table Of Devices This item lets you load the TOD of your choice 11 1 4 Store Rig This is the item that stores the Table Of Devices Use the lt DOWN gt key to scroll thru the stored TOD s A used memory is named Note that a blank line is a memory that someone didn t bother to name empty memories are labeled EMPTY Once the data is stored you will be able to label the memory using our text editor The text string editor is detailed in section 17 11 1 5 Delete Rig I hope this one is fairly obvious 11
25. ERES NO EMEND ERE 48 14 3 BATTERY OPERATING TIME ess RES EIER RESEARCH 48 15 MiniDMXter4 TECHNICAL DISCUSSION 48 15 1 MiniDMXter4 48 IST CLEANING 4 FD DU REFERS 48 15 2 SPECIFICATION 6 7 2 7 4 49 Table 15 1 Transmitted DMX512 Flavors 49 Table 15 2 RECEIVED DMX512 6 49 Table 15 3 ACCURAGCY Y DWY WA eas Rae PUY 50 Table 15 4 VOLTAGE AND CURRENT LIMITS LY FF FF Y A 50 Table 15 5 OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT 50 15 3 CONNECTOR FUNCTIONS AND CONNECTOR WIRING 51 15 31 b RI er n OO CIE m e ee RE eme dn 51 15 32 DMXcotl zs inest s bc eee t Cr e PC D eh 51 15 3 3 Topology for DMX Terminate amp DMX Pass Through 51 15 3 4 Uses of PINS 51 15 4 THE BERCENT SCALE eC e En DE Eee ec rey 51 I3 5 PERGENTTABLBS na the eH ton e deste dem e sete esta ud 52 15 6 STANDARDS DMX512 485 53 15 7 RELEASE NOTES amp SOFTWARE VERSION 8 53 MARIUM 53 V3 08 V3 1O uu esee e RUDI Wee ERE RC ERR ER ERR FWA ERG 53
26. Oueued messages for all ACK TIMER s or only for ones that were caused by the controller sending a GET GET Q MSG ON ACK TMR OFF GETs ONLY ON 11 11 5 Interleave Null Start Code Here you have a yes no choice The number of null packets to be interleaved is fixed at 2 for normal RDM and is setable in the advanced RDM s flavor menu 11 11 6 Self Test RDM CONTROLLER SELF TEST RDM responders may support one or more self test modes A set of optional PIDs can cause a unit to start or stop any available self test mode Self test 0 zero will stop any self test running on the current responder Self tests 1 to 254 are different optional self tests Self test 255 will run all the self tests See the responder user manual for any device s specific details There is no way to know in advance which self tests are supported however we guess that most responders will support test 1 before test 200 By default we enter set to self test 1 Entering lt UP gt lt DOWN gt will jump to the first Selftest in Selftest list On entry you will see ISELECT SELFTEST 1 name of selftest 1 If you press lt UP gt you will lower the test number DOWN will increase the test number As you change the number the Mini asks the responder for its description of the displayed self test If the response is STRING NOT AVAIL there is a very good chance that there is no self test rout
27. SCENE LIVE If the Mini is at the end of the line this question is irrelevant If you are connected to dimmers then you have the choice of seeing the scene as you are editing it or leaving the unit in the pass thru mode and editing blind If the present mode is correct press lt DOWN gt If you wish to change the edit mode press BLUE Each time you press BLUE the edit mode and display will toggle to the other state When you press lt DOWN gt you will enter the edit slot screen This display is exactly the same as the SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT display see section 4 6 if you are not familiar with it When you have adjusted all the slots you wish to change press lt BLUE gt to exit Next you will be given a chance to edit the scene name followed by a chance to edit the fade time The methods used are the same as those used by RECORDING SCENES above 10 8 CHANGING THE DEFAULT FADE TIME FADE TIME IS x CHANGE DEFAULT TIME The default fade time is used as the fade time for the permanent blackout scene and for all scenes that do not have individual fade times recorded The default fade time is shipped set to three seconds It may be set from 0 to 30 seconds using the lt UP gt and DOWN keys Once set it will retain its new value until reset Press lt BLUE gt when you have the default fade time you want Exiting the fade time editor puts you back to the RECORD SCENE menu
28. Set DMX Personality This item lets you select current personality while displaying the personality description 11 6 Setup RDM Device This menu allows RDM responder configuration Many RDM devices will not support all of these functions You can t swap pan and tilt on a color change Most ofthe following menu items will indicate if they are not supported as you scroll by 11 6 1 Device Label Uses the text string editor including the USB option to enter the device s label 11 6 2 Display Level Brightness MiniDMXter4 V3 19 40 If supported this item controls the brightness of the configuration display on the responder The next seven menus read the status of the responder on entry and write back the status on exit 11 6 3 Display Invert Some responders can rotate the displayed characters on the configuration display 11 6 4 Pan Invert Obvious isn t it 11 6 5 Tilt Invert See above 11 6 6 Pan Tilt Swap You ve got this right 11 6 7 Lamp State LAMP STATE M OFFmEON STRK STBY NONE ERR The standard defines the following lamps states LAMP STRIKE Arc Lamp ignite LAMP STANDBY Arc Lamp Reduced Power Mode LAMP NOT PRESENT Lamp not installed LAMP ERROR We are not sure how one sets a lamp error but it is allowed 11 6 8 Lamp ON Mode The standard supports the following modes for when an arc lamp should strike ONHOME AFTER CAL The Lamp Strikes after Calibration
29. VBS iis See Y GN Re n ER 53 MSS E N NC AY FARA EE ebbe e tepore cente bb 53 V3 19 November 1 2013 ex rtescubn REL C dee nee 54 V3320 November 15 2013 iR du vibes eec Se UNDE OED 54 I6 FCC PART 15 STATEMENT Gy UL SH age TRE eee t 55 17 USB OPERATIONS INCLUDING CODE 55 17 1 Terminal Emulator Requirements and Recommendations 55 17 2 Using a PC with Routines That Support 8 56 17 3 Downloading new operating code to the 56 18 THE STRING EDITOR vo se e Gee Sal PANE ITANE E RA FR We FR 57 19 ARRANT YS ERE NN ENERO NIRE ela ee 58 APPENDIX A TEXT 55 8 8 1 59 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 VI INTRODUCTION MiniDMXter4 is a portable test set for checking DMX512 transmission and reception and for configuring responders using the RDM protocol Itisareplacement for Goddard Design Company s MiniDMXter If you have used a MniDMXter or a Li DMXter before you should be right at home if not keep reading The MiniDMXter4 is battery operated device It comes with two AA batteries installed It may also be powered from an external power adaptor or it may be powered via a computer supporting USB In this case it must be directly powere
30. a Numeric 3 L6 sLDEEELI RIGHEI 2 Abende sess 3 1 1 6 1 Changing a Slot Number by 4 1 1 6 2 Auto increment The Slot Number 4 1 1 6 3 Jumping the Slot Number by 10 4 1 1 6 4 Auto increment the Slot Number by 10 4 1 1 6 5 Forcing the Slot Number to 4 1 1 7 lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Cycles Through Number Formats 4 1 1 8 lt BLUE gt As a Shift Key ee etes NC cs e du E NOU ES 4 1 2 DISPLAY CONVENTIONS Rp RE pU get FYD CE DD 4 1 5 NUMBER 68 42 2 2 42 4 1 3 1 Default Display 1 5 2 TURNING THE UNIT RE ave Re ne dd Uyd 5 2 1 IF THE UNIT WEL 2 5 2 2 RESETTING TO FACTORY 8 5 2 3 OWNER IDENTIFICATION MESSAGE 5 2 4 THE DISPLAY BACKLITE i 2s ke tae kee Y GU GW DR YY 5 3 MATN MENU GG FE FOD DG DAN DU DOE exe eb TE EET 6 4 TRANSMIT DMA 2S y ding se se UD Verbs Oo Hos PR ER 6 4 0 1 Ifa N
31. a convention that is peculiar to it The lt LEFT gt and RIGHT keys are used to increment or decrement the current scene number The routines that record or edit scenes share a common user interface It is described in detail in sections 10 3 3 thru 10 3 5 10 0 2 Selecting Playback or Record On entering ShowSaver the first choice we give you in the menu is to playback the previously stored scenes SHOW SAVER PLAYBACK SCENE This may seem a little out of order but think about it your stage is in total darkness when it shouldn t be How many menu items would you want to go thru to get light on the stage 10 1 PLAYBACK PLAYBACK SCENE is the only method to seguence thru the recorded scenes Its operation is designed to be simple and we hope obvious since you may not be at your calmest when using it The behavior of PLAYBACK Show Saver SHOW SAVER and ShowSaver are trademarks of Goddard Design Co MiniDMXter4 V3 19 29 depends on whether you are connected to a transmitting source of DMX512 when you press the lt BLUE gt key If you are connected to a transmitting source of DMX512 you will enter MONITOR mode Ifthe MiniDMXter4 does not see valid DMX512 within 1 4 second it enters PLAYBACK MONITOR is a useful mode of operation but probably you should learn about PLAYBACK first We ll tell you about MONITOR now but you might consider skipping over it for now To enter PLAYBACK in any form you must have scenes recorded Ot
32. a function similar i to the use of the lt BLUF gt key 5 9VDC OFF miniDMXter4 Pressing it when you are in a menu guery will back the MiniDMXter4 up one menu layer Since some of the menus have become rather deep this can be a real time saver ner 1 1 4 lt RED gt A few routines in Version 3 00 implement the RED or lt MORE gt key This is the now for something completely different use An example in the RDM controller pressing the RED key switches you to a shortcut menu Any place the lt RED gt key is used it will be pointed out in that manual section 1 1 5 UP lt DOWN gt lt UP gt and DOWN are used to step thru items ofthe menus When setting slot levels or changing the value of a numeric parameter the MiniDMXter4 uses the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys to raise and lower the numeric values They also function as the no to answer the queries of the menu Pressing DOWN tells the MiniDMXter4 no to the current query and advances you to the next choice Pressing lt UP gt tells the MiniDM Xter4 no to the current query and backs you up to the previous choice 1 1 5 1 Bumping a Numeric Value to Minimum or Maximum Hold the BLUE button down while you press the UP key to jump a numeric value to maximum Hold the lt BLUE gt button down while you press the DOWN key to bump a numeric value to its minimum value This will work with most but not all
33. display dependent Some displays including the one we use have provision to load what are considered non printing characters with special displays So if you sec odd characters consult APPENDIX A 5 10 RECEIVE UTF 8 TEXT PACKETS MiniDMXter4 V3 19 19 DMX512 A also allows for text to be sent with the UTF 8 encoding UTF 8 supports many characters required for non English language texts Our display does not support many of the non English language characters however for the standard English characters the encoding is the same The packets have the same format They use a different Start Code UTF 8 use Start Code 90 hex 5 11 RAW HEX DUMP TO USB PACKETS This item will dump all DMX line activity to a terminal in hexadecimal Each Break starts a new line and is marked with a Framing errors show up as Everything else is printed as 2 Hex digits By default everything is printed To turn off the flood of Null Start Code packets press the RIGHT button while the hex dump is active When filtering is enabled only the Start Code is printed for Null Start Code packets The state of filtering is displayed on the bottom line of the LCD If you are using Teraterm with Window no special driver is reguired for the Mini The USB will auto configure to deal with the high data rate of this routine MiniDMXter4 V3 19 20 6 INTERCEPT amp MODIFY A new feature in the DMXter4 RDM is Intercept and Modify Place the DMXter inline with a con
34. level of 20 Note that label on the top line has changed from SLT to 1 This tells you that only one slot is being captured or modified at this time Any number of slots may be captured the levels of these slot may be raised or lowered to any valid value The valid key functions for I amp M are UP or lt DOWN gt The first press of one these keys captures control of the slot but does not change its level Further presses will increment or decrement the values as it would in Send Edit lt BLUE gt lt UP gt Captures the slot and bumps to full lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt Captures the slot and bumps to zero lt UP gt lt DOWN gt Captures and bumps to 50 lt BLUE gt lt UP gt HELD Holding these keys for 3 seconds will display a Summary Screen telling how many slots are captured and how many slots have a level The display also lists the first and last slot captured and the first and last slot with level lt BLUE gt lt DWN gt HELD Holding these keys for 3 seconds will offer you the chance to capture all 512 slots or to release all 512 slots lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT Moves thru the slots in way that these keys are used in Send Edit Auto repeat and shifted jump modes are supported lt RED gt Releases capture on the current slot The level will bump back to whatever level is being sent by the console lt UP gt lt LEFT gt also may be used as a release key lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Cycles thru percent decimal and hexadecimal numbe
35. numeric values that are set by the UP and DOWN keys 1 1 5 2 Bumping a Numeric Value to Half Press both DOWN and lt UP gt then release both keys A numeric value will be taken to its half value This will work with most but not all numeric values that are set by the UP and lt DOWN gt keys 1 1 5 3 Auto incrementing a Numeric Value Many numeric values set with the lt UP gt and DOWN keys may be auto incremented by holding down the UP key If you hold down the DOWN key the value will auto decrement towards its minimum 1 1 6 lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt The most freguent use of the right and left arrows is changing the current slot numbers In displays that have an underline cursor they are used to move the cursor While they are marked with arrows for the remainder of this manual they will be referred to as LEFT and lt RIGHT gt MiniDMXter4 V3 19 3 1 1 6 1 Changing a Slot Number by One To increase a slot number by one press the lt RIGHT gt key To decrease a slot number press the lt LEFT gt key 1 1 6 2 Auto increment The Slot Number Hold down the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement the slot numbers by one 1 1 6 3 Jumping the Slot Number by 10 Hold down the lt BLUE gt key and press and release the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt key to increment or decrement the slot number by 10 1 1 6 4 Auto increment the Slot Number by 10 Hold down lt BLUE gt and then
36. oko oko koe ok ek Text packets sent by the MiniDMXter4 are fixed We allow for 8 messages Details of the MiniDMXter4 format Slot 1 is set to 00h thru 08h to identify the current message Slot 2 is always sent as 00h Slot 3 511 are sent as ASCII text as reguired After the last ASCII character is sent a Null will be sent If fewer than 25 slots are sent the packet will be padded out to 25 slots by whatever garbage is in the transmit buffer These characters should be ignored Slot 512 if sent will always be a Null In the listings below the text to be sent is delimited with single quotes 7 text packet strings 1 2 3 4 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890 50 i DB MiniDMXter4 v3 17 TEXT 51 DB COPYRIGHT GDC 2010 TEXT MS2 DB ESTA DMX512A TXT PACKET TEXT MS3 1 2 8 4 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890 DB Alice was beginning to get very tired of DB sitting by her sister on the bank and DB of having nothing to do once or twice s MiniDMXter4 V3 19 59 DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB DB he had peeped into the book her sister w as reading but it had no pictures or co nversations in it and what is the use of a book thought Alice without pict ures or conversations So she was cons idering
37. original purchase said repairs or replacement will be made without charge Ifthe failure has been caused by misuse neglect accident or abnormal conditions of operation repairs will be billed at a nominal cost In such case an estimate will be submitted before work is started if reguested THE FOREGOING WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS OR ADEOUACY FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE GODDARD DESIGN CO SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEOUENTIAL DAMAGES WHETHER IN CONTRACT TORT OR OTHERWISE If any failure occurs the following steps should be taken 1 Notify the GODDARD DESIGN CO giving full details of the difficulty and include the serial number On receipt of this information service data or shipping instructions will be forwarded to you 2 On receipt of the shipping instructions forward the unit shipping prepaid Repairs will be made at the GODDARD DESIGN CO and the unit returned shipping prepaid shipments to GODDARD DESIGN CO should be made via United Parcel Service or similar best way carrier prepaid The unit should be properly packed either in its original container or if in a substitute container in one that is rigid and of adequate size to allow for suitable packing padding to protect the unit from shock The unit should be thoroughly inspected immediately upon original delivery to pur
38. press and hold the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 1 1 6 5 Forcing the Slot Number to One In routines that reference a slot number pressing both lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt simultaneously will reset the slot number to one This key combination is also used to see cue details in ShowSaver 1 1 7 lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Cycles Through Number Formats The native format of most data in the MiniDMXter4 is 8 bit binary Eight bit binary is seldom the best way to display data The MiniDMXter4 can display 8 bit slot values in three formats percent decimal or hexadecimal You can select the default number format in the Setup Menu Pressing the lt UP gt and the lt RIGHT gt keys at the same time will cause the unit to cycle through the three number formats Details on the display formats can be found in section 1 3 1 1 8 lt BLUE gt As a Shift Key There are several places in this software that use lt BLUE gt a shift key to allow one of the other keys to access a second function or status display When accessing a second function the lt BLUE gt is pressed and held while the second key is pressed and released 1 2 DISPLAY CONVENTIONS There are two different purposes ofthe display One is to allow you to move around the menu structure to the area you need for the test you want to perform Here the top line of the display will generally tell you where you are in the menu and the second line will
39. system where it is useful to have several defined lighting looks available to switch between Also when testing or servicing certain DMX controlled apparatus such as color changers it is often useful to cycle thru a few different settings ShowSaver adds to your MiniDMXter4 the ability to record and save two shows each having eight looks These looks differ from the SNAPSHOT in that they are not overwritten when the DMXter is used to perform its usual diagnostic tasks And should some forklift operator cut your DMX cable having a source of lighting cues small enough to heft in one hand could be very useful no not to brain the klutz with the MiniDMXter4 isn t heavy enough another reason you should have bought a DMXter4 RDM Seriously though while we do not wish you to view the MiniDMXter4 as a lighting console ShowSaver is intended to serve as a backup when disaster strikes Remember that this capability is useful only if you learn to use it before you need it and you make a practice of using it during show setup 10 0 1 ShowSaver Conventions and Structure ShowSaver has two major subsections The first section records or edits the stored scenes The second section plays back scenes The sections are separate except that they share a common entry point It is not expected that a user will switch back and forth between record and playback so once you enter the PLAYBACK SCENE section the only exit takes you to the MAIN MENU ShowSaver has
40. 1 3 CONVENTIONS all of it 2 0 TURNING ON 3 0 MAIN MENU 4 0 TRANSMIT DMX The most commonly used functions in TRANSMIT are 4 1 ADJUSTING ONE SLOT 4 6 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT 5 0 RECEIVE DMX 5 1 VIEW LEVELS 1 CONVENTIONS As with any software based device we have set up some conventions 1 1 KEY CONVENTIONS The block of seven keys on the unit is used for most of the operation of the unit 1 1 1 ACTION ON KEY UP As a rule the MiniDMXter4 software takes action on key release not on key press The exceptions to this rule include auto repeat functions For brevity this manual will refer to press xx key even when action will take place after the key is depressed and released When we feel it is important or where confusion is possible we will lay out the key strokes in detail 1 1 2 lt BLUE gt The BLUE key is the YES answer to queries and initiates the action that you have chosen in most cases When the MiniDMXter4 is performing functions where a yes no answer would be inappropriate there will no longer be a inthe display At this point the lt BLUE gt key will Quit the work you have been doing and generally put you back to the point in the menu at which you entered There are some exceptions to this rule guitting some functions will return you to different points in the menu These will be pointed out later in the manual MiniDMXter4 V3 19 2 1 1 3 THE lt BACK gt KEY The lt BACK gt key usually terminates
41. 11 3 7 Sub Device Count amp Sensor 39 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 IV 113 8 Product Category oie RERO tan NN 39 11 39 RDM Protocol Versions essay haw Gy b Y Yy y 39 14 310 Device Power State cu og dug dod Ddnw P wydd 39 11 3 11 Hour and Power 39 11 3 12 Lamp Hour and Lamp 8 39 11 3 13 Lamp State and Lamp On 40 11 3 14 Boot Software Version 40 11 3 15 Product detail id 186 40 11 3 16 Supported PIDs eue Leer op e gere Op e C t 40 114 S t DMX Addressee onse NG ew doh A 40 Set DMX Personality 5 ob ed Re RP awe OE OS OS Be eR Hes 40 11 6 Setup 225522 4E YU A ae nes 40 Device Label J dnc tet ada ee fan ie dai seco et ns 40 11 6 2 Display Level 5 40 11 6 3 Display Invertz2 UR eR Yd n RUP Ng 41 1 1 6 4 Pan RI RR YSFA OD PERDE 41 1 6 5 THE Inyettz oo yd GRY FFI y 41 11 6 6 Pan Tilt SWap Le dd i abe 41 11 6 7 Lamp State Rent ee FD MP
42. 11 6 9 Power State E1 20 Name E1 20 Description OFF POWER STATE FULL OFF Completely disengages power to device Device can no longer respond MiniDMXter4 V3 19 41 messages STBY POWER STATE STANDBY Reduced power mode Device can return to NORMAL without reset Device still responds to messages POWER STATE NORMAL Normal operating mode 11 6 10 Capture Preset The number of presets that a unit may capture is totally device dependent This entry will enter the preset number and fade times SHTDN POWER STATE SHUTDOWN Reduced power mode may reguire device reset to return to normal operation Device still responds to 11 6 11 Playback Preset This item will allow the selection of a grand master value and the preset number to play back Whether the responder accepts a master value and how it fades is device dependent 11 6 12 Reset Lamp Hours 11 6 13 Reset Lamp Strikes 11 6 14 Warm Reset This parameter is used to instruct the responder to reset itself to some known state The exact behavior of the PIDs depends on the fixture you are working with 11 6 15 Cold Reset A cold reset is the eguivalent of removing and reapplying power to the device It also clears the Discovery Mute flag 11 6 16 Restore Factory Defaults 11 7 View Sensors View sensors is a submenu with 10 items The first item lets you pick which of the sensors fitted on the current responder you wish to look at SELECT SENSOR 0 10 Isensor description
43. 4 V3 19 49 Table 15 3 ACCURACY PARAMETER ACCURACY NOTES TIMEBASE amp BAUD RATE 75 PPM 0 70 Degrees C by design not tested in ACCURACY production NEGI IGIBI E Timebase jitter 1S the major Source of break TRANSMITTED START Code 0 NEGLIGIBLE MAB JITTER BREAK less than 16 380 MSEC TRANSMITTED 0 4 NON ZERO START Code or MAB JITTER i HS MAB time greater than 16 380MS SLOT FRAMEJTTER weed SCORE a a BREAK NEGLIGIBLE Timebase jitter is the major source of jitter REC D BRK MAB 250nS Sum of both errors rounded as needed for ACCURACY 75PPM 1 display REC D BREAK TO BREAK See section 5 2 5 Table 15 4 VOLTAGE AND CURRENT LIMITS VOLTAGE OR NOTES CURRENT EXTERNAL BATTERY 5 10 VDC 5 VOLTS RECOMMENDED ELIMINATOR MAX DMX512 OUT PINS 2 amp 3 Withstanding voltage amp current MAX VOLTS 6 8 VOLTS without damage Mis operation possible MAX CURRENT 100mA ESD human body model 8KW DMX512 IN PINS 2 amp 3 2 Withstanding voltage amp current MAX VOLTS 12 VOLTS without damage Mis operation possible MAX CURRENT 100 mA ESD human body model 8KW PIN 4 amp 5 IN or OUT 35 VDC 25 VDC Resistance Pin 1 of I O Connectors 22 Meg Ohms to Metal Case Table 15 5 OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT LIMITS PARAMETER MiniDMXter4 V3 19 50 Humidity 0 to 95 Non condensing Altitude 0 to 1900 meters Temperature 0 to 40 Degrees Celsius 15 3 CONNECTOR FUNCTIONS AND CON
44. 512 A is the ASCII or UTF 8 TEXT PACKET This routine decodes ASCII messages the next menu is for a routine that decodes UTF 8 messages Today there are many DMX512 transmitters that are not large lighting consoles Many devises designed for embedded applications reguire very little user interface once they are configured However configuring or trouble shooting these devices is difficult at best If only they had an LCD screen The MiniDMXter4 and similar devices can be that screen The present software provides two routines supporting Text Packet This routine and a Text Packet transmitting routine in the transmit menu Both routine us the same user interface This routine can be used to monitor DMX512 A devices that support this feature 01234567890123456789 MS The displays above are what you will see on entry to this routine The left one is when you are not receiving test 0 C 3 01234567890123456789 MS 3512 C 3 Alice was beginning packets On the right is what the display looks like when you are receiving a long text message Shown is the third of the canned MiniDMXter4 messages This message is the full packet length of 512 and we are looking at the beginning of the text Details on required packet format and the currently supported messages are in Appendix A You can scroll through a message using the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys MS DMX512 A allows a device to send up to Viewing the Te
45. 54 Graphic mode break points 5 3 VIEW ON USB TERMINAL If you have a PC with a terminal emulator installed you can now view the DMX levels on your PC Information on setting up the terminal emulator is in this manual in section 22 More detailed information is on our web site at www goddarddesign com usb2 html It is best to connect the USB connection and launch the emulator before entering this menu If you don t you will be told to do so The display on the PC should look like the one shown below exceptit will have seven pairs of lines with slot levels data The entry display will show slots 1 through 128 Three other pages are available to show all 512 slots The display below is a percent display decimal and hex displays are also supported DMXter 4 RDM View Levels Page 1 1 128 PROTCOL DMX Receiving Data 1 2 3 4 5 6 E 8 9 10 1 12 13 18 15 16 17 19 19 100 50100 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 To see the other 3 pages of slot values use the LEFT or lt RIGHT gt keys The following key presses are also available and work the same way the do in VIEW LEVELS lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Selects the number format lt UP gt Clears the receive buffer and restarts reception lt BLUE gt lt UP gt Shows the error summary display lt DOWN gt Restarts reception lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt Shows the slot range summary 5 4 VIEW PARAMETERS Whenever the MiniDMXter4 is receiving DMX512 it checks for the following problems PAR
46. ADE TIME Fade time may be set from 0 to 30 seconds using the lt UP gt and DOWN keys It is important to note that setting a fade time of 3 is different from having a default time of 3 A scene for which you have set a fade time of 3 will always have a fade time of 3 until you edit that time in that scene while a scene with a default time of MiniDMXter4 V3 19 34 3 will change when the value for the default time is changed Pressing BLUE removes the default and substitutes a recorded value To return to the default value press lt BLUE gt and lt DOWN gt Exiting the fade time editor puts you back to the RECORD SCENE 1 23 4 5 6 7 8 display To reach the next menu item press lt DOWN gt 10 6 CLEARING OLD RECORDED SCENES SHOW SAVER CLEAR SCENE Pressing lt BLUE gt will get you to this display CLEAR SCENE 142345678 The conventions for manipulating this display are the same as for recording scenes You will see CLEAR SCENE X followed on the second line by the scene name If you mean it press lt BLUE gt one more time 10 7 EDITING RECORDED SCENES SHOW SAVER EDIT SCENE Pressing lt BLUE gt will get you to this display EDIT SCENE 142345678 The conventions for manipulating this display are the same as for recording scenes You will see E LIVE MODE or BLIND MODE EDIT SCENE BLIND EDIT
47. CE CAN T USE SUBDEV W O 22 TOTAL 001 DEVICE INFO SUPPORT We do not support sub devices unless they also support the device info PID for those sub devices Hence the second display above To set the desired sub device move the cursor under the digit place you wish to change and use lt UP gt or cxDBOWN gt key lt BLUE gt lt UP gt sets the sub device to maximum 512 lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt sets the sub device to the root device sub 0 11 3 Device Information RDM responders are required to return a minimum set of information about themselves They can optionally return a great deal more This menu item lets you view the required information along with some common optional information 11 3 1 Device Model DEVICE MODEL 0040h DMX 4 This display shows a 4 digit hex model number and an optional text description provided by the manufacturer They are two separate PIDS You can move between the information menus with DOWN or lt UP gt keys You can leave this sub menu at any time with lt BLUE gt key If there is text beyond the end of the display the unit will go into auto scroll so that the extra text may be viewed 11 3 2 Device Label DEVICE LABEL DMX RDM TESTER This parameter provides a means of setting a descriptive label for each device This may be used for identifying a dimmer rack number or specifying the dev
48. FLICKER FINDER compare limit When the DMXter is set to percent mode the START Code and the FLICKER FINDER compare limit will be displayed in decimal Slot numbers and timing information are available in decimal notation only DISPLAY DATA IN DEC gt 4 HEX The current display format is the one pointed to by the filled arrows To set the display format use lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt keys to move the filled arrows so they point to the desired selection The format will be set to whichever format is marked when you exit by pressing either lt UP gt lt cxDOWN gt or lt BLUE gt The default for this option is percent 8 5 OPEN LINE DETECTOR OPTION The choice will depend on the current setting of this option The unit is factory set to OPEN LINE ENABLED Most users will want to leave this function enabled The OPEN LINE DETECTOR is a proprietary Goddard Design Co circuit to overcome a potential problem with the parent standard of DMX512 EIA485 In EIA485 it is possible to intermittently receive data from a cable that does not have connection of all of its pins This can throw you off when trying to track down problems Since the chance of passing data intermittently on a cable exists the MiniDMXter4 incorporates the OPEN LINE DETECTOR This circuitry flags seemingly good data when all the pins are not connected There are some manufacturers and suppliers in the theatrical lighting field that have DMX512 cables that deliberately
49. FOR SEARCHES In SEND EDIT pressing and holding down the DOWN key and then pressing either lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt will cause it to search the slot table for the next higher or lower slot with a level greater or equal to the search minimum 4 12 ADVANCED TRANSMIT ROUTINES This menu item is the entry point to a submenu In the present version of the software this menu has five diagnostic routines which make use of new features of DMX512 A In earlier MiniDMXter4s the Adjust All Slots routine was found elsewhere 4 12 1 Adjust All Slots This function allows you to set all the slots to the same level at once Use the UP and DOWN keys If you hold down the lt UP gt key the slot levels will auto increment towards full If you hold down the lt DOWN gt key the slot levels will auto decrement towards zero The level may be displayed in decimal percent or hex The current status may be changed by pressing lt RIGHT gt lt UP gt simultaneously It can also be changed by a query in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 Note the default settings will not allow you to bring all the slots to half or full at once Many installations lack the power service to handle everything at full at once and we don t own a piece of any fuse or circuit breaker manufacturer Note even a location that could handle the load of all slots at full may not handle the surge caused by cold lamps MiniDMXter4 V3 19 11 In this software there is a sw
50. ITY ERROR E FRAMING ERROR BREAK TOO SHORT less than 88s MARK AFTER BREAK TOO SHORT less than 815 DMXS5 12 1986 called for 4us mark DMX512 1990 requires a mark of 8us or longer We flag marks of less than 8us as a warning of possible compatibility problems OVFL OVERFLOW meaning that you have attempted to receive more than 512 slots BNW BROKEN WIRE The probable cause is Pin 2 or 3 of your cable is open If this reads as B W it means that this feature is disabled Turn it on again thru the USER SETUP OPTION lt Uu hj rJ MiniDMXter4 V3 19 15 If any portion of this test returns an error the unit will show it An error is shown by an on the display under the error s code The display on the left shows two errors a short break and packet containing more than 512 slots The display on the right is the no error display PE FE BK MK OVFL BNW PE FE BK MK OVFL BNW NO ERRORS DETECTED Technical Note We report a PARITY ERROR for any frame byte that does not have its first stop bit DMX5 12 is a no parity system and the 9th bit should always be high To prevent false trips on the BREAK TOO SHORT and MARK AFTER BREAK TOO SHORT measurements the trip point for these measurements is set as follows a break must be measured as 87 5us or less A mark after break must be measured as 7 5us or less The MiniDMXter4 allows the user to look at certain parameters of the rece
51. MEAL PENALTY 4 6 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT Pressing the lt BLUE gt key will start sending the entire snapshot to the dimmers and will display levels of four slots atatime You can edit this as you need use the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys for changing the slot numbers Use the UP and DOWN keys for changing the level of the slot displayed in the left most position on the display MiniDMXter4 V3 19 8 The levels may be displayed in decimal percent or hex If percent is used LEV is changed to read LEV2 Ifhex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h Slot number and slot level may be set using the key presses summarized in the side bar on page 10 4 6 1 Searching for the next Slot with Level Press and hold the DOWN key while pressing and releasing lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to search for next higher lt RIGHT gt or lower lt LEFT gt slot with a level The next slot with a level greater or equal to the search minimum will be displayed in the leftmost position of the display 4 6 2 Re entering Send Edit Snapshot On exiting SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT the transmitter is turned off but the current slot number is NOT reset Therefore you may simply press lt BLUE gt again and restart exactly where you left off This means that a finger stutter on the keys is not a disaster You may also pause during a focus session and return to where you were If you exit to the MAIN MENU you will reset
52. MXter4 will use this value as its START Code for both standard TRANSMIT and RECEIVE until it is changed again by the user The following routines use special alternate START Codes and are not affected by the setting of this menu item Table 4 2 HEX The Hex 55 test message ssn B ASCII Text messages UTF 8 Text message RDM reguest and responses The START Code initializes to 0 when the factory defaults have been restored See section 2 5 amp MEAL PENALTY Section 19 3 The START Code may be displayed in hex The current status may be changed by gueries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 or by using lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt START Codes may only be displayed in decimal or hex If percent is selected for levels via SETUP OPTIONS START Codes will be displayed in decimal Exiting CHANGE START Code jumps you to ADJUST ONE SLOT This is an exception to the general rule that BLUE returns you to the point at which you entered the menu 4 10 1 MAB Accuracy Vs START Code If the START Code is set to 0 and the break length is less than 16mS the mark after break should be essentially jitter free When you set a non 0 START Code or when the break time is longer than 16115 regardless of START Code we change the method of generating the mark after break This alternate method has an uncertainty of 4us The MAB will be the length set by the current flavor or up to 4 us longer 4 11 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL
53. NECTOR WIRING The MiniDMXter4 supports bidirectional reguirements of E1 20 RDM 153 1 DMX in The male 5 pin connector is the DMX512 input connector It is used for all DMX512 receive functions When receiving Pins 2 and 3 of the DMX IN connector are connected to a differential line transceiver This line transceiver consists of a standard EIA485 transceiver chip protected by a transient and over voltage protection network Pin 1 is the signal common and shield It must be connected through to the signal common of the device under test for accurate results 15 3 2 DMX out The female 5 pin connector is the DMX 512 output connector It is used for all DMX512 transmit functions Pins 2 and 3 of the DMX OUT connector are always wired to a DMX512 line driver The line driver consists of an EIA485 transceiver and a protection network When required this connector has the RDM bias applied The output is always terminated this is not reguired for DMX512 but neither is it prohibited 15 3 3 Topology for DMX Terminate amp DMX Pass Through Modes The DMX IN connector is always terminated If a pass through mode is reguired the output transceiver is enabled and transmits a copy of the data from the input Using this mode increases power consumption If the MiniDMXterd4 is turned off or shut down for low battery it will cease passing through data 15 3 4 Uses of Pins 4 amp 5 The Cable Test routine tests the continuity of Pins 4 and 5
54. No other use is made of these pins and they do not loop through 15 4 THE PERCENT SCALE We have included a percent display mode in the MiniDMXter4 for the convenience of having a display that approximates the display seen on your lighting console The percent display mode should not be expected to exactly match any particular console and should not be used if it is important to know the actual level that you are receiving It should not be assumed that a MiniDMXter4 transmitting 45 percent will transmit the same code as your light console set to 45 DMX512 uses an 8 bit binary byte to represent a slot level This means 256 possible levels 0 to 255 Theatrical lighting has long used a 10 point scale which with the advent ofthe digital control console became a 101 point scale 0 100 There is no integer factor to convert 101 to 256 Therefore an integer conversion between these scales will be approximate There is no universal agreement on exactly how the rounding should be done The discrepancies manufacturer to manufacturer are seldom of great import in theatrical lighting although they are of some import when DMX5 12 is used to drive other devices such as color scrollers Technical note The conversions from percent to decimal and decimal to percent in the MiniDMXter4 are all table driven When the MiniDMXter4 is set to the percent mode more than one received code will be displayed as the same percent value For example 7Fh 80h and 81h a
55. OPERATING MANUAL FOR MiniDMXter4 Software Version 3 19 ShowSaver FOR HARDWARE FD DMX 6 DRAFT Goddard Design Co 51 Nassau Avenue Brooklyn NY 11222 718 599 0170 718 599 0172 fax http www goddarddesign com sales goddarddesign com Copyright 1991 2013 by Goddard Design Co 11 18 13 Y word_p wp6doc dmx man mini4_man3 19 wpd TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 25026 38285 Y EES BR eR nU 1 USITT DMX512 A AND THIS SOFTWARE 2 12 2 1 1 1 HARDWARE FEATURES OF THE 1 QU SAFETY WARNING cn testet dete CW DF E Aere eae AAA NO 1 0 1 1 Use a Blanking Plug in Unused DMX 2 0 2 GETTING STARTED QUICKLY 2 2 2 I CONVENTIONS Sy y TRI MUS ERE Ry Sep wes Bedi 2 12 KEY CONVENTIONS ege DD ld Mae FIG UN DAR DIR YDAN DDAR DF 2 DIEI ACTION ON REY UP neu Yd 2 Ll T2 BLUE TE os Metin ge had Y TELS 2 1 13 THE lt BACK gt KEY eos erben uie ee SO RR E eR GOLA 3 IT 4 SREDS nu RE RA iN t eid 3 LESUR DOWN T ee e RC epe RERO AERE BE Rer VN E Red 3 1 1 5 1 Bumping a Numeric Value to Minimum or Maximum 3 1 1 5 2 Bumping a Numeric Value to 3 1 1 5 3 Auto incrementing
56. QU 1043h G POWER ON SELF TEST EQU 1044h 6 16 FCC PART 15 STATEMENT This device complies with Part 15 of FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation WARNING YOU MUST CORRECT ANY HARMFUL INTERFERENCE CAUSED BY THIS DEVICE This device is professional test equipment and as such it is not intended for residential use If this device causes harmful interference it is the responsibility of the user to take action to eliminate this harmful interference and if necessary discontinue use of this device in the environment where the interference occurred 17 USB OPERATIONS INCLUDING CODE UPDATES Some functions on the MiniDMXter4 could use a bit more display space than 40 characters Some current or future functions could benefit from a full keyboard All the unit s running code is stored in flash ROM so we can email you a software update The USB connector allows the MiniDMXter4 to be connected to any computer supporting a serial terminal emulator that connects via USB The USB port on theMini is not isolated 17 1 Terminal Emulator Requirements and Recommendations The following are brief comments for the most up to date recommendation please check our website http www goddarddesign com usb2 html In general most terminal emu
57. SLT is the lowest slot with errors The number following ERRS is how many errors accumulated for this slot it may range from 1 65 535 The number following L is the lowest level outside the reference window that the slot went to The number following will equal the highest level outside the reference window The number following R eguals the reference value for this slot recorded when the snapshot was taken It is possible for the L value to be higher than the R value if all the incoming levels are higher than the value Similarly it is possible for the value to be lower than the value if all the incoming levels are lower than the R value At this point pressing the lt RIGHT gt key will take you to an identical screen for the next slot with errors Using the LEFT key will take you to the previous slot with errors If you are at the first slot with errors the lt LEFT gt key will take you to the highest slot with errors Both the LEFT and RIGHT keys have auto repeat functions Holding the BLUE key while pressing either the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt key will jump you to the last slot with errors or the first slot with errors respectively At any time while viewing the detailed error screens holding the BLUE and lt UP gt will temporarily redisplay the error summary screen When viewing either the summary or detailed error screens you may quit by pressing BLUE This will return you to FLICKER FINDER
58. TO MAIN MENU 9 1 RE ENTERING FLICKER FINDER If you hit lt BLUE gt accidentally do not despair You may reenter FLICKER FINDER at three separate points Pressing the DOWN key will offer you the chance to take a new snapshot Pressing the lt DOWN gt key again offers you the chance to reuse the existing snapshot Pressing the DOWN key a third time offers you the chance to view previous errors Isn t that reassuring NO ERRORS RECORDED You will see this display if the last time FLICKER FINDER was run no errors were detected or if FLICKER FINDER has not been run since the on off switch has been cycled or if you have run the SHOW SAVER PLAYBACK or if you have run the MULTI CHANNEL MODE send routines If during the data comparison section of the test you press lt BLUE gt before any errors are detected you will get the following message TEST SUSPENDED TO MAIN MENU If you wish to continue the test press DOWN or UP Pressing lt BLUE gt will return you to the main menu Once errors are detected the data comparison section of the test cannot be re entered Once stopped restarting the comparison clears the error tables 9 2 TECHNICAL NOTES ON FLICKER FINDER Flicker Finder disables the power off timer while it is comparing incoming data regardless of the user setup The backlite is turned off and left off as well terminating the test by using lt BLUE gt turns it back on During the
59. The display will read ISTART CODE IS 0 CHANGE IT If you press lt BLUE gt the display will read START CODE IS 0 CHANGE START CODE Press the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys to change the START Code to your desired setting Pressing UP and lt DOWN gt together will cause the START Code to bump to 128 Pressing BLUE and DOWN together will return the START Code to zero When the desired value is displayed press the lt BLUE gt key to save this value The unit will use this value as its START Code for both transmit and receive until it is changed again by the user When the factory default values have been restored the unit reinitializes the START Code to 0 See Section 2 5 The START Code may be displayed in hex The status may be changed by gueries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 or by using the lt RIGHT gt lt UP gt shortcut START Codes may only be displayed in decimal or hex If percent is selected for levels via SETUP OPTIONS START Codes will be displayed in decimal If hex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h 5 7 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR SEARCHES SEARCH MIN IS 1 CHANGE IT The search minimum is used by VIEW LEVELS In VIEW LEVELS pressing and holding down the DOWN key and then pressing either lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt will cause VIEW LEVELS to search the received slot table for next higher or lower slot with a leve
60. You can step thru the choices by pressing the UP or lt cDOWN gt keys until you come to the function you wish to use To select that function press BLUE The functions are TRANSMIT DMX512 Section 4 RECEIVE DMX512 Section 5 INTERCEPT AND MODIFY Section 6 CABLE TESTER Section 7 SETUP OPTIONS Section 8 FLICKER FINDER Section 9 SHOW SAVER Section 12 RDM CONTROLLER Section 15 4 TRANSMIT DMX TRANSMIT DMX is one of the primary diagnostic tools offered by the MiniDMXter4 The unit can transmit a DMX5 12 signal to allow you to check that the receive end of your transmission link is correctly receiving the signal Originally DMX512 was a standard primarily intended to communicate level information to dimmers It had provisions fornon level or non dimmer communications by means ofa START Code For dimmer communication the START Code has a value of 0 sometimes referred to as the null START Code The default START Code setting in the MiniDMXter4 is therefore 0 4 0 1 Ifa Non zero START Code Is Set If you previously changed the START Code to a non 0 value you will now be informed of this fact and given the chance to change the START Code if you wish If you do not wish to change the START Code press lt DOWN gt Pressing lt UP gt will return you to the MAIN MENU 4 0 2 If a Non standard Flavor Is Set The MiniDMXter4 provides considerable control ofthe parameters
61. a to be recorded the bottom line will read briefly SNAPSHOT RECORDED After a brief pause the MiniDMXter4 will drop thru to the next menu entry and the display will read TRANSMIT DMX512 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT The snapshot function is START Code sensitive If your MiniDMXter4 is still reading TAKING SNAPSHOT for more than three seconds and the bottom line remains blank this means that your unit is receiving data with a different START Code than the one it is currently set to receive After 3 seconds if no digital input is received or if the input is not a digital form that the MiniDMXter4 can recognize you will see NO DIGITAL INPUT OR INPUT NOT DMX512 When you see this message on the display first check to see that you have a cable plugged into the MiniDMXter4 input connector and into the output connector of a working console Many menu items erase a snapshot 4 5 1 Actions That Overwrite or Erase a Snapshot The following events will overwrite a snapshot with a new snapshot 1 Taking a new snapshot 2 Using the FLICKER FINDER 3 Using VIEW LEVELS Whatever levels are in the table at the time one exits VIEW LEVELS will be preserved and may be used as a snapshot 4 SHOW SAVER RECORD SCENE EDIT SCENE and PLAYBACK SCENE The following events will erase a snapshot and leave the table clear 1 ADJUST ONE SLOT 2 ADJUST ALL SLOTS 3 Using CLEAR SNAPSHOT 4 Shutting down due to low battery showing you
62. an store A set of brackets points to the currently selected scene Solid brackets enclose a recorded scene open brackets enclose a cleared scene To select the scene use the lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt keys to move the brackets to enclose the desired scene If you would like to see a summary screen for a particular scene hold down both the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys simultaneously An example of a summary display is shown below The top line starts with S x where x is the current scene number The rest of the top line displays the scene name if any The second line lists the number of slots with levels egual or greater than 190 the first and last such slot 5 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS 3 T9 SLO These conventions will be used any time you see a display of this type 10 5 2 Taking the Snapshot Press BLUE to record If nothing was previously recorded in the scene the screen message will display briefly TAKING SNAPSHOT If the scene had been previously recorded you will see the warning OVERWRITE SCENE 1 with the second line displaying the alphanumeric name of the old scene If you do wish to overwrite the scene answer lt BLUE gt here If not use DOWN to cancel the operation 10 5 3 Naming the Scene After recording the scene the screen will read EDIT SCENE NAME The second line of the display provides space for a sixteen character alphanumeric name If you ha
63. at mode Upon entering the FLICKER FINDER submenu the first message is TAKE SNAPSHOT OF CONSOLE S OUTPUT Pressing lt BLUE gt causes it to record the snapshot A technical note During the taking of the snapshot the DM X512 line is momentarily terminated So there is a very brief moment when data is not passed thru to the DM X512 OUT connector If the unit did not see a digital input it will tell you so NO DIGITAL INPUT OR INPUT NOT DMX512 After correcting the problem press the DOWN key to try again After the snapshot is recorded the next display will read COMPARE LIMIT IS 4 CHANGE IT The compare limit is the number of steps of change either plus or minus that are allowed before the MiniDMXter4 considers that a channel is changing or flickering Note that one step is one part in 256 not one part in 100 The default compare limit is 4 but the user may set it from 0 to 64 The MiniDMXter4 will remember the last limit you set and only returns to the default upon hard power up Note that the compare limit menu item does not support any of the multi key bump functions The compare limit may be displayed in decimal or hex If percent is selected for levels the compare limit will be displayed in decimal The status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 7 4 If hex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h If the previously set compare limit is satisfactory
64. chaser All material in the container should be checked against the enclosed packing list The manufacturer will not be responsible for shortages against the packing sheet unless notified immediately If the unit is damaged in any way a claim should be filed with the carrier immediately Final claim and negotiations with the carrier must be completed by the customer MiniDMXter4 V3 19 58 APPENDIX A TEXT MESSAGE LISTINGS TEXT PACKETS The purpose of the ASC text packet is to allow equipment to send diagnostic information formatted for display The START Code is 17h Packet length 3 thru 512 However for timing reasons most packets will should be padded to a minimum of 24 data slots Slot allocation is as follows T slot 0 START Code 17h EK Slot 1 Page number of one of the possible 256 text pages ER Slot 2 Characters per Line This Indicates the number of characters per line that the SUN transmitting device has used for the purposes of formatting M the text A slot value of zero indicates ignore this field Slots 3 512 ASCII text All characters are allowed and where a DMX512 text viewer is capable it shall display the data using the 5 646 Wok standard character set dk A slot value of zero ASCII Null shall terminate the ASCII string Slots transmitted after this null terminator up to the reset sequence shall be ignored TT TT dedo
65. comparison test the only key on the mINIDM Xter4 that is operational is BLUE If during the data comparison section of the test any slot records 65 535 errors the test will be suspended The display will read 5 STOPPED ERROR OVERFLOW VIEW MiniDMXter4 V3 19 28 9 2 1 Low Battery Warnings During Flicker Finder Low battery warnings are displayed in a slightly different way during the data compare test of FLICKER FINDER FLICKER FINDER is a very processor intense task that cannot tolerate any interruption so a special battery warning was required When the battery discharges to the point that the MiniDMXter4 would normally display the standard warning the display changes from the one on the left to the one on the right This display will be latched and will not change back to the normal display even if the MiniDMXter4 is plugged into AC power COMPARING INCOMING FLICKER FINDER DATA TO REFERENCE LOW BATTERY WARNING Once the low battery warning is displayed it will only change if errors are detected If the errors are detected and you have a low battery warning the display will look as shown below ERRORS DETECTED LOW BATTERY WARNING 10 SHOWSAVER The ShowSaver feature is intended to help your show if your console becomes disabled at a bad time Uses of ShowSaver There are many occasions in setting up and in testing a lighting
66. d CN Plo ON DAL 36 10 12 ERASE CURRENT 5 36 10 13 RETURNING TO THE MAIN 36 10 14 PEAYBACK SCENE GYD BAF ID ee a DA 36 10 15 GETTING A SUMMARY THE 8 8 36 I RPM CONTROEDER O OD UE O DDO Gu OD WD op DE em 37 TT DISCOVER DEVICES bn it a fe an d La 37 11 1 1 Discover Newly Connected 37 11 12 Discover All Devices eee DA dere wate AY Fd 37 IT oad Rigi sine ake ect DS 37 LEA Store Rag is o dad ddu Peat gl ERE M 37 LTD Delete Su su om be Yg 37 1142 Select Current Device 37 14 9 Device Information pre ter DRS YL EU IMI Y Y AO ND 38 Tal Device Modele rere nn yn rct cante Part 38 IZ Device Labels fee me tise y GW Oe DRE Yn 38 11 3 3 Manufacturer Label nS cx eR esee eats NE 38 11 3 4 Software Version Number amp Label 38 11 3 5 Slot Address amp Slot Foot Print 39 11 3 6 Personality Ld Mau wn fom bd tds 39
67. d from a computer or a powered hub If it needs to be programmed from an unpowered hub see Section 13 for instructions on disabling USB powering Your MiniDMXter4 is a software based machine that uses a menu structure allowing you to step thru its features to get to the test you need to perform Much of its operation is obvious The purpose of this manual is to help you run it quickly and to find the section you want easily This manual 1s written for software version 3 00 If you ve used a DMXter in the past you ll find much remains the same but there are enough changes that you ll save yourself some aggravation by reading at least some of the manual USITT DMX512 A AND THIS SOFTWARE The MiniDMXter4 supports the recommendations requirements and terminology of ANSI E1 11 aka DMX512 A HARDWARE FEATURES OF THE MiniDMXter4 e A micro controller running at 48 mHz e Four and a half megabytes of non volatile RAM for data storage e The physical layer supports both DMX512 A and RDM E1 20 e A USB interface allows use ofa PC as a data terminal for the DMXter The USB port provides the means for software updates to be entered into flash memory in the field using a file E mailed to the user e The USB port also allows a personal computer to serve as an I O device for routines run by the MiniDMXter4 0 0 SAFETY WARNING Due to failure of either the dimmers or the console or due to a short between the DMX512 line and power cables it is possible t
68. do not have pin 1 connected at both ends Following upon majority interpretation of the DMX512 Standard this is a practice that Goddard Design Co does not endorse If the MiniDMXter4 is used on these cables the OPEN LINE DETECTOR will provide spurious bad cable readings and so we provide the option to disable it The following functions use the OPEN LINE DETECTOR VIEW LEVELS it is the feature we call BNW for broken wire VIEW PARAMETERS error summary screen where it is also called BNW DOUBLE ENDED CABLE TEST it is inherent to this test and cannot be turned off This test will not test cables where Pin 1 is not connected at both ends 8 6 ENABLE BUMP ALL The original DMXter software did not allow bumping all slots to full Many installations lack the power service to handle everything at full at once and we don t own a piece of any fuse or circuit breaker manufacturer However there are tests where bumping all slots is very useful This menu item allows you to enable this feature We still would caution that this feature should be used with care MiniDMXter4 V3 19 25 8 7 SET THE INTERCEPT amp MODIFY FLAVOR Intercept and modify may be run using three different flavors All three flavors are designed to be as easily received as possible for selected update rate INTERCEPT amp MOD SPEED 15Hz 20Hz 30HZ 8 8 COPYRIGHT NOTICE Author Credits What more can we say 8 9 FIRMWARE BUILD
69. down until the unit is unplugged 8 2 BACK LITE OFF OPTION BACKLIGHT ENABLED BACKLIGHT DISABLED DISABLE BACKLIGHT ENABLE BACKLIGHT Pressing lt BLUE gt switches between the two settings 8 3 DISABLING THE BACKLITE TIMER The next menu will be one of the following items MiniDMXter4 V3 19 24 IBACKLIGHT TIMER ON BACKLIGHT TIMER OFF BACKLIGHT TIMER ON ON CHANGE TMR AC ON CHANGE TMR RUNNING ON BATTERY If the MiniDMXter4 is running on battery you will see the third display If it is plugged in an external supply or to the USB port you will see the first or second display When the unit is running on battery pressing lt BLUE gt has no effect If the MiniDMXter4 is plugged in pressing lt BLUE gt will toggle the timer and the display When the back light is on it will remain on if the timer is off This can be useful when using the Mini to do repeated measurements that do not reguire any keys pressed between measurements This setting will persist until cleared either by this menu or by the operation of the unit from battery 8 4 NUMBER FORMAT OPTION The next menu item is the NUMBER FORMAT OPTION Certain numbers may be displayed in any one of three formats decimal percent 22 or hexadecimal HEX Slot levels may be displayed in all three formats Decimal or hexadecimal notations are available for the START Code and for the
70. e name if any The second line lists the number of slots with levels equal or greater than 1 and the first and last such slot 5 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS S TO 510 10 3 7 Exiting Playback To exit Playback press the BACK key You will be asked to confirm that you are aborting Playback Until you answer BLUE Playback will continue 10 3 8 Technical Information about Playback PLAYBACK including MONITOR receives and transmits data only on START Code 0 This is the normal dimmer START Code In most systems START Code 0 is used for all show data Most moving lights will operate on START Code 0 START Code 0 is often referred to as the Null START Code Using PLAYBACK sets the START Code to 0 This setting remains when you exit ShowSaver PLAYBACK transmission characteristics are set by a special flavor If you need information on what we mean by a DMX flavor see section 4 7 The flavor we use for playback is the same as the default setting of the USER C flavor This flavor 1s permanent and will not change if you make changes to USER C PLAYBACK FLAVOR USED FOR ShowSaver BREAK MAB INTER SLOT UPDATE LENGTH TIME 1622348 160ys asue 10 4 ShowSaver Start Code amp Line Termination The receive and edit routines of ShowSaver temporarily change the START Code to which the MiniDMXter4 is set to the dimmer START Code of 0 Exiting ShowSaver by way of the TO MAIN MENU menu item will restore
71. ead you press lt BLUE gt you will get a latched summary display as per the example below 5 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS 1 TO 512 If you wish to view a summary for another scene you may increment or decrement the scene number using either the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys or the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys NOTE When incrementing or decrementing cleared scenes are skipped MiniDMXter4 V3 19 36 11 RDM CONTROLLER In using RDM the definition of the devices is a bit different from that in straight DMX512 RDM uses controllers and responders A controller sends out an RDM reguest a responder receives this reguest and replies An important detail to keep in mind is that a responder may NEVER reply unless it receives a reguest An RDM system is controlled by the controller The RDM software accessed by the Controller menu allows the miniDMXter4 to act like a controller providing basic identification and configuration of RDM units Even in a system with a RDM console the miniDMXter4 will be useful for troubleshooting and system set up You will be able to discover the RDM devices in your system retrieve their present configuration and capability set their DMX slot address and personality You will also be able to set many other configuration settings You will be able to retrieve any sensor information that the RDM devices in the system provide one example is internal temperature another is line voltage 11 1
72. ent messages They have been chosen to test the compatibility of a displaying device with this feature Details on required packet format and the currently supported messages are in Appendix A You may change which packet you are sending by using the UP and DOWN keys You can scroll through a message using the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys Technical note Text Messages are sent with a special START Code 17h and generally will not be viewable by Null START Code receiving devices More technical details are in Appendix A MS DMX512 A allows for a device to send up to 256 different text messages They are numbered from 0 to 255 This routine generates up to 8 canned text messages The above screen is the first canned message in the MiniDMXter4 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 12 L Text message packets may have from 24 to 512 data slots plus the START Code See the Appendix A This field shows the length of the packet that is currently being transmitted C This is the position within the packet of the character that is in the first display position on the second line of the display As you use the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys to move about the display this number lets you know were you are 4 12 5 Sending UTF 8 Text Packets DMX512 A also allows for text to be sent with the UTF 8 encoding UTF 8 supports many characters required for non English language texts Our display does not support many of the non English language characters however
73. f the cable and take a new sample If the samples are the same the cable is assumed to be good 7 1 DOUBLE ENDED CABLE TEST Upon entering the cable test menu your first choice is whether you wish to do a double ended cable test Selecting lt BLUE gt will bring you to the next guestion CABLE TESTER TEST PINS 4 AND 5 Yes we know DMX512 doesn t use pins 4 and 5 except that some manufacturers have found ingenious uses for them So we give you the option of testing these pins Our tests of pins 4 and 5 are for continuity only and do not attempt to send digital data on these pins Answering lt BLUE gt will cause the test to start in a mode that tests all five wires Pressing the DOWN key will cause the test to start testing only pins 1 2 and 3 Once you begin the cable test and assuming that your cable is good the unit will step thru its procedure After the unit has completed one test seguence the top line of the display will change to read CABLE GOOD Each time the asterisk moves the unit has completed one complete cable test and the cable has passed A cable test consists first of checking for ground continuity then checking for continuity and lack of shorts on Pins 2 and 3 then optionally continuity on Pins 4 and 5 Then a packet of DMX512 like data is transmitted and checked that it is received intact If all of the above tests are successful we consider the cable good We move the asterisk one place in the disp
74. f you are in the active PLAYBACK mode the lt BACK gt and the lt RED gt keys have special uses Their special uses are explained below 10 3 1 The Playback Display Below is the playback display as it may look when you enter PLAYBACK SCENE for the first time When you enter PLAYBACK the stage will be in blackout and the NEXT scene will set to the lowest numbered scene that has been recorded usually scene one STAGE BLK GM 100 NEXT 1 TIME 10 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 31 There are four fields in the display They STAGE Shows which scene is being transmitted to the receivers Scenes are 1 thru 8 and BLK which stands for BLACKOUT GM Shows the current setting of the Grand Master It may be set from 0 to 100 96 NEXT Shows the scene that will be faded to the next time the cross fade is started The user may select the scene number in this field with the lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt keys TIME Shows the recorded fade time into the next scene While a cross fade is underway the display will change The TIME field changes to read XFADE and starts to count down the fade STAGE BLK GM 100 NEXT 1 XFADE 9 10 3 2 Keys Used in Playback The seven keys all have functions in Playback The following list is a guick summary of their playback uses lt RIGHT gt Increments the scene number lt LEFT gt Decrements the scene number lt BLUE gt 1 Starts a cross fade into the next scene 2 exit
75. hat a DMX512 control cable may be connected to the AC mains If connected to the AC mains a DMX512 cable would be carrying hazardous voltages If any conductor of a DMXS12 cable is connected to the AC mains it is possible that the metal case of the connector is also connected to the AC line Care should always be taken when testing an installed DMX512 cable that no hazardous potentials are present The user should note the following Testing of DMX512 lines that are shorted to the AC line is hazardous and should not be attempted The MiniDMXter4 does NOT indicate the presence of hazardous voltages on the DMX512 lines The metal frame and metal front panel parts of the MiniDMXter4 are not grounded The impedance between the DM X512 lines entering the MiniDMXter4 and the metal frame is approximately 22 megOhms The frame should not become hot if there is AC leakage on the DMX512 lines But do not rely on this for your safety check that YOUR DMX512 lines are not hot 0 2 PRECAUTIONS THAT WILL ASSURE THE BEST OPERATION OF YOUR MiniDMXter4 The MiniDMXter4 is a sensitive piece of test equipment designed to receive and decode low power digital signals even when those signals are in an electrically noisy environment It is also a piece of theatrical field service equipment We know that field conditions in a theater or studio are often as close to a war zone as most of us wish to get The MiniDMXter4 is designed to work in this hostile environment
76. he minimum and maximum number of frames are different you should suspect a problem Also you should never receive more than 512 frames This test is start code sensitive this test reports the frame count of only those packets transmitted with the currently selected start code 5 4 5 Interslot Time in us This routine measures any extra time between slots Note that from a users point of view there is no ideal number for this parameter However too long a time will decrease the update rate If you are working with compliant legacy eguipment that may not be fully compatible with the standard it can be very useful to have some space between slots We have added this and the next two routines to provide full development and diagnostic tools The display is similar to the Break and the MAB routines It displays the minimum average and maximumt time seen The averaging algorithm for this and the next three routines differs from the one for the other older routines The reason for this is the time intensive nature of these measurements 5 4 6 MARK BEFORE BREAK in us The time between the end of the last slot of a packet and the break 1s given several different names including Inter Packet Time and Mark Before Break MBB Prior to V2 45 for the Lil DMXter this was not a measured parameter 5 4 7 MARK AFTER START CODE in us The Mark After Start Code is conceptually the same as inter slot time However some software designs could cause its value to be comp
77. he Playback Display 31 10 3 2 Keys Used in Playback 32 10 33 The Cross Eder et urpis quere NS 32 10 34 The Grand Master rea chius b tere rona m ERI Tels ELS REY 32 10 3 5 The Onsta ge Editor 20 22 52 25 SA ie BRE CREUSE eb EDUC IR 32 10 3 6 Playback Summary 33 10 3 7 Exitie Playback e edet WY 33 10 3 8 Technical Information about Playback 33 10 4 ShowSaver Start Code amp Line 33 10 5 RECORDING Ce con wae AN COD AN e qu 33 10 5 1 The Scene Select Display 34 10 5 2 Taking the Snapshot 34 10 53 Naming th Scene eee A ee ee Resp ts 34 10 5 4 Setting the Fade Time Seek Ee y ERAI ES RES 34 10 6 CLEARING OLD RECORDED 6 35 10 7 EDITING RECORDED SCENES 7 35 10 8 CHANGING THE DEFAULT 35 10 9 TOAD SHOWS iuri oerte E ETUR EURO EN Yd D ETE AM UN 36 JO TO STORE SHOW iode DIPENDE MA Mee e 36 IO H DEEBETESTORED SHOW tusw y
78. herwise when you press lt BLUE gt you will be told SHOW SAVER NO SCENES RECORDED This message is displayed briefly If you see it you will have to skip to section 10 5 to learn how to enter scenes 10 2 DMX MONITOR MODE The purpose of MONITOR mode is to attempt to preserve the last valid DMX transmission in case of disaster The concept is that this will help you to make a smooth transition to the scenes stored in the MiniDMXter4 Remember that unless you have stored some scenes in the unit this is useless to you The MiniDMXter4 must be daisy chained between the console and the first dimmer rack The console must be turned on and transmitting valid DMX512 to the dimmers Select the ShowSaver menu and select PLAYBACK SCENES If the unit detects valid data you will see the following display STAGE GM 100 AUTO START ON FAIL In the field following STAGE you will see a small chasing rapidly This indicates valid DMX reception At this point the MiniDMXter4 is in pass thru mode If you do nothing or if you press DOWN the unit will inform you of a failure but will not automatically start sending DMX Pressing lt BLUE gt will enable the unit to start transmitting automatically on a failure of the console s DMX output Pressing either key will change the display to the following ISTAGE GM 100 INEXT 1 TIME 3 While the MiniDMXter4 is in monitor mode the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt
79. ice s location This is an Optional PID 11 3 3 Manufacturer Label MANUFACTURER LABEL DMXter4 RDM This parameter provides an ASCII text response with the Manufacturer name for the device of up to 32 characters The Manufacturer name must be consistent between all products manufactured within an ESTA Manufacturer ID This is an Optional PID 11 3 4 Software Version Number amp Label SOFTWEAR V 00020410h SOFT V text label The 32 bit software version number is part of the required device information response The text response 1s optional This parameter is used to get a descriptive ASCII text label for the device s operating software version The descriptive text returned by this parameter 1s intended for display to the user The label may be up to 32 characters MiniDMXter4 V3 19 38 11 3 5 Slot Address amp Slot Foot Print DMX512 ADDRESS FFF SLOT FOOTPRINT HEF Hopefully the meaning of the DMX address is obvious The slot footprint field specifies the DMX512 footprint number of consecutive DMX512 slots required This information can be used in conjunction with DMX ADDRESS for auto patching capabilities Both fields are required 11 3 6 Personality PERSONALITY OF YY descriptive text The numeric data is reguired the descriptive text is optional Many parameters be affected by changing personality 11 3 7 Sub Device Count amp Sensor Count SUB
80. ill depend on the terminal emulator you are using With some emulators you may need to open the file first With the new version of Tera Term you can drag and drop the hex file into the emulator window 18 THE STRING EDITOR The string editor is used by several routines to enter labels and descriptive text It is likely to be used by more routines in future releases It allows you to enter or edit a string of up to 99 characters Most strings are much shorter Show names in ShowSaver are 18 characters long In most uses the end ofthe top line will display the current cursor position and the total allowed number of characters i e 1 18 for ShowSaver shows On entry the cursor will be under the first character of the display If before you enter the menu that uses the string editor you have connected the USB terminal to the Mini you will also be able to enter text from the keyboard ofthe terminal On the PC youwillseeEnter a string Whatever is typed on the PC up to the character limit or when the lt ENTER gt key is pressed will be used as text input to the menu Beyond the obvious key strokes there are several other editing key commands All key functions are as listed below lt UP gt Rolls thru the alphabet 0 9 A Z and the punctuation lt BLUE gt lt UP gt Changes the case lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt Changes the case lt DOWN gt Rolls thru the punctuation then Z thru A 9 0 lt UP gt lt DOWN gt Enters a space
81. ime 5 0 1 If a Non zero START Code Is Set If you previously changed the START Code to a non 0 value you will be informed of this fact and given the chance to change the START Code if you wish 5 1 VIEW LEVELS Pressing the lt BLUE gt key will display 4 slot numbers on the top line and their levels below The unit allows you to step thru the levels for all of the slots displaying 4 at one time Regardless of how many slots are being transmitted there will always be 512 entries in the slot table The level value for slots that are not being transmitted will be displayed as 0 If you wish to know how many slots are being transmitted see 5 1 4 RECEIVED SLOT SUMMARY DISPLAY below The levels may be displayed in decimal percent or hex The current status may be changed by queries MiniDMXter4 V3 19 QUICK STEPPING THRU SLOTS AND LEVELS Slot AUTO INCREMENT Hold down the lt RIGHT gt lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement the slot numbers by one Slot JUMP BY 10 Hold down the lt BLUE gt key and press the lt RIGHT gt or LEFT key to increment or decrement the slot number by 10 Slot AUTO INCREMENT BY 10 Hold down BLUE and then press and hold the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 RETURN TO Slot ONE Press both the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys to return the slot number to one FORMAT CYCLING THRU FORMATS Pressing both lt UP gt and
82. ine for that number If you press lt BLUE gt the packet to start the test will be sent and assuming it is ACKed you will see this TEST IS RUNNING END IT If you press lt BLUE gt the test will terminate and return you to entrance menu SELF TEST You may re enter the test or move on If instead of lt BLUE gt you answer with any other key you will be back in the main RDM controller loop however the self test will still be running Now pressing lt BLUE gt will tell you that the test is still running and ask again if you want to stop it Pressing ANY key other than lt BLUE gt will take to MiniDMXter4 V3 19 46 SELECT SELFTEST self test name of selftest x This allows you to select another test The new test will start when you press BLUE Note that what level of control a responder will allow while in self test is very device dependent For some devices some self tests may be only terminated by a hard power reset 12 COLORTRAN PROTOCOL SUPPORT The MiniDMXter4 may be ordered with support for the Colortran protocol CMX If you have ordered this option you will get the documentation for it It may also be downloaded from our web site at www goddarddesign com pdf doc cmx man pdf 13 THE CEMARK The European Union has established certain requirements that most electronic equipment must conform to if they are used within the EU It has established te
83. itch to enable bumping all slots See section 8 6 When enabled you may bump all slots to full half and of course zero Be careful when you use this feature Blowing the service may be momentarily exciting but we don t have to fix it and you do 4 11 2 ADJUST SLOT RANGE START END LEVEL AUTO START END LEVEL AUTO START END LEVEL AUTO l 525 50 1 25 60 FADE 2 225 10 STEP This menu item allows you to adjust a contiguous group of slots The first display shows slots 1 25 set to a level of 50 The second display shows slots 1 25 autofading with a current level at 60 The third display shows slots 1 25 fading from 0 to full and down the group of slots will then be reset to slots 26 50 which will continue to fade up and down and increment The Start slot and the End slot may be set at will as long as the End slot is egual or greater to the Start slot 4 12 3 DMX512 TEST PACKET HEX 55This item sends a packet with the START Code set to hex 55 followed by 512 slots of hex 55 These packets have every other bit set It was included in the new version of DMX5 12 as a test pattern It may be useful for measuring bit delay and bit distortion through DMX5 12 repeaters and splitters While it will seldom be used in day to day testing of a working lighting system when the bits hit the fan it can be very useful Viewing the Text Packet Moving about the Display AUTO INCREMENT H
84. ived signal in detail Pressing the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys will scroll the user thru the choices Pressing DOWN will bring you to 5 4 1 Break Length BREAK LENGTH reads out a minimum value a maximum value and an average of the last 32 packets all expressed in us or if appropriate in milliseconds The average value will take a few seconds to appear on the display The MiniDMXter4 can measure the minimum maximum and average break length for breaks longer than 6515 If it receives a minimum break time of less than 65us the minimum and maximum values will be replaced with the words TOO SHORT This is to warn you that you have exceeded the measurement capability ofthe MiniDMXter4 The average value will still be shown but its validity should not be counted on Break length is not START Code sensitive the break length of all packets is measured regardless of the START Code that the packet is transmitted with 5 4 2 Mark after Break Length MARK AFTER BREAK LENGTH reads out a minimum value a maximum value and an average value for Mark After Break length expressed in us or if appropriate in milliseconds The average value will take a few seconds to appear on the display If it receives a minimum mark time of less than 3us the minimum and maximum values will be replaced with the words SHORT This is to warn you that you have exceeded the measurement capability of the MiniDMXter4 The average value will still be shown but its validity
85. keys are active and you may preset the scene you wish to go to following the OK scene in the event of a failure 10 2 1 When the Monitor Mode Detects a Failure If you have had the Mini in monitor mode for more than a minute the display backlite will have timed If the MiniDMXter4 fails to detect valid DMX for one second it holds the last valid transmission it received turns on the display backlite and the display changes to one of the displays below STAGE FAIL GM 100 STAGE GM 100 NEXT TIME 0 NEXT 1 TIME 0 This is meant to get your attention assuming that what is happening to the lights on stage hasn t If you enabled auto start the display on the right will be shown If not the display to the left is shown 10 2 2 If Auto Start Is Disabled The MiniDMXterd4 is not yet transmitting and we presume your console isn t either If the console has stopped transmitting what you are seeing on stage now depends on your dimmers certain types will hold the last transmission for considerable time before fading to black while others will dump immediately Your console is still connected to your dimmers via the DMX line if you can still run cues the problem must have been transitory On the other hand if your console is still transmitting but erratically you may get disco dimmers Now you have two choices three really if you count turning it all off and going out for coffee and then callingtheshop
86. l greater or equal to the search minimum The number of slots with a level greater or equal to the search minimum is reported in the RECEIVED SLOT SUMMARY DISPLAY This menu item is used to set the search minimum The range for the search minimum is 0 to 255 The search minimum may be displayed in decimal percent or hex The status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 If percent is used the level is followed by a sign If hex 1s used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h 5 8 DMX512 PARAMETERS NOT CHECKED BAUD RATE The MiniDMXter4 does not measure the baud rate of the received signal Neither does it measure bit jitter If the baud rate of the console is within the allowed range the MiniDMXter4 should properly receive the signal but no measurements are made or reported SIGNAL VOLTAGE LEVELS The MiniDMXter4 does not measure the voltages provided on the EIA485 line specifically neither differential nor common mode voltages are evaluated to see 1f they fall within the EIA485 specification If the MiniDMXter4 is reliably receiving data it is probable that the differential signal level is adequate Testing of common mode signals is beyond the scope of the MiniDMXter4 and this manual Both common mode and differential mode signals can be tested by a qualified technician using standard laboratory equipment MiniDMXter4 V3 19 18 5 9 RECEIVE ASCII TEXT PACKETS A feature of DMX
87. l know that cable test has ended when you no longer hear the clicking noise Release the key and you will see the following message TEST SUSPENDED You may now use the UP or DOWN keys to restart the test Pressing BLUE will return you to CABLE TESTER DOUBLE ENDED 8 SETUP OPTIONS The MiniDMXter4 is intended to be versatile so we provide the opportunity for the user to set certain options that make life a little easier These options affect more than one function or menu 8 1 AUTO SHUTDOWN TIMER If no keys have been pressed for 10 minutes the AUTO SHUTDOWN TIMER if enabled turns the unit off AUTO SHUTDN ENABLED AUTO SHUTDN DISABLED DISABLE SHUTDOWN ENABLE SHUTDOWN Pressing lt BLUE gt reverses the state of the timer and displays the appropriate message Pressing lt BLUE gt will not step you to the next menu entry it just reverses the timer state To step to the next menu item you will have to press lt DOWN gt This will preserve the current state of the timer 8 1 1 DISABLING THE AUTO SHUTDOWN TIMER Plugging the MiniDMXter4 into an external supply including a USB port overrides the setting of AUTO SHUTDOWN TIMER When plugged into external power your MiniDMXter4 will continue to run until shut off Plugging the unit into an external power source does not change the shutdown flag it just prevents the unit from automatically powering
88. l packets but continues to send ASC packets the no data message will NOT appear As long as some valid DMX512 packet is received every 3 seconds no time out occurs Simply viewing the display would not indicate this 5 1 2 UP Clears the Display Buffer and Restarts Receive Pressing lt UP gt will restart the receive routine and will clear the receive buffer When the key is released the bottom line of the display will momentarily display the word CLEAR The lt UP gt key can be used at any time to see if the display is being updated or 1s static 5 1 3 DOWN Restarts the Receiver Pressing lt DOWN gt restarts the receive routine and will show you the data that was in the buffer at the time the time out occurred When the key is released the word RESTARTING momentarily appears on the bottom line 5 1 4 Received Slot Summary Display Hold down the lt BLUE gt key and press lt DOWN gt You will see the following display 23 OF 256 L gt 1 SLT 2 TO SLT 100 The top line of this display tells you the total number of slots received in the case above 256 and the number of slots having a level greater or equal to the search minimum In this case 23 slots have a level greater than or equal to 1 percent The bottom line lists the lowest slot and the highest slot to have a level greater than or equal to the search minimum The search minimum can be set from 0 to 255 it is set by its own menu item see Section 5 6
89. l settings It is also possible that certain parameters may be corrupted Some parameters are reset every time the unit is turned on However parameters that we feel the user may wish to keep from session to session are stored in non volatile memory To reset the parameters to factory default Press and hold the lt BLUE gt while turning the unit on All internal parameters are now reset to the factory default values This is confirmed by the following message Cold Boot MemCleared If you updated your software the routine to reset the defaults will run automatically and you will see the above message as you turn the unit on 2 3 OWNER IDENTIFICATION MESSAGE OPTIONAL We offer an optional internal identification message that briefly displays LITES R US Or any two lines of20 alphanumeric characters If you have ordered this option the message will last three seconds This message may be keyed through in the same way that the version numbers can be keyed through If your unit is not fitted with this option this message will not be seen This option must be entered at the factory It is not field programable 2 4 THE DISPLAY BACKLITE The backlite will time out if you haven t used the keys in about one minute To turn it back on press any key MiniDMXter4 V3 19 5 3 MAIN MENU The MiniDMXter4 works on a function menu All tests and functions of the MiniDMXter4 are accessed by way of seven MAIN MENUs
90. l would Some displays including the MiniDMXter4 allow custom characters to be mapped to these and other unused codes Care should be taken when choosing non alphanumeric characters TEXT MS5 BS 07h TAB DB 09h DB LF DB OAh DB CR DB ODh Message 6 sends a single character S that is meant for testing the behavior of receivers when sent a very short string TEXT MS6 DC 5 Message 7 tests the behavior when short string is terminated by a null but additional characters are sent after the null A properly set up display should see only the character T you cursor over the null character the MiniDMXter4 will display the rest of the string but if given the whole string it will stop receiving at the null TEXT MS7 DC T 00h You should not see this message DC it s after a null MiniDMXter4 V3 19 61
91. lators which can be configured for serial communication via USB will work pinch We do not recommend Hyperterm Below are the basic requirements Baud rate 57 000 Word size 8 bits Stop bits 1 Parity none Flow control none MiniDMXter4 V3 19 55 Emulation VT100 COM port depends on what USB com ports your machine has already assigned the USB interface on the Mini is of the FIFO style and runs at the USB buss speed hence the baud rate setting is usually irrelevant However most emulators will reguire that you enter a baud rate The com port supported will vary depending on what physical com ports are fitted and what USB com ports have been used by your computer before you first connected your MiniDMXter4 to it It will always be at least com 3 and will often be a higher com port For a method of removing unused com port assignments see the web page listed above 17 2 Using a PC with Routines That Support USB Launch the terminal emulator and select the com port immediately before entering the function that will use the USB 17 3 Downloading new operating code to the MiniDMXter4 If you are getting a software update for your MiniDMXter4 you must provide us with your correct serial number Each update file is made for one and only one MiniDMXterd4 It will be in the form of xx hex serial number Put the code in a folder directory and open that folder in a small window Turn on your MiniDMXter4 by holding down lt UP gt l
92. lay and start doing the test all over again Testing multiple cables If you intend to test more than one cable at a time after testing the first cable simply unplug it from the DMXter without pressing any keys on the MiniDMXter4 One of the error messages will appear telling you that the cable has failed Plug the next cable to be tested into the unit and restart the test by pressing either the lt UP gt or lt DOWN gt keys In this manner you may rapidly test multiple cables Soitfailed Ifa cable fails the continuity test the top line of the display will read CABLE TEST FAILED The text on the second line will tell you which pin s should be checked P1 means that Pin 1 shield is open If Pin 1 fails the test terminates so you will have no way of knowing if there are problems with other pins of that cable We suggest that in repairing the cable you check all the pins for problems After repairing the cable test it again Some DMX512 users do not wire pin 1 on both ends of the cable This cable tester will not test cables that do not have pin 1 connected on both ends P2 means Pin 2 open or that Pin 2 is shorted to Pin 1 P3 means Pin 3 is open or that Pin 3 is shorted to Pin 1 PINS 2 amp 3 REVERSED Obvious huh P2 P3 means that either Pins 2 and 3 are both open or they are shorted to each other If either Pin 2 or Pin 3 is open or shorted to ground or the other pin the test will stop before tes
93. ld This parameter is used to set the verbosity of Sub Device reporting using the Status Type codes Error Warn or Advisory This feature 1s used to inhibit reports from for example a specific dimmer in a rack that 1s generating repeated errors 11 9 Send Edit Device This item allows editing of the DMX slot values for the currently selected device The first time you run Send Edit it will prompt you to load default values for a device if they are available You can manually request them by holding lt lt BLUE gt lt UP gt for a few seconds The display is shown below ISLT 3 3 4130 99 IWhiteLED The Mini is currently sending a level of 99 to slot 3 of a device with a footprint of 4 0 thru 3 The device has base address of 410 and we are addressing DMX slot 413 The slot description for this slot of this device is WhiteLED The values set when you either move to another slot by lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt keys or exit by lt lt BLUE gt are left as set Standard send edit short cut keys apply lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt Hold lt RIGHT gt Hold lt LEFT gt Hold lt lt BLUE gt amp lt RIGHT gt and Hold lt lt BLUE gt amp lt LEFT gt 11 10 Edit Null Start Code Data The Mini sends Null Start Code packets between RDM packets The number of packets sent is set by a submenu item in the RDM flavor menu This item allows you to edit the packet to be sent It behaves identically to SEND EDIT in Transmit 11 11
94. letely different from Inter slot time For that reason we measure it as a separate parameter 5 4 8 Average Routines for 5 4 5 5 4 6 5 4 7 The average routines for Break MAB and Break to Break keep a running average of the last 32 values This function adds values to a counter and displays that result when enough data points have been collected One result of this is that if a parameter is changing the user will not see it count up or down smoothly It will instead update every second or so with the new average value One display note The measurement method causes the minimum and maximum to have a few micro seconds of jitter On the order of 3 micro seconds Since zero is an allowable time for these measurement it is possible that a negative time could be returned We do not display negative times however we can display a value of 0 A value of negative zero means that jitter return a negative result 5 4 9 Break to break Time This screen reads out the minimum value the maximum value and an average value The MiniDMXter4 can measure the minimum maximum and average break to break length of a DM X512 signal where this time is 900us or longer If it receives a break to break time of less than 900ps all three values will be removed from the display and be replaced by the words TIME LESS THAN 900 45 Break to break time is not START Code sensitive the break to break time of all packets is measured regardless of the START Code that the packet 1
95. ndicates that the minimum is not defined A value of 32767 indicates that the maximum is not defined Normal Minimum Maximum Value MIN lt NORMAL gt MAX MIN lt NORMAL gt MAX 23000 25000 NOT AVAILABLE These are signed 16 bit values that define the lowest and highest sensor values for which the device is in normal operation A value of 32768 indicates that the minimum is not defined A value of 32767 indicates that the maximum is not defined 101234567890123456789 RECORDED VALUE RECORDED VALUE 24031 NOT AVAILABLE This is a signed 16 bit value that represents the value that was recorded when the last RECORD SENSORS was issued Support for this data is optional ENSORS RESET MIN MAX SENSORS RECORD VALUE SENSORS RESET ALL MIN MAX SENSORS ECORD ALL VALUES 2 11 7 1 Sensors Abbreviation milli Multiply by 10 KILO Multiply by 10 micro Multiply by 10 MEGA Multiply by 10 nano Multiply by 10 GIGA Multiply by 10 pico Multiply by 10 TERRA Multiply by 10 fempt Multiply by 10 PETA Multiply by 107 atto Multiply by 107 EXA Multiply by 107 zepto Multiply by 107 ZETTA Multiply by 10 yocto Multiply by 1074 YOTTA Multiply by 1074 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 43 11 8 DEVICE MESSAGES Status Collection Messages include messages used to retrieve deferred gueued responses device status and erro
96. not We have provided a selection of parameter groupings which we call flavors Choosing a flavor refers to choosing a preset of parameters for the transmitted signal The concept of flavors applies only to a transmitted signal generated by the MiniDMXter4 and not to reception MiniDMXter4 V3 19 9 There are 8 Preset flavor choices NAME BREAK MAB SLOTS IST MB Mini STANDARD 10Hz 100us 20us 512 216 59116 1 11 DMX512 A 92us E 12us 512 DMX512 1990 8us MAB 88us Updates Sec 10 44 08 24 SLOTS 8us MAB 88us DMX512 19904us MAB 88us L 24 SLOTS 4us MAB 88us 830 6 4us 833 3 B 70us 4us MAB 205 70 6 2 Colortran Option rmm us 216 Table 4 1 BREAK BREAK TIME MAB MARK AFTER BREAK SLOTS NUMBER OF SLOTS IST INTERSLOT TIME MBB MARK BEFORE BREAK Getting into the SEND FLAVOR submenu will put you at the last flavor that was set You may step thru the choices from there Use the lt BLUE gt key to select your flavor and return to the TRANSMIT submenu You will find yourself at the ADJUST ONE SLOT choice This is an exception to the general rule that BLUE returns you to the point from which you entered the menu 4 3 THE SNAPSHOT LIBRARY 4 8 1 Load Snapshot The Mini can store up to 8 named Snapshots in non volatile flash This item lets you load the Snapshot of your choice 4 8 2 Store Snapshot This is the item that stores the current Snapshot Use the DOWN key to sc
97. nsmitting Mini default flavor Transmitting other flavors Receiving pass thru The operating times are based on using an Energizer E91 Zinc Manganese Dioxide battery Times also assume that the back light is on They should be conservative but as they say your mileage may vary 15 MiniDMXter4 TECHNICAL DISCUSSION The following are discussions of a few items of interest that we couldn t find a better place to put 15 1 MiniDMXter4 MAINTENANCE Other than cleaning the MiniDMXter4 reguires no on going maintenance 15 1 1 CLEANING The exterior of the MiniDMXter4 may be wiped clean with a soft damp rag The rag may be moistened with any mild water based cleaner Do not immerse the unit If any water enters the unit let the interior dry fully before the unit is operated MiniDMXter4 V3 19 48 15 2 SPECIFICATION TABLES Table 15 1 Transmitted DMX512 Flavors NAME MBB Updates Sec Mini STANDARD 10Hz 10 1 11 DMX512 A 4us 44 08 DMX5 12 1990 8us MAB 44 1 24 SLOTS 8us MAB DMX5 12 1990 4us MAB 24 SLOTS 4us MAB 70us BK 4us MAB 205 Colortran Option BREAK BREAK TIME MAB MARK AFTER BREAK SLOTS NUMBER OF SLOTS IST INTERSLOT TIME MBB MARK BEFORE BREAK Table 15 2 RECEIVED DMX512 PARAMETERS FUNCTION MINIMUM MAXIMUM NOTES BAUD RATE 250 000 as per DMX512 BREAK LENGTH 50us MAB LENGTH 3us NUMBER OF SLOTS 1 512 OVFL reported for over 512 slots BREAK BREAK TIME 170us 3 SEC MiniDMXter
98. of changing the slot number are summarized in the side bar on this page MiniDMXter4 V3 19 6 Use the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys to change the level The methods of changing the level are summarized in the side bar on this page 4 2 REENTERING ADJUST ONE If you press lt BLUE gt to exit this routine and then press it again to re enter you will return pointing to the last slot that you were editing If you exit to the MAIN MENU you will reset the slot to one Taking or erasing the snapshot will also reset the slot number to one This behavior is uniform for all routines that use a slot number 4 3 AUTOFADING ONE SLOT This menu item is a test that allows you to cycle slots up and down automatically It has two modes one cycles one slot continuously the other cycles a slot once and then steps to the next slot You may choose whether a slot cycles from off to full and back to off fade UP or cycles from full to off and returns to full fade DOWN If you answer BLUE to this question you will cause the MiniDMXter4 to cycle a slot once and then step to the next slot If you answer DOWN to this question the MiniDMXter4 will cycle the same slot up and down continually The display will be static The MiniDMXter4 will have started to transmit The level sent will be an unchanging zero To start the auto fade press either UP or lt DOWN gt Pressing UP causes the MiniDMXter4 to start fading from zero up to full and then back to
99. ofthe transmitted DMX signal This isreguired because DMX512 allows many parameters to vary over wide ranges Our method of allowing you to select groups of preset parameters is called selecting the flavor See the discussion of flavors in Section 4 7 below The MiniDMXter4 s default flavor setting is a flavor using conservative times producing a 10Hz update rate This is the default specifically because it conserves the battery Details of the available 7 flavors are shown in Table Xx following If you previously changed the flavor to one other than Mini Standard 10Hz you will now be informed of this fact and given the chance to change it if you wish 4 1 ADJUSTING ONE SLOT If you want to look at the output of one dimmer or if you want to use the MiniDMXter4 as a focusing remote you want to use the first choice in the TRANSMIT DMX512 menu TRANSMIT DMX512 ADJUST ONE SLOT If you choose lt BLUE gt you will get a new display reading SENDING SLOT 1 TO LEVEL O The level may be displayed in decimal percent or hex This status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 If percent is used the level is followed by a sign If hex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h Change the slot number by using the RIGHT and lt LEFT gt keys with the default flavor setting you may choose slots from 1 to 512 The methods
100. old down the lt RIGHT gt 4 2 4 Sending ASCII Text Packets or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decre Another new feature of DMX512 A is the TEXT ment the character position by one PACKET Today there are many DMX512 transmitters that are not large lighting consoles Many devices designed for embedded applications require very little user interface once they are configured However configuring or troubleshooting these devices is difficult at best The present software provides two routines supporting ASCII Text Packet this routine and a Text Packet Receiving routine in the Receive Menu Both routines use the same user interface RETURNING TO THE FIRST CHARACTER Press both the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys to return to the first character which is in slot 3 JUMP BY 10 Hold down the lt BLUE gt key and press the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt key to increment or decrement the character position by 10 AUTO INCREMENT BY 10 Hold down lt BLUE gt and then press and hold the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 This routine is intended to test other Text Packet receiving devices The Text Packet Receive routine can be used to monitor DMX512 A devices that support this feature IMS 01 24 c 3 miniDMXter4 v3 17 The display above is what you will see on entry to this routine The MiniDMXter4 can send several different stored text messages This release has eight differ
101. on zero START Code Is 6 4 0 2 If a Non standard Flavor Is 6 4 L ADJUSEING ONE SLOT yden ysy ae adeo e D DR 6 4 2 RBENTERING ADJUST ONE ui Wy eR EK 7 43 AUTORADING ONE SEO Bovey e RE y PN RAO WYAF 7 4 4 CLEARING THE SNAPSHOT 2 7 4 5 TAKING NEW 5 8 4 5 1 Actions That Overwrite or Erase a 5 8 4 6 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT ueu i e ER RR UR RR CR UR SD SF ER 8 4 6 1 Searching for the next Slot with 9 4 6 2 Re entering Send Edit 5 9 4 6 3 Clearing the Snapshot Within 9 4 7 SEND ny bus aed dee o yd Y Y dd tede hc s 9 AR THE SNAPSHOT LIBRARY 2 NES WYR OE y 10 48 1 Eoad Snapshot uxo Sake DG est YG ede eb qe abe Y 10 4 8 2 Store Snapshot ua sedes uu e eM E REESE a ou EP Ne 10 4 5 3 Deletessnapshot ER P PUR 10 4 9 BACK TO MAIN MENU i 24 ua Y DA OE Ghd UY Y DY E MEI 10 4 10 CHANGING THE START
102. r formats The DMXter receive routine fully checks the received packets and damaged packets are rejected However momentary errors are not displayed If you aren t sure you getting clean DMX check in Send Edit first By default the auto shutdown timer is enabled It will time out and shut down the DMXter in 10 minutes So if you are relying on this routine to Keep your show up either disable the timer or better yet plug the unit into AC MiniDMXter4 V3 19 21 Intercept and Modify Transmit Flavor UPDATE BREAK MAB INTERSLOT MBB BREAK RATE TIME BREAK 02s ius sous 33088us 225 isus Ss 496321 15 2 s 256u 128u 84u 209u MiniDMXter4 V3 19 22 7 CABLE TESTER The MiniDMXter4 includes a cable test feature While DMX512 cables may be tested by a conventional cable tester for continuity testing them for ability to pass high speed digital data is a little more complicated DC cable testers may pass as good cables that will provide unreliable operation of DMX512 We provide two modes of cable testing double ended and single ended Use double ended when you have both ends of the cable at hand what you would do with a standard cable tester Use single ended mode when you are testing an installed cable where you don t have access to both ends at one time This mode works by allowing you to take and store a sample of the signal at the console end of the cable you wish to test It allows you to move the MiniDMXter4 to the other end o
103. r information and information regarding the RDM parameters supported by the device Status Collection messages are normally addressed to Root Devices 11 8 1 Get Oueued Messages The OUEUED MESSAGE parameter shall be used to retrieve a message from the responder s message gueue The Message Count field of all response messages defines the number of messages that are queued in the responder Each OUEUED MESSAGE response shall be composed of a single message response A responder with multiple messages gueued shall first respond with the most urgent message A controller my reguest the level of reply it wishes to get from the responder We provide four different reguest messages 11 8 1 1 GET OUEUED MSG ERR This reguest returns only messages classed as an Error or the clearance of an Error state What you will see depends on what the responder chooses to send you You may get response to any PID 11 8 1 2 GET OUEUED MSG WRN This reguest will return messages classed as Warning or Errors or their clearance 11 8 1 3 GET QUEUED MSG ADV This request returns messages classed as Advisory Warnings or Errors or their clearance 11 8 1 4 GET QUEUED MSG LAST This request returns the Queued message or the last status message sent 11 8 2 Get Status Messages 11 8 2 1 GET STATUS MSG ERR STAT 0038h ERR 1 1 descriptive string In this display this message is the first of 1 stat
104. re all displayed as 5096 The full receive conversion table is listed below The RAM slot table always stores slot levels in 8 bit binary Conversion is done when a number is displayed Hence a snapshot is re transmitted exactly as it was received While 7Fh and 81h are both displayed as 50 they will be MiniDMXter4 V3 19 51 stored and re transmitted as different levels BUT when the MiniDMXter4 is in percent mode you can only enter one value for each percent step To find the exact values see the transmit conversion table listed below There is an exception to therule that changing display mode does not change data The display resolution of hex and decimal is finer than that of percent This means that there are two or three values of hex and decimal that are nominally displayed as 50 If theMini has been set to hex and you have been searching for slots set to 80h nominally 50 and you switch the unit to percent you would expect to find all slots displayed with a value of 5096 or greater Hence we change the search value from 80h to 7Fh so that all slots displayed as 50 are included On changing from hex or decimal to percent all search values are corrected so that all slots displayed as set to the same percent will be found 15 5 PERCENT TABLES Table 14 1 RECD XMIT RECD XMIT RECD XMIT 0 00 02 00 34 57 58 58 68 2 AF I 03 05 05 35 59 5 5B 69 BO B1 Bl 2 06 07 07 36 5C 5D 5D 70 B2 B4 B4 3 08 0A 0A S 5E 60
105. rers may choose to reveal these commands in the supported PIDs list This is optional If there are manufacturer specific PIDs they will be reported at the end of the PIDs list Pressing lt UP gt lt DOWN gt returns you to the first PID in the list Pressing lt BLUE gt will show you additional information about the manufacturer s PID The items you will be shown include the length of the data the different values for the data the command classes that this PID supports and an optional text description of the command This item will list all the optional PIDs 11 4 Set DMX Address CHANGE ADDR TO 1l modelID text This item lets you change the DMX slot assignment of the current device The model ID of that device 1s displayed Note that you may use the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys to choose which digit to change When querying a responder that does not use a slot the DMX address is displayed as NONE In this item pressing and holding the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys displays the UID of the current device It also places the current device into identify mode for as long as the keys are held Pressing and holding the lt BLUE gt key while pressing and releasing the lt RIGHT gt key will select the next device in the Table of Devices In the same manner the lt LEFT gt key selects the previous device in the Table of Devices The selected device will be placed in Identify as long as the BLUE key is held 11 5
106. roblem to diagnose and troubleshoot without a DMXter Most of the time the flickering lamp is not caused by the console it s the lamp or the socket or the dimmer Once in a while it is the console or the DMX512 transmission line Since all of us automatically suspect the piece of eguipment we understand the least the MiniDMXter4 allows you to do a guick diagnosis of your console and the transmission line and lets you get out the ladder with a heavy heart but a clear conscience To use FLICKER FINDER you will use the Mini to take a SNAPSHOT of the console s output and compare it to what the console is outputting a short time later You can do this at the console end only checking the console only Or if you have any reason to suspect the DMX512 cable you can do it at either the console first moving down to the dimmer end or you can do the whole test at the dimmer end on the principle that a funky cable will not give you repeatable results If you suspect a bad cable we advise that you run SINGLE ENDED CABLE TEST first as this will test certain cable parameters that FLICKER FINDER is not designed to test MiniDMXter4 V3 19 26 Be certain that the MiniDMXter4 is connected to the console s output either at the console or at the dimmer end of the control cable Set the console to output a stable cue important not a chase Set a real cue with real levels not every channel at 00 If you suspect one mode is flickering set the console in th
107. roll thru the stored Snapshots A used memory is named Note that a blank line is a memory that someone didn t bother to name empty memories are labeled EMPTY Once the memory is selected you will be able to label the memory using our text editor The text string editor is detailed in section 17 Note the editor will allow names to be typed on your PC if the Mini is connected via USB 4 8 3 Delete Snapshot I hope this one is fairly obvious 4 9 BACK TO MAIN MENU 4 10 CHANGING THE START CODE DMX5 12 is a standard primarily intended to communicate level information to dimmers It has provisions for non level or non dimmer communications by means ofa START Code For dimmer communication the start code has a value of 0 sometimes referred to as the null start code The default START Code setting in the MiniDMXter4 is therefore 0 Some of this equipment uses non 0 START Codes The MiniDMXter4 provides you with the ability to set the START Code you need for the type of equipment you are testing If you press lt BLUE gt the display will read MiniDMXter4 V3 19 10 START CODE IS 0 CHANGE START CODE Press the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys to change the start code to your desired setting Pressing lt UP gt and DOWN together will cause the start code to bump to 128 Pressing lt BLUE gt and DOWN together will return the start code to zero When the desired value is displayed press the lt BLUE gt key to save this value The MiniD
108. s onstage edit mode lt UP gt Raises grand master level lt DOWN gt Lowers grand master level lt BLUE gt lt UP gt Bumps to next scene lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt Bumps to blackout scene lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt View summary screen Press and hold lt RED gt Enters the onstage edit mode lt BACK gt Asks ABORT Playback lt BLUE gt confirms 10 3 3 The Cross Fader The crossfader executes a dipless cross fade between the scene in the STAGE field and the scene in the NEXT field The cross fade starts when the BLUE key is pressed and released During a fade holding down the lt BLUE gt key will cause the fade to stop temporarily The time remaining in a fade is shown in the XFADE field At any time pressing and holding the lt BLUE gt key and pressing the lt UP gt key will cause a bump to the next scene During a cross fade pressing BLUE lt DOWN gt does not cause a bump to black unless the next scene is BLK a blackout The following keys are also locked out during a fade LEFT lt RIGHT gt and lt BACK gt 10 3 4 The Grand Master The grand master is operated by the lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt keys If one of these keys is held it auto repeats The value changes in 1 steps The Grand Master is last in line affecting stage value if the Grand Master is set at 80 a dimmer entered at 100 appears onstage at 80 10 3 5 The Onstage Editor If you need to change the levels of a few
109. s transmitted with The method of measuring break to break length on the MiniDMXter4 has a statistical uncertainty of at most lus Added to this uncertainty is any inaccuracy caused by the finite accuracy of the MiniDMXter4 s time base The time base should be accurate to 75 parts per million for units 5 4 10 Updates per Second This screen reads out the minimum maximum and average number of DMX512 packets per second The minimum and the maximum values are refreshed once per second Thirty five seconds is required for the average to appear initially Following that it is refreshed once per second To leave this display press either UP or lt cDOWN gt or lt BLUE gt and hold them for approximately one second You will know that you have held the key long enough when the numbers on the bottom line of the display have been erased This test is not START Code sensitive 5 5 RETURN TO MAIN MENU MiniDMXter4 V3 19 17 5 6 CHANGING THE START CODE DMX5 12 is a standard primarily intended to send level information to dimmers It has provisions for non level or non dimmer communications by means of a START Code For dimmer communication the START Code has a value of 0 referred to as the null START Code The default START Code setting in the MiniDMXter4 is therefore 0 Some equipment uses non 0 START Codes The MiniDMXter4 provides you with the ability to set the START Code you need for the type of equipment you are testing
110. s and catalogs discuss the features of this standard It was issued by A copy of the DMX512 standard may be obtained from Electronics Industries Alliance 2500 Wilson Boulevard Arlington VA 22201 3834 USA ph 71 703 907 7500 website http www eia org Global Engineering Documents Plasa 15 Inverness Way East 630 9th Avenue Englewood CO 80112 USA New York NY 10036 ph 1 800 854 7179 fax www esta org 1 303 397 2740 website http global ihs com 15 7 RELEASE NOTES amp SOFTWARE VERSION HISTORY V3 00 15 the first version of software released for this product It is based on DMXter4 RDM V4 08 V3 08 V3 10 the version added support for more RDM PIDs Setup Device RDM expanded adding e Display Level Display Invert Pan Invert Tilt Invert Pan Tilt Swap Lamp State Lamp On Mode Power State and Reset Lamp Hours e Added responder Self Test support V3 15 is the first version ofthe Mini code built from the same code base that builds the DMXter4 RDM While the user should not feel any major effect of this change it does mean that the Mini closely tracks the DMXter4 Advanced Transmit amp Receive Send and Receive UTF 8 and ASCII text packets e Receive adds a raw hex dump of received slots to the USB port e The routine setting an RDM responder s DMX address now allows selection of the device to be set within the routine displaying the UID of the device The user may momentarily turn on Identify of the selec
111. s in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 If percent is used the level is followed by a sign If hex is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h This is one menu from which you cannot change the number format 4 4 CLEARING THE SNAPSHOT The MiniDMXter4 can take a snapshot of slot level information transmitted down the line assuming you have plugged the input of the MiniDMXter4 into the line coming from a working console This is a useful function that we will discuss later You may also build a snapshot slot by slot using the MiniDMXter4 5 keys Before doing this you may wish to clear the old snapshot The MiniDMXter4 will ask you TRANSMIT DMX512 CLEAR SNAPSHOT you should press lt BLUE gt to answer yes The unit will next ask CLEAR SNAPSHOT ARE YOU SURE MiniDMXter4 V3 19 7 This gives you a second chance if you didn t really mean to clear it If you did press BLUE again and the unit will momentarily read ZZAAPP SNAPSHOT IS HISTORY The MiniDMXter4 will then drop thru to TRANSMIT DMX512 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT skipping the TAKE NEW SNAPSHOT menu item 4 5 TAKING NEW SNAPSHOT The MiniDMXter4 can take the information it receives from the digital line and hold it in memory for later use Taking a snapshot overwrites any old snapshot When you press BLUE the top line of the display will briefly read TAKING SNAPSHOT Assuming that there is dat
112. s to messages STANDBY Reduced power mode Device can return to normal without a reset Device still responds to messages NORMAL Normal Operating Mode 11 3 11 Hour and Power Cycles DEVICE HOURS 501 POWER CYCLES 24 11 3 12 Lamp Hour and Lamp Strikes LAMP HOURS 200 LAMP STRIKES 35 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 39 11 3 13 Lamp State and Lamp Need we say more 11 3 14 Boot Software Version IBOOT SOFT 1A2BC3D4 h descriptive string 11 3 15 Product detail id list PRD DETAIL IDS 0500 0305 0306 0401 It is a mirror ball 500 it bubbles 305 uses propane flames 306 and it has a reverse phase control driver 401 Neat 11 3 16 Supported PIDs PID 0081h Tees LABEL device must provide a list of the non reguired commands PID that it supports This menu lets you retrieve that list The display above shows the first of more than 27 non reguired PIDs that the current device supports On the top line is shown the numeric value of the PID On the second line is a text description of the PID Because a device may support more PIDs than may be reported in a single packet the standard lets you retrieve multiple packets containing supported PID information The MiniDMXter4 indicates that there are more PIDs to be retrieved by the sign RDM allows manufacturers to define their own command PID These parameters are in the range of 8000h FFDFh Manufactu
113. should not be counted on MAB length is not START Code sensitive the MAB length of all packets is measured regardless of the START Code that the packet is transmitted with 5 4 3 List Received START Codes The MiniDMXter4 shows you which START Codes are being sent It also reminds you which START Code it is currently set to receive levels from The top line of the display will read START CODES SET X where X the current START Code The bottom line will read out the START Codes that have been received since the test was started They will be sorted in numerical order with the lowest number to the left If more than four START Codes are being received you will see lt 0 4 58 200 gt or something similar The brackets indicate that you may scroll RIGHT or LEFT thru all the START Codes being received The START Code may be displayed in hex The status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 START Codes may only be displayed in decimal or hex If percent 1s selected for levels via SETUP OPTIONS START Codes will be displayed in decimal If hex 15 used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h 5 4 4 of Slots per Packet This screen reads out the minimum and maximum number of slots per packet The START Code is not included in this count MiniDMXter4 V3 19 16 Warning while the Standard does not reguire that the number of frames be fixed for all transmissions if t
114. slots while in PLAYBACK SCENE you can do so by using the onstage editor Pressing lt MORE gt will change the display to the same display seen in SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT The present STAGE scene will be loaded and slot levels may be changed in the same way they are in SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT You exit the editor by pressing lt BLUE gt These changes take place on stage immediately as you enter them The levels seen on stage will be the levels shown in the display as proportionally mastered by the Grand Master The changes are made only to the STAGE scene and are temporary The next scene faded to will be unmodified and the changes will not be present when you return to the scene you modified All the key combinations available in SEND EDIT will work here So you may use such functions as search for next channel with level and bump to half Remember that the Grand Master value affects the actual dimmer level seen onstage When you are running with a modified scene you are warned of this fact by the addition of a to the STAGE scene number example below MiniDMXter4 V3 19 32 STAGE 2 GM 100 NEXT 3 TIME 10 10 3 6 Playback Summary Display If you would like to see a summary screen of the NEXT scene hold down both the LEFT and lt RIGHT gt keys simultaneously An example of a summary display is shown below The top line starts with S x where 1s the current scene number The rest of the top line displays the scen
115. sole The DMXter receives and re transmits the DMX from that console while letting a user modify any or all slot values This a powerful tool when multiple people must work on a lighting system at the same time The programer at the console can continue to program the movers while a tech checks out a troublesome dimmer rack or bunch of scrollers The routine can also be used to clean up borderline DMX flavors that can give a lighting system stability problems Intercept and Modify s output flavors are conservative The user can select an update rate of 15 20 or 30 updates a second The choice is made in the User Option menu The default is 20 updates per second The display and controls for I amp M will be familiar to any DMXter operator It is a cross between View Levels and Send Edit Snapshot The three displays below show major states of Intercept and Modify SLT 1 2 3 3 SLT 1 2 3 DM 1 2 3 34 0 0 0 O RX 100 0 40 O RX 100 20 40 0 The first on the left shows the display just after the menu is entered The console has yet to be plugged into the DMXter the DMXter is sending zero values to the slots The eguals no DMX being received The middle display shows that DMX is being received and re sent to the DMX devices Slot 3 from the console is at 40 No channels are being captured and modified RX equals valid DMX is being received The display on the right shows slot 2 being modified by the DMXter to a
116. sting methods to determine that a unit does conform Units that do conform may carry the CE mark 13 1 CE Declaration of Conformity Model number FD DMX 6 meets the relevant requirement of the Low Voltage Directive Goddard Design Company believes that this equipment meets the requirements of the EMC Directive 89 336 however formal review Is ongoing This unit is certified for emissions under EN55022 as class A ITE device This unit is certified for immunity under EN50082 1 The certification was issued on the 09 of December 2009 Robert M Goddard Head of Electronic Design Goddard Design Co 14 POWERING THE MINI p The MiniDMXter4 may be powered either from two non rechargeable batteries or from one of two external power sources It may be powered from a standard USB port or powered USB hub Or it may be powered using an external power supply wall wart providing 5 9 volts DC at a minimum of 300 mA The external power supply should have a female barrel connector of 2 5x5 5 mm 1 LI D 4 D 0 0 0 1 7 495596955960 The Mini draws more power than powered hub is guaranteed to deliver If the unit must be programmed from a non e 7 powered hub you should disable the Mini
117. support for Queued and Status messages 11 8 1 Added the standard short cut and auto repeat keys to RDM Send Edit Device 11 9 Send Edit Device can request default slot values from a device 11 9 V3 19 November 1 2013 Intercept and Modify has been added to all MiniDMXter4s This means all sections from 6 onward are renumbered V3 20 November 15 2013 The User Interface now supports all dimmer PIDs added in the E1 37 1 ANSI Standard The manual does not yet give the UI details The following PIDs are supported Category DMX512 Setup DMX BLOCK ADDRESS EQU 0140h G S DMX FAIL MODE EQU 0141h G S DMX STARTUP MODE EQU 0142h G S Category Dimmer Settings 3xxh DIMMER INFO EQU 0340h G MINIMUM LEVEL EQU 0341h G S MAXIMUM LEVEL EQU 0342h G S CURVE EQU 0343h G S CURVE DESCRIPTION EQU 0344h G OUTPUT RESPONSE TIME EQU 0345h G OUTPUT RESPONSE TIME DESCR EOU 0346h G MODULATION FREOUENCY EOU 0347h G 5 MODULATION FREOUENCY DESCR EOU 0348h G MiniDMXter4 V3 19 54 Category Power Lamp Settings BURN IN EOU 0440h G S Category Configuration 0600h LOCK PIN EQU 0640h 6 5 LOCK STATE EQU 0641 G 5 LOCK STATE DESCRIPTION EOU 0642h G Category Control 10xxh IDENTIFY MODE EOU 1040h G 5 PRESET INFO EOU 1041h G PRESET STATUS EOU 1042h G 5 PRESET MERGEMODE E
118. t DOWN gt keys The display should then read Bootstrap 01 sn 16 USB Not Connected Sn 16xx will be replaced with the serial number of your MiniDMXter4 Assuming you have USB serial drivers fitted on your computer once you connect the USB cable between the MiniDMXter4 and the PC the display should change to Bootstrap v01 snl6xx USB Connected 57 6k This means that the PC driver and the Mini s USB driver can talk Now launch the terminal emulator Start your emulator See http Www goddarddesign com usb2 html for more details Once it is launched and you have configured it by selecting the right com port you should start to see the following displayed on the PC Press to connect This message is repeated every few seconds until you comply Then you will see the following S Send New Code E Erase Flash C Checksum B Blank Check R Restore shipped code To download the new code to your MiniDM Xter4 you need to do the following steps 1 E erase the current code This will erase the operating software Are you sure y N lt Y gt 2 B Blank checks the memory that will hold the code This is not reguired but is a check to make sure everything is ready You should see Firmware is Blank MiniDMXter4 V3 19 56 3 S Type S to send the new code Serial Number is 16xx Send HEX file now Control C to abort Now open the provided hex file as the source of a download How you do this w
119. ted device V3 17 Oct 10 2011 Bugs fixed feature clean up tweaks In DMX Now restores the Start Code after receiving a UTFS string 4 12 5 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 53 In RDM Fixed display corruption when setting DMX address if DEVICE MODEL DESCRIPTION is not supported 11 3 Slot count was invalid on corrupt PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION response in Set Personality 11 5 Now lt UP gt lt DOWN gt jumps to first Selftest in Self test list 11 11 6 In we moved Self Tests to Setup Device Menu 11 11 6 We have increased the auto pole rate for sensors 11 7 Better error reporting when GET SENSOR VALUE fails 11 7 The DMXter warns if sensor number in SENSOR DEFINITION doesn t match requested sensor number 11 7 New Features In DMX Up to 8 Snapshots may now be stored in Flash 4 8 1 Changes battery status messages in the Setup menu for clarity 7 3 Added Setup Menu routine displaying the serial number and RDM UID 7 10 In RDM n Device Information the description auto scrolls if longer than the display 11 3 mproved error reporting for Device Information 11 3 Added Boot Software Version display 11 3 14 Added product detail ID list to Device information menu 11 3 15 lt UP gt lt DOWN gt jumps to first PID in Supported PIDs list 11 3 16 Setup Device arrow editor shows the PDATA value for out of range replies 11 6 3 11 6 11 Added
120. ter4 V3 19 4 1 3 1 Default Display Format The default format is percent for any value that is displayable in percent Any readout displayed in hex will be two hex digits ending with a lower case h Any readout displayed in percent will contain a sign in the display 2 TURNING THE UNIT OFF AND ON An on off switch is on the top of the unit Turning the unit on will display this screen MiniDMXter4 3 17 Goddard Design Co This message includes the software version This manual is written for software Version V3 17 This message will last for about three seconds or until any one of the keys in the cross is pressed and released The second line ofthis display indicates which optional software is in the unit MiniDMXter4 3 17 with ShowSaver This message also lasts for about three seconds or until any one of the keys in the cross is pressed and released 2 1 IF THE UNIT WILL NOT TURNON If the unit will not turn on but instead displays MiniDMXter4 3 00 MEAL PENALTY Then the battery has discharged to the point that it is not capable of supporting normal operation Feed it new batteries or plug it into an external power source 2 2 RESETTING TO FACTORY DEFAULTS The MiniDMXter4 s software has a number of setable parameters or variables The Transmit routine in particular is table driven These tables are stored in memory It is possible to set some user setable parameters to rather unusua
121. the START Code to the value you were using beforehand lis6Hz The MiniDMXter4 always terminates the line When you enter the record mode the unit is switched to pass thru mode so that you may see the look you are recording It will stay in pass thru mode only while you are in the record mode 10 5 RECORDING SCENES ShowSaver s scenes be recorded from the output of any DMX512 console in the same manner as TAKING A SNAPSHOT They may also be entered slot by slot painfully If you wish to do this please see EDITING SCENES Section 10 7 below An important difference between the MiniDMXter4 and most lighting consoles is that the MiniDMXter4 deals in slots not in channels To translate a cue sheet to the MiniDMXter4 will require some thought and an accurate copy of any softpatch This is another reason why it is usually easiest to record from the console So then connect the Mini to the output of your console Normally you will do this by daisy chaining with your dimmers so you can see on stage what you re recording Set the console to output a look you want to save which need not be a cue MiniDMXter4 V3 19 33 The entrance message for recording a scene is appropriately SHOW SAVER RECORD SCENE 10 5 1 The Scene Select Display When you press the lt BLUE gt key you will see RECORD SCENE RECORD SCENE PAR 34 0 1 58 or 142345678 The numbers 1 thru 8 the eight scenes that ShowSaver c
122. the slot number to slot one Taking or erasing the snapshot will also reset the slot number to one This behavior is uniform for all routines that use a slot number 4 6 3 Clearing the Snapshot Within Send Edit You can set all slot levels to zero from within SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT Hold the lt BLUE gt and lt DOWN gt keys After about 3 seconds the display will change to read 811 25 26 21 28 CLEAR SNAPSHOT The top line of the display will not change only the bottom line is rewritten Release both keys Now pressing lt BLUE gt will clear all the slots pressing lt UP gt or DOWN will return you to SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT 4 7 SEND FLAVOR Although they are standards there are many parameters of DMX512 A that are permitted to vary over a wide range These parameters may vary from product to product or even from moment to moment at the output of the same product The Standard defines the acceptable range within which a number of parameters of the transmitted signal are permitted to vary The MiniDMXter4 allows you to vary 5 important parameters of the DMX512 signal Three of these parameters may be adjusted to values that fall outside those permitted by the Standards We provide these out of Standard test signals to allow sophisticated testing of DMX receivers It should be understood that one piece of eguipment s ability to operate outside the Standard does not make it inherently a better piece of gear than one that does
123. ting Pins 4 and 5 MiniDMXter4 V3 19 23 P4 means Pin 4 is open or that Pin 4 is shorted to Pin 1 P5 means Pin 5 is open or that Pin 5 is shorted to Pin 1 PINS 4 amp 5 REVERSED Obvious huh Px Px means that either both Pins are open or the pins are shorted together P2 P3 P4 P5 means that either the pairs Pin 2 Pin 3 and Pin 4 Pin 5 are reversed or Pin 2 is shorted to either Pin 4 or Pin 5 and that Pin 3 is shorted to Pin 4 or Pin 5 Pin 2 is not shorted to Pin 3 or the test would have stopped already If the data test part of the test fails the display will read CABLE TEST FAILED WON T PASS DATA This means that you have a fatal problem with your cable It may pass DC but massive errors were encountered when high speed digital data was sent This error stops the test If you wish to try again press the lt UP gt or the DOWN keys If on the other hand occasional data errors are found which might be caused by an intermittent solder joint or a cable that is borderline for transmitting data the top line of the display will read DATA ERROR Once you ve found a data error the top line will continue to read DATA ERROR The test will continue to run and the bottom line of the display will flash a black bar for about a second each time you encounter a data error 7 1 1 Ending Cable Test To end cable test press and hold the lt BLUE gt key for about one second You wil
124. us event to be returned Code 0038h means it is a voltage The descriptive text hopefully will explain why you should care about this message Pressing the lt RIGHT gt key displays SUB DV DATAl1 DATA2 O 10 01 This status message is for the root device This status type voltage only take one 16 bit signed datum 10 If there was more than one message say 3 it would be displayed on the top line as STAT 0038h ERR 1 3 and the lt DOWN gt would scroll you thru the list of messages If this were a status for a subdevice the first field of the display would be the number of the subdevice reporting its status 11 8 2 2 GET STATUS MSG WRN This request will return messages that the responder feels are errors or warnings 11 8 2 3 GET STATUS MSG ADV MiniDMXter4 V3 19 44 This reguest will return messages that responder feels are advisory errors or warnings 11 8 2 4 GET STATUS MSG LAST This request returns the Queued message or the last status message sent Note that it is functionally identical to Get Queued message last 11 8 2 5 GET STATUS MSG NONE The Status Type of STATUS NONE shall be used when a controller wants to establish whether a device is present on the network without retrieving any Status Message data from the device It is commonly used as an ongoing poll in RDM 11 8 3Clear Status ID This parameter is used to clear the status message queue 11 8 4 Sub Device Status Report Thresho
125. usually ask you a question or give you a choice of actions These displays are always in the form of a question and will contain a The other purpose of the display is to give you information about the DM X512 system you are testing This will be done either in one line or two line messages 1 3 NUMBER CONVENTIONS DMXS 12 uses an 8 bit binary byte to transmit slot levels and the START Code This allows 256 different slot levels and START Codes from 0 to 255 Most lighting consoles display these levels as 0 to 100 This means that a console with a slot set to 50 does not transmit the number 50 on the DMX512 line but a number that is 50 of 255 Le 128 The normal lighting console 0 to 100 representation of slot levels 1s really a percent scale and will be referred to as percent throughout this manual Details of the percent conversion used by the MiniDMXter4 can be found in section 20 7 The MiniDMXter4 can display numbers in three formats decimal percent or hexadecimal Decimal percent or hexadecimal notations are available for levels Decimal or hexadecimal notations are available for the START Code and for the FLICKER FINDER compare limit When the MiniDMXter4 is set to percent mode the START Code and the FLICKER FINDER compare limit will be displayed in decimal Slot numbers and timing information are available in decimal notation only The status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 MiniDMX
126. ve overwritten an old scene the old scene name will be in the display If you have recorded to a cleared scene this line will normally be blank until you enter the name The exception is if the scene recorded had no slots with levels equal to or greater than 1 4 hex the scene will automatically be named BLACKOUT To edit a scene name first press BLUE The cursor will appear at the first space of the name on the second line Each press ofthe UP key will step you thru first the numbers 0 9 then the alphabet Pressing the lt DOWN gt key steps you thru the same sequence backwards When you have the right character use the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt arrow keys to move the cursor When editing an old name you may clear a space by pressing UP and DOWN simultaneously and releasing them To clear from the cursor to the end of the line press lt UP gt DOWN and RIGHT simultaneously Look it s the only three key press in the unit ok When you like the name press lt BLUE gt 10 5 4 Setting the Fade Time The next screen message is FADE TIME IS 3 D CHANGE IT This display tells you the fade time in seconds If D appears the time shown is the default fade time The default fade time is shipped set to three seconds The default may be changed see Section 10 8 below If you wish to set a different fade time press lt BLUE gt and the display will change to FADE TIME IS 3 CHANGING F
127. xt Packet 256 different text Moving about the Display messages They are numbered from 0 to AUTO INCREMENT Hold down the lt RIGHT gt 255 This routine or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto generated up to 8 decrement the character position by one canned test messages The above left screen is JUMP BY 10 Hold down the lt BLUE gt key and the first of canned press the lt RIGHT gt or LEFT key to increment or message in the decrement the character position by 10 MiniDMXter4 AUTO INCREMENT BY 10 Hold down lt BLUE gt L Text message packets and then press and hold the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt may have from 24 to keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 512 data slots plus the START Code See the RETURNING TO THE FIRST CHARACTER Appendix A This field Press both the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys to shows the length of the return the first character which is in slot 3 packet that is currently VIEWING TEXT IN HEX Press lt UP gt and being transmitted lt RIGHT gt This is the position within the packet of the character that is in the first display position on the second line of the display As you use the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys to move about the display this number lets you know where you are 5 9 1 Displayed Character Many simple display units will not display all ASCII characters as clearly as you would expect When you get to extended character sets used on PCs the results are very
128. zero Pressing DOWN causes the unit to start fading with the slot set to full fade the slot to zero and then back up to full Ifyou ENABLE AUTOSTEP and select lt UP gt slot 1 will fade to full and then back to zero When it reaches zero the slot number will increment to slot 2 and the level will start fading from zero to full If you ENABLE AUTOSTEP and select DOWN slot 1 will bump to full fade to zero and then back to full When it reaches full it will bump to zero the slot number will increment to slot 2 slot 2 will bump to full and start fading from full to zero In either case the MiniDMXter4 will cycle through all the slots lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys operate in the same way as in ADJUSTING ONE SLOT above and may be used to change which slots are autofaded If you did not ENABLE AUTOSTEP you must use the lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt key to select the slot to autofade Pressing lt LEFT gt or RIGHT zeros the old slot and sets the new slot to the beginning of its fade either full or zero depending on whether we are fading UP or lt DOWN gt You may temporarily stop the fade by pressing lt BLUE gt and either lt UP gt lt DOWN gt Pressing lt UP gt forces the slot to full pressing lt DOWN gt forces the slot to zero With the fade stopped pressing either lt UP gt or lt DOWN gt will restart the fade The level may be displayed in decimal percent or hex The current status may be changed by querie

- Goddard Design Co.

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents