Using the tinkerkit DMX shield

Hello,

I am looking for the tinkerkit DMX shield tutorials and the documentation which was supposed to be on the tinkerkit website - but that website seems to be lost in the depths of the www….

I managed to get the DMX Master library for the shield (thanks Google) but now trace of any proper documentation or even a tutorial. Especially those 3 sets of Pins (4 in white, 3 in orange and 3 in white) are a mystery to me - what are they for and how would I use them? (photo attached)

Working with the library is fine, I can easily control my 24 dimmers from the shield + Arduino due but I it do not find any way of using the DMX input as well. How can I do that?

Thanks,
G

What are you going to use the DMX for ? I thought DMX was a stage lighting controller protocol.

True, DMX is mostly used for stage lighting control, ranging from nightclubs to broadway and up to Pink Floyd world tour - but also architecture and interactive art. I do use it mainly to control the dimmers for theatre lights, which of course can be done by a standard lighting desk but sometimes an arduino might be more flexible if you for example work with sensors (and cheaper...).

I used to work for a company that made colored gel scrollers. Whenever the boss loaned ( or rented) a batch of scrollers to a prospective client, the rechs would have to work late striking the job after the show (play) and often didn' t get much sleep. They would
complain to that effect to the boss so he had custom T- shirts made that said Luminaire on the front and " Sleep is for wimps.." on the back. Everyone who saw them wanted one...

There is some info if you look on WayBackMachine.
I have not bothered reading any of it but notice the shield appears to be DMX master so the other XLR port might be a thru port.

Thank you, I totally forgot about the WayBackMachine. But it seems that tinkerkit never bothered to put up a proper documentation about that shield on the website anyway - let alone the promised tutorial…

The second 5 Pin XLR is marked as an output on the board and both XLRs are parallel to the terminals at the other end of the board. Getting DMX out works well with the provided DMX master library but no there is no DMX in. There are some more DMX libraries (e.g. DMX simple) online which might work with this board as well so I will have a look at them and maybe get an DMX input somehow.

But what are those 3 sets of pins for (marked with the yellow circle on my image) and how do I use them?

G_K_:
Thank you, I totally forgot about the WayBackMachine. But it seems that tinkerkit never bothered to put up a proper documentation about that shield on the website anyway - let alone the promised tutorial…
Has TinkerKit gone tits up or something else? Several places (including Arduino store) sell the tinker stuff but there site seems to have disappeared down a black hole,

The second 5 Pin XLR is marked as an output on the board and both XLRs are parallel to the terminals at the other end of the board. Getting DMX out works well with the provided DMX master library but no there is no DMX in. There are some more DMX libraries (e.g. DMX simple) online which might work with this board as well so I will have a look at them and maybe get an DMX input somehow.
Yes I found the DMX Master Library on GitHub and the thing is just a basic DMX send system. There is no RX/TX steering or RX routines so it seems the board is hard wired for output only. I'm feeling glad I built my DMX around the Mega with both in & out.

But what are those 3 sets of pins for (marked with the yellow circle on my image) and how do I use them?
The images I can find don't show the pins but they look like standard tinker module pins so I wonder if they just parallel some of the shield pins or are used with tinker switch modules to switch TX/RX mode. Unless you can trace the connections or find a schematic your stuck for now. Some good quality pictures of your board might help as others could try tracing with/for you.

Tracing the connections seems to be the way to go, I had another quick look at the board and all points into the direction of your theory that those pins mirror some shield pins. I will be back at the workbench in a few days to wrap this up (hopefully)

Wouldn't it be easier to just use the schematic ?
file:///M:/Temp/ARDUINO%20UNO/SCHEMATICS/dmx_shield_Rev4.pdf

Looks like TWI, Out-6 , and IN2.

dmx_shield_Rev4.pdf (61.2 KB)

Nice, thank you !

hello.
i checked the image you added and that is not arduino due

i also try to use arduino due with a TinkerKit DMX shield and every time i try to compile my coding it gave me an error, that using arduino due programming port. if I remove the library for dmx, i dont have errors, but i can't use dmx api :slight_smile:

any solutions?

Arduino: 1.5.8 (Windows 8), Board: "Arduino Due (Programming Port)"

Build options changed, rebuilding all

C:\Users\Radu\Documents\Arduino\libraries\DmxMaster\DmxMaster.cpp:6:20: fatal error: avr/io.h: No such file or directory
 #include <avr/io.h>
                    ^
compilation terminated.
Error compiling.

if you need verbose response, i can add it.

and this is my code

#include <DmxMaster.h>

void setup() {
}

void loop() {
}

I am testing the shield, but pin 4 can not be used. any idea about wich are the 'blocked pins' that can't be used? Which ones are free to use?