Tinkerkit DMX-Shield "pass-through"

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I recently bought an DMX-Shield by Tinkerkit to put it onto my Arduino Duemilanove and control a no-name DMX-Stagelight (RGB-LEDs). I connected them by cable and was hoping to use the DMX-Shield as a "pass-through" or DMX-Master.

Unfortunately the homepage seems to be gone dark and I can't find any documentation. I found the Library through Google, but the examples don't really seem to work. I tried the SerialToDmx-Example provided by the SimpleDMX-Library but nothing really happens. Has anyone any ideas to troubleshoot? The lamp itself works (as of it emits light, if controlled manually). Please note, that I'm using a cable with five pins at the Arduino-side and three for the lamp.

Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Heinzelchen

I suggest Mat Hertels DMX library, I use it on many many projects, nothing else

It can be used in Receiver and controller modes

You can find it HERE

Regards

Thanks a lot for your help! I'd really like to try it out, but the server seems to be down. Is there any mirror available?

Thanks again for any assistance,
Heinzelchen

you could try here

Thanks a lot! I downloaded the master-branch and imported it. But it still does not work. I tried this simple code:

#include <DMXSerial.h>

void setup() {
  DMXSerial.init(DMXController);
}

void loop() {
  DMXSerial.write(3, 255);
  delay(2000);
  DMXSerial.write(3, 1);
  delay(2000);
}

Channel 3 is the red light and I would suspect it to flash in 2-second-intervals. But it doesn't. It does nothing. Is there any way to debug if the board for example is broken? Has anyone an idea? Is the DMXSerial-Library not comptaible right out-of-the-box with the Tinkerkit-Board?

Thanks again and in advance for any help, it is really appreciated.

I havent used the Tinkerkit DMX shield, but basically the arduino should be outputting a constant stream of data from pin 3 (digital pin 1 - TX), perhaps you can check this with a scope ? or perhaps put a LED and 470R resistor from this pin to ground and see if it lights

What clock frequency are you running your arduino at ?
To run this library successfully you should use it at 16mHz

The code you sent looks fine, there is nothing else to do really

Have you checked your connections between the shield and light to see if there any any breaks in the wire etc ?

do you have a second DMX light ?

have you set the light so that it will be receiving DMX ? to do this you will have to set the channel start number of the device

Thanks a lot! I tried DMXSimple and DMXSerial out with a light connected to a resistor. Here's what I noted:

DMXSimple: Strong light at Pin 3, weak at Pin 1.
DMXSerial: Strong at Pin 1, nothing I could notice at Pin 3. Do I have to tell DMXSerial (how?) to use Pin 3?

I haven't modified my Arduino 2009, so the clock speed should still be 16 MHz. I don't have a second light or cable. Interesting thing though: As I disassembled the cable multiple times to connect it to the backports of the shield and forgot to cut the current of the light, it reacted by emitting funky lights but not changing it's state after properly being plugged in. Maybe there was just the right signal at the right time.

I now ordered a second light of a different brand to check the compatibility. If anyone has any more ideas, they are really appreciated!

It all sounds a little weird to me sir, if I had the kit here I would be able to find out the problem very quickly

Maybe the second bit of kit might help

I have made many DMX devices (transmitters and receivers) without any problems like this

:slight_smile:

Hello again,

crazy thing: got a new light and attached it, run the exact same code and it worked like a charm. So i suspect a broken light. Interestingly DMXSerial does not work, DMXSimple does. Now I'm using both libraries: DMXSerial to read DMX-commands from my computer via USB, DMXSimple to write to the lights. Is there a way to use DMXSimple to read from USB? The documentation isn't that verbose…

Thanks again for any assistance!

I am not sure...

so you are reading dmx over USB from the pc and then sending dmx out from the arduino again

??

you are using two different libraries for serial dmx on the same micro ?

That's right. I've got a software that is sending DMX-signals to the Arduino via USB (currently handled by DMXSerial), and the Arduino is controlling the lights (currently via DmxSimple). This is necessary as I want to process the incoming signals and react differently as suggested by the software.

Additionally: I buyed a SparkFun MP3-Shield. As soon as I stack the MIDI-Shield on top of it, it does not work any longer (no sound output). Are they incompatible?

Right I think I understand, I cannot help with the shields as I havent bought any, I just use vero prototyping and either use a MAX485 or a SN76175 for my DMX in/out

Well, this are minor details. Thanks for the great support! If anyone has an idea on how to make Sparkfuns MP3-Shield compatible with the Tinkerkit-DMX-Shield, help is really appreciated!