DMX Shield - Unreliable DMX - Troubleshooting Advice

Hi,

I would like some advice on troubleshooting/fixing a problem I am having with receiving DMX signal into an Arduino Mega board.

I am using the guidance from Matthias Hertel here: A Arduino Library for sending and receiving DMX and DMX Shield for Arduino with isolation.

I have used an LT1785CN8 chip as my RS485 transceiver. I had them around and they appear to do exactly the same as the MAX485.

Attached is a schematic of the simplified layout I am working with.

I have put an LED as an output, and the code in my loop is simply this:

void setup() {
  // Initialise DMX in Receive Mode
  DMXSerial.init(DMXReceiver);
}

void loop() {
  // Calculate Time Since Last DMX Data
  unsigned long LastDmx = DMXSerial.noDataSince();
  if (LastDmx < 500) {
      // Status LEDs
      analogWrite(12,0);    // DMX Fault
      analogWrite(11,255);  // DMX OK
  }
  // If no recent DMX Signal, then reset
  else {
      // Status LEDs
      analogWrite(12,255);    // DMX Fault
      analogWrite(11,0);  // DMX OK
  }
}

Wire it all up, and it appears that I get some very unreliable DMX signal. The OK led flashes intermittently, with the fault LED nearly always on.

I actually want to control some servos from different DMX channels, but they operate very erratically and do not always respond when the DMX input changes.

My DMX source has been tested with a known working fixture and has no problems. I don't have an oscilloscope, so I am not sure how else I can test. I have stripped it down to just the transceiver chip and the Arduino to make sure nothing else is interfering and the same behavior occurs.

Has anyone got any suggestions on how I can further troubleshoot this? Anyone seen this or similar issues when working with DMX?

Thanks,

Craig

Just looking at the hardware, you should disable the transmitter in the LT1785CN8

From the datasheet:

DE: Driver Output Enable. TTL level logic input. A logic high on DE enables normal operation of the driver outputs (Y and Z on LT1791, A and B on LT1785). A logic
low level at DE places the driver output pins into a high impedance state.

Adding an LED + 1k resistor to show what RO is doing might be useful since you don't have a 'scope.

Yours,
TonyWilk

Thanks Tony.

So I think simply hooking up DE to ground should be enough to ensure that the driver is disabled. I hadn't really thought that the floating voltage of DE would be sufficient to affect the operation of the transceiver.

I will try attaching an LED to the RO line. I assume I should see a constant flickering?

Might be a few days before I can confirm any results. I had to come up with a different solution for the show, so not got access to all of the hardware until the show is over!

trolley01:
Thanks Tony.

So I think simply hooking up DE to ground should be enough to ensure that the driver is disabled. I hadn't really thought that the floating voltage of DE would be sufficient to affect the operation of the transceiver.

Maybe, maybe not... but there IS something funny going on and, in any case, it's bad practice to leave pins on chips floating, especially pins that could, in this case, turn on the transmitter and jam the receiver.

I will try attaching an LED to the RO line. I assume I should see a constant flickering?

Well, it should flicker only if something is sent to it on the DMX.

Yours,
TonyWilk