To be used for:

Command-/Control interface:

Primarily all commands are sent and all feedback is received in ASCII text format. As an alternative to ASCII syntax, the most essential features of the box can be operated with a compact binary data format, which provides a higher throughput and easier handling together with some kind of control application.

This way the DMX lighting bus is easily integrated into applications, which support serial ports together with a scripting language. Known examples are Macromedia Director and Visual Basic. Office-applications can be used, too when appropriate dynamic libraries are added.
In a most simple case - especially to set up or debug computer controlled lighting installations - manual interactive operation is possible with a simple terminal program.

The range of use is not restricted to Windows-, Linux- or Macintosh computers. Suitable serial ports are available at many handheld devices, industrial controls or special hardware based media controls. In addition to the default rate of 115.2 kilobaud, 57600, 38400, 19200 and 9600 baud are configurable.

Activity and mode of operation is monitored with a red/green dual colour LED.

RS-232 connector:

Upon request, we supply the RS-232 / DMX Control Box equipped with a 9 pin "male" SubD connector.
A Bluetoth wireless adaptor can be plugged directly here and be supplied with 5 volt power.

The most essential features of control:

• Any DMX channel 1 to 512 can be set to any level by sending a short sequence of ASCII text to the box (8 bit of resolution). Binary commands are implemented as a more compact alternative.

• For any DMX channel a fade ramp can be executed automatically, duration programmable up to 31 seconds. This diminuishes the expense of programming considerably. Any number of fade processes can be active simultaneously on all DMX channels. When a new preset (=lighting scene) is loaded, a soft fade is performed from the actual scene into the new one.

• The RS-232 / DMX Control Box is able to simultaneously receive a signal at DMX IN and transmit a different signal via DMX OUT. The signal transmitted at DMX OUT can be generated by several modes of operation:
  --- transmission with DMX clock generated inside the box,
  --- transmission externally snychronized with the received DMX signal and
  --- receive & readout operation while the received DMX signal is looped to the DMX OUT connector.

• The merge method can be set individually for each DMX channel. Following options are available:
  --- user settings loaded via RS-232 are transmitted at DMX OUT,
  --- the sigal received at DMX IN is retransmitted at DMX OUT,
  --- the less one , the greater one
  --- or the last changed one of both is transmitted.
  Please note that "merge" means slot-by-slot switching between both signal sources, not linear superposition.

• One ASCII command can poll the levels of 1 to 128 DMX slots of the recently received DMX packet via RS-232 interface. An alternative polling method gets bigger blocks of bytes in a more compact binary format.

• Automatic state messages can be programmed individually for each DMX channel. If the received DMX signal on a sensitized channel has changed more than a programmable threshold, the present DMX level is reported automatically via serial port.

• Messages of freely programmable strings: If the DMX channels 500 to 512 receive specific levels at DMX IN, the RS-232 port automatically transmits strings (ASCII text, binary or both mixed), which are free programmable by the user. Up to 104 different strings may be held available.
  These can be used for control or configuration of external devices with RS-232 interface like video beamers or professional DVD players. The feature can be used for more sophisticated command input to PC-based user software, too.

• The actual state of the RS-232 / DMX Control Box (indluding transmit buffer, merge profile, thresholds for automatic messages, mode of operation) can be saved permanently as a preset (=lighting scene). Up to 300 presets can be stored and be reloaded at any time. During power-on always preset no.0 is loaded.

• The cycle of DMX data packets can be set by command between 24 and 512 byte slots. If a DMX channel out of the active DMX cycle is adressed, the packet length is readjusted automatically.

DMX interface:

The actual hardware version is supplied with both the DMX transmitter and DMX receiver galvanically isolated from the control processor. If the application demands a ground referenced DMX transmitter, the optoisolation can be bridged with an internal jumper.

Power supply:

Electromechanical Features:

Similar products made by Cinetix:

• For applications of computer based lighting control, which don't need the receive and merge features, the RS-232 / DMX512 Generator offers a compact and low cost solution.

• To control and analyse a DMX bus by means of MIDI channel messages, we supply the MIDI / DMX512 Control Box. This model has an additional "video jockey" feature.

Manual of the RS-232 / DMX Control Box (PDF file)