Home

Manual

Contents

1. 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 letthe test continue to run for whatever period of time you want 15 minutes one hour etc Pressing BLUE will show you a summary screen of the errors found 3 SLOTS W ERRORS FIRST 2 LAST 216 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 24 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 lt DOWN gt You will now see a display SLT XXX ERRS XXXXX L XXX H XXX R XXX This screen means the number following 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 H will egual 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 R value Similarly it is possible for the value to be lower than the R value if all the incoming levels are
2. 3 1 1 5 2 Bumping a Numeric Value to Half 3 1 1 5 3 Auto incrementing a Numeric Value 3 1 1 6 lt LEFT gt lt RIGHT gt nn RAI a tea en cerae 3 1 1 6 1 Changing a Slot Number by One 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 5 Auto increment the Slot Number by 10 4 1 1 6 6 Forcing the Slot Number to One 4 1 1 7 lt UP gt lt RIGHT gt Cycles Through Number Formats 4 l L8 BLUE Asa Shift Key etre er RR een ee E es 4 1 2 DISPLAY CONVENTIONS zc du od oh gue ii su e Gre pease a GLE St ME 4 1 3 NUMBER CONVENTIONS bic ce EH ER PE A eed RIP Rape edere 4 1 3 Default Display Port sa ye wig edie Looe ea ok cab eas UU 5 2 TURNING THE UNIT OFF ANDON Ba SO bah eel dei Ud a RE 5 2 1 IF THE UNIT WILL NOT TURN r E EEE AA EEAS ne e 5 2 2 RESETTING TO FACTORY DEFAULTS FF FFY I I FF 5 2 3 OWNER IDENTIFICATION MESSAGE 1 gt 24 THE DISPLAY BACKLITE iu bey du hear aah eed pes eo ead dialed Se E NEG 5 3 MAIN MENU uii Deeb a a Se IAS Yu hee ede Pee twee EAS 6 A TRANSMIT DMX iy le io i
3. ee SCOPE c 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 14 4 VOLTAGE AND CURRENT LIMITS VOLTAGE OR 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 oF OUT wsvocasvoc oa Resistance Pin 1 of I O Connectors 22 Meg Ohms to Metal Case Table 14 5 OPERATIONAL ENVIRONM ENT LIMITS PARAMETER MiniDMXter4 V3 17 47 Humidity 0 to 95 Non condensing o o o o Altitude 0 to 1900 meters __ Temperature to 40 Degrees Celsius Temperature 0 to 40 Degrees Celsius 14 3 CONNECTOR FUNCTIONS AND CONNECTOR WIRING The MiniDM Xter4 supports bidirectional requirements of E1 20 RDM 14 3 1 DMX in The male 5 pin connector is the DM X512 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 b
4. This request will return messages that the responder feels are errors or warnings 10 8 2 3 GET STATUS MSG ADV MiniDMXter4 V3 17 41 This request will return messages that the responder feels are advisory errors or warnings 10 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 10 8 2 5GET 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 10 8 3Clear Status ID This parameter is used to clear the status message queue 10 8 4 Sub Device Status Report Threshold This parameter is used to set the verbosity of Sub Device reporting using the Status Type codes Error Warn or Advisory This feature is used to inhibit reports from for example a specific dimmer in a rack that is generating repeated errors 10 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 YES O gt lt UP gt for a few seconds The display is shown below ISIT 3 3 41380 99 WhiteLED The Mini is currently sending a level of
5. Arlington VA 22201 3834 USA ph 1 703 907 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 14 7 RELEASE NOTES amp SOFTWARE VERSION HISTORY V3 00 isthe 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 Display Level Display Invert Pan Invert Tilt Invert Pan Tilt Swap Lamp State Lamp On Mode Power State and Reset Lamp Hours Added responder Self Test support V3 15 is the first version of the 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 DM Xter4 Advanced Transmit amp Receive e 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 selected 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 17 5
6. DM X512 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 55 or less A mark after break must be measured as 7 5ps or less The MiniDMXter4 allows the user to look at certain parameters of the received signal in detail Pressing the lt UP gt and DOWN 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 ps 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 65ps Ifit receives a minimum break time of less than 65ps 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 of the 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
7. GM 1003 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 BACK2 gt serves its normal functions 9 2 3 If Auto Start Is Enabled If you selected auto start on failure the MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 transmitting by pressing lt BLUE gt STAGE 1005 NEXT 1 TIME 3 Gl x x x Q 9 2 4 Now That You Are in Play Back Mode The scene in the NEXT field will be the lowest recorded scene unless you preset a scene while the MiniDM Xter4 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 9 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 MiniDM Xter4 does not detect valid DMX within 1 4 second the transmitter is turned on and the BLACKOUT scene is transmitted Therefore i
8. Ifthe MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 and this manual Both common mode and differential mode signals can be tested by a qualified technician using standard laboratory equipment MiniDMXter4 V3 17 18 5 9 RECEIVE ASCII TEXT PACKETS A feature of DMX512 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 many DMX512 transmitters that are not large lighting consoles Many devises designed for embedded applications require 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 101234567890123456789 101234567890123456789 MS 0 L 3 MS 3 h512 C 3 Alice was beginning The displays above are what you will see on entry to this routine The left one is when you are not receiving test packets On the right is what the display looks like when you are receiving a long text me
9. 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 ofthe 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 6 1 1 Ending Cable Test To end cable test press and hold the BLUE key for about one second You will 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 7 SETUP OPTIONS The MiniDMXter4 is intended to be versatile
10. 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 lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys with the default flavor setting you may choose slots from 1 to 512 The methods of changing the slot number are summarized in the side bar on this page MiniDMXter4 V3 17 6 Use the lt UP gt and DOWN 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 BLUE 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 exitto 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 MiniDM Xter4 to cycle a slot once and then step to the next slot If
11. When accessing a second function the BLUE is pressed and held while the second key is pressed and released 1 2 DISPLAY CONVENTIONS There are two different purposes of the 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 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 DMX512 system you are testing This will be done either in one line or two line messages 1 3 NUMBER CONVENTIONS DMX512 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 slotset to 50 does not transmit the number 50 on the DM X512 line but a number that is 5096 of 255 i e 128 The normal lighting console 0 to 100 representation of slot levels is really a percent scale and will be referred to as percent throughout this manual Details of the percent conversion used by the MiniDM Xter4 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 l
12. bo eos tate ee tages beg ce heed eed ad oe tack 6 4 0 1 Ifa Non zero START Code Is Set 6 4 0 2 Ifa Non standard Flavor Is Set ug 6 4 1 ADJUSTING ONE SLOT 1 eC Aa a Fae ah Re Poa ES 6 42 REENTERING ADJUST ONE oo Os EG Y EE Y WAY ER GES 7 433 AUTOFADING ONE SLOT npe umm dy bigs SOS ae EA RR ap ed Ace sea EAS 7 44 CLEARING THE SNAPSHOT uu cece sen be Oe oe ee Oe ede DEES ERE GA eee gi 4 5 TAKING NEW SNAPSHOT I FFF Y I eh rmn 8 4 5 1 Actions That Overwrite or Erase a 8 4 6 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT RAD Fs Se FWA EAE Re 8 4 6 1 Searching for the next Slot with Level 0 cee eee eee 9 4 6 2 Re entering Send Edit Snapshot 0 0 cee eee eee 9 4 6 3 Clearing the Snapshot Within Send Edit 9 4T SENDIELAVOR eee ed tm tte Mate e ae c a er ael e Re t e ice o gta y e de qn 9 48 THE SNAPSHOT LIBRARY 5 7 ele saan Weed EUR UEM rae Y E der Ee RE dua 10 4 8 1 Load Snapshot tyb amis ee eer es ae HN A et ERR 10 4 8 2 Store Snapshot san RU Ve ERR RH RG Y OL RHAG CAE 10 4 83 Delete Snapshote out ee esse etd erae alos Ra Eo dye BG I GL 10 4 10 CHANGING THE START CODE FF Y FF FFF FF he e teens 10 4 10 1 MAB Accuracy Vs START Code FFF FFF eee 11 4 1
13. 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 9 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 UP 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 lt RECORD SCENE gt menu MiniDMXter4 V3 17 32 9 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 Ifthe show was named the name will be displayed here 9 10 STORE SHOW The Mini DM Xter4 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 9 11 DELETE STORED SHOW This menu item will allow you to delete one of
14. AA batteries Pe ettet t 10000000006 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 b b D D D D AT ATA ATA AAA ATA AT ATA A ATA AT ATA A AAA AT AT AT A The Mini draws more power than a non powered hub is guaranteed to deliver Ifthe unit must be programmed from a non powered hub you should disable the Mini power option This can be done by removing the programming block from J3 see the drawing at right D v b 4 4 gt b D1 D20 019 57 e EA lor 13 1 LOW BATTERY ellel WARNINGS POWER B MANAGEMENT E5 E6 E7 E9 10 Ell El El EI re E15 E6 E17 21 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 44 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 is displayed about every thirty seconds and lasts for about five seconds While this message is displayed the user interface is disabled Obviously you can t view received levels and func
15. 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 Y ou may also pause during a focus session and return to where you were If you exit to the MAIN MENU you will reset 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 setall slot levels to zero from within SEN D EDIT SNAPSHOT Hold the lt BLUE gt and DOWN keys After about 3 seconds the display will change to read SLT 25 26 27 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 UP 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 DMX5 12 signal Three of these p
16. KK KKK Ck Ck ck KKK Ck ck ck KKK KKK ck Ck ck KK Ck ck ck ck ck ck Ck ck ck Ck ck Ck Ck ck Ck ck Ck ck Ck Ck Ck Ck ck ck ck Ck ck Ck ck Ck ck Ck ko ko ko ko ko KKK Text packets sent by the MiniDM Xter4 are fixed We allow for 8 messages Details of the MiniDMXter4 format are 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 required 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 bea Null In the listings below the text to be sent is delimited with single quotes packet strings 1 2 3 4 11234567890123456789012345678901234567890 50 DB MiniDMXter4 v3 17 51 DB COPYRIGHT GDC 2010 52 DB ESTA DMX512A TXT PACKET 53 1 2 3 4 11234567890123456789012345678901234567890 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 17 56 DB he had peeped in DB as reading but DB nversations in i DB ures or conversa DB idering in her DB could for the DB ry sleepy and st tions own mind to the book her sister w it had no pictures or co t and what is the use DB of a book thought Alice
17. 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 53 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 17 54 18 WARRANTY The GODDARD DESIGN 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 of purchase 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 of repair With regard to any unit returned within 1 year ofthe original purchase said repairs
18. RIGHT or lt LEFT gt 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 LEFT keys to return the slot number to one FORMAT CYCLING THRU FORMATS Pressing both lt UP gt and RIGHT 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 DM Xter 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 the MiniDM Xter4 does not receive DM X512 data on any START Code the display will change to NO DIGITAL INPUT OR INPUT NOT DMX512 When this m
19. This menu item lets you view the reguired information along with some common optional information 10 3 1 Device Model DEVICE MODEL 0040n 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 DOW N gt or lt UP gt keys You can leave this sub menu at any time with the 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 10 3 2 Device Label DEVICE LABEL MY 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 device s location This is an Optional PID 10 3 3 Manufacturer Label MANUFACTURER LABEL DMXter4 RD 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 10 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 is optional This parameter is used to get a descriptive ASCII text la
20. Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 is designed to work in this hostile environment Lil DM Xter DM Xter4 and MiniDMXter4 are trademarks of GODDARD DESIGN Co MiniDMXter4 V3 17 1 One environmental threat that is always present particularly for a portable piece of equipment is static electricity or ESD Ona 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter 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 unlikel
21. displayed in decimal If hex is 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 17 16 Warning while the Standard does not require that the number of frames be fixed for all transmissions if the 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 Ms 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 Ms The
22. 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 YES gt to this question Turning on the transmitter increase current consumption and decreases battery operating time 5 0 1 Ifa 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 BLUE 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 17 QUICK STEPPING THRU SLOTS AND LEVELS Slot AUTO INCREMENT Hold down the lt RIGHT gt or 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
23. issued Support for this data is optional n ENSORS RESET MIN MAX SENSORS RECORD VALUE SENSORS RESET ALL MIN MAX SENSORS RECORD ALL VALUES 10 7 1 Sensors Abbreviation milli Multiply by 107 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 107 PETA Multiply by 10 atto Multiply by 10 8 EXA Multiply by 10 78 zepto Multiply by 107 ZETTA Multiply by 10 yocto Multiply by 102 YOTTA Multiply by 107 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 40 10 8 DEVICE MESSAGES Status Collection Messages include messages used to retrieve deferred queued responses device status and error information and information regarding the RDM parameters supported by the device Status Collection messages are normally addressed to Root Devices 10 8 1 Get Queued Messages The QUEUED MESSAGE parameter shall be used to retrieve a message from the responder s message queue The Message Count field of all response messages defines the number of messages that are queued in the responder Each QUEUED MESSAGE response shall be composed of a single message response A responder with multiple messages queued shall first respond with the most urgent message A controller my request the level of reply it wishes to get from the responder We provide four differ
24. 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 MiniDM Xter4 is therefore 0 Some equipment uses non 0 START Codes The MiniDM Xter4 provides you with the ability to set the START Code you need for the type of equipment you are testing The display will read START CODE IS 0 CHANGE IT If you press BLUE the display will read START CODE IS 0 CHANGE START CODE Press the UP and DOWN keys to change the START Code to your desired setting Pressing lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt together will cause the START Code to bump to 128 Pressing BLUE and DOW N gt 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 queries 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
25. not to brain the klutz with the MiniDMXter4 isn t heavy enough another reason you should have bought DM Xter4 RDM Seriously though while we do not wish you to view the MiniDM Xter4 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 9 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 acommon 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 a convention that is peculiar to it The lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt 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 9 3 3 thru 9 3 5 9 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 stag
26. 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 11 COLORTRAN PROTOCOL SUPPORT The MiniDM Xter4 may be ordered with support for the Colortran protocol CM X 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 12 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 testing methods to determine that a unit does conform Units that do conform may carry the CE mark 12 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 13 POWERING THE MINI The MiniDM Xter4 may be powered either D 0000006 from two non rechargeable
27. pressing either the lt UP gt or DOWN keys In this manner you may rapidly test multiple cables So it failed Ifacable fails the continuity test the top line of the display will read MiniDMXter4 V3 17 20 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 DM X512 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 testing Pins 4 and 5 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
28. read Bootstrap v0l sn 16xx 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 MiniDM Xter4 and the PC the display should change to Bootstrap v0l 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 52 S Send New Code E Erase Flash C Checksum B Blank Check R Restore shipped code To download the new code to your MiniDMXter4 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 required but is a check to make sure everything is ready You should see Firmware is Blank 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 ofa download How you do this will depend on the terminal emulator you are
29. should be checked against the enclosed packing list The manufacturer will not be responsible for shortages against the packing sheet unless notified immediately Ifthe unitis 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 17 55 APPENDIX A TEXT MESSAGE LISTINGS 3 5 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 xx slot 0 START Code 17h Slot 1 Page number of one of the possible 256 text pages Slot 2 Characters per Line This Indicates the number of characters per line that the transmitting device has used for the purposes of formatting 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 ISO IEC 646 standard character set 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 KKKK KK ck Ck ck KKK
30. 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 level 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 is used the display will show two hex digits followed by a lower case h 5 8 DMX512 PARAMETERS NOT CHECKED BAUD RATE The MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 if they fall within the EIA485 specification
31. the number of steps of change either plus or minus that are allowed before the MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 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 MiniDM Xter4 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
32. the point that the MiniDM Xter4 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 9 SHOWSAVER The ShowSaver 2 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 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 DM Xter 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
33. 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 17 THE STRING EDITOR The string editor is used by several routines to enter labels and descriptive text Itis likely to be used by more routines in future releases Itallows 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 Onthe PC you willsee Enter 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 UP Changes the case BLUE gt lt DOWN gt Changes the case DOWN Rolls thru the punctuation then Z thru A 9 0 lt UP gt lt DOWN gt Enters a space lt LEFT gt Moves the cursor to the left lt BLUE gt lt
34. without pict So she was cons as well as she hot day made her feel ve upid whether the pleas DB ure of making a daisy chain would be wor DB 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 TEXT MS4 DB 021 exclamation mark DB 022 double quote DB 023 number sign DB 024 dollar sign DB 025 percent DB 026 amp ampersand DB 027 E single quote DB 028 n left opening parenthesis DB 029 right closing parenthesis DB 02A 2 asterisk DB 02B plus DB 02C comma DB 02D minus or dash DB 02E dot DB 02F forward sl DB colon DB 03B i semi colon 03C lt less than DB 03D equal sign DB 03E gt greater than DB 2 question mark DB 040 AT symbol DB 05B left opening bracket DB 05C back slash 05 right closing bracket DB 05E caret cirumflex DB O5F underscore 060 B DB 07B left opening brace 07C vertical bar DB 07D right closing brace MiniDMXter4 V3 17 57 DB 071 E i tilde Message 5 is some common ASCII formatting characters Many LCD displays do not interpret these characters as a dumb terminal would Some displays including the
35. you answer DOWN to this question the MiniDMXter4 will cycle the same slot up and down continually The display will be static The MiniDM Xter4 will have started to transmit The level sent will be an unchanging zero To start the auto fade press either lt UP gt or lt DOWN gt Pressing lt UP gt causes the MiniDM Xter4 to start fading from zero up to full and then back to 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 If you 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 fullto zero In either case the MiniDM Xter4 will cycle through all the slots The LEFT 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 LEFT or lt RIGHT gt key to select the slot to autofade Pressing LEFT 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 DOWN You may tempor
36. 0 In RDM Fixed display corruption when setting DM X address ifDEVICE MODEL DESCRIPTION is not supported 10 3 Slot count was invalid on corrupt PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION response in Set Personality 10 5 Now lt UP gt lt DOWN gt jumps to first Selftest in Self test list 10 11 6 In RDM we moved Self Tests to Setup Device Menu 10 11 6 We have increased the auto pole rate for sensors 10 7 Better error reporting when GET SENSOR VALUE fails 10 7 The DMXter warns if sensor number in SENSOR DEFINITION doesn t match requested sensor number 10 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 In Device Information the description auto scrolls if longer than the display 10 3 Improved error reporting for Device Information 10 3 Added Boot Software Version display 10 3 14 Added product detail ID list to Device information menu 10 3 15 UP DOWN jumps to first PID in Supported PIDs list 10 3 16 Setup Device arrow editor shows the PDATA value for out of range replies 10 6 3 10 6 11 Added support for Queued and Status messages 10 8 1 Added the standard short cut and auto repeat keys to RDM Send Edit Device 10 9 Send Edit Device can request default slot valu
37. 1 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR SEARCHES Y FF FF eee eee 11 4 12 ADVANCED TRANSMIT ROUTINES LL FFF FFF FF FFF FF RR Yu 11 4 I2 E Xdjust AW S1Ots o ce ter rete vea uan ates 11 4 11 2 ADJUST SLOT RANGE oeni cease gaa pes m e DYD GR RISUS Pure PE A T 12 4 12 3 DMX512 TEST PACKET 55 12 4 12 4 Sending ASCII Text Packets iesu xk RE RR ERG E 12 4 12 5 Sending UTF 8 Text 1 Lu 13 5 RECEIVE DMX512 Aue acd yd e Gu lee NY GY GADW CR Wy ea A eG 13 5 0 1 Ifa Non zero START Code Is S t Y FFF FFF WY Yu 13 SA VIEWLEVELS aur ys nis eeu oe bate ded nan de see Sa add DA DOE 13 5 1 1 Display and Timeout Rules I FF Rh 14 5 1 2 UP Clears the Display Buffer and Restarts Receive 14 5 1 3 lt DOW N gt Restarts the Receiver FF FFR WW uu 14 5 1 4 Received Slot Summary Display 14 5 1 5 Data Error While Viewing Levels FF LL FFF ee uu 14 5 2 VIEW LEVEE GRAPHICALLY 443 5 4 293 dant ola Yw oDd dy hd y GL 14 5 3 VIEW ON USB TERMINAL 2244 wee ER ERA XAR tee yang ecw eke det SR EAE ATA 15 5 4 VIEW PARAMETERS sese A Sen ele ge a OUT DOR e qe RIEF UR ae 15 5 4 T Br ak Lengths Sure Renate Bat ete ue er 16 5 4 2 Mark after Break Length ceu RR REGE ER AA XR ER 16 5 4 3 L
38. 4 74 79 C9 CB CB 12 1F 20 20 46 75 77 77 so cc cp cp 13 21 23 23 47 78 79 79 si CE DO 14 2426 26 48 7A 7C 7C 82 DI D2 D2 15 2728 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 pc DC 19 31 32 32 53 87 89 89 87 DD DF DF 20 3335 35 54 8A 8B 8B 88 EO El El 21 36 37 37 55 8C 8E 8E 89 E2 E4 E4 22 383A 3A 56 8F 90 90 90 E5 E6 E6 23 3B 3C 3C 57 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 26 42 44 44 60 99 9A 9 EF F1 F 7 94 1 2 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 49 28 48 49 49 62 9E 9F 9F 96 F4 F6 F6 29 4A 4C 4C 63 A0 A2 A2 97 F7 F8 F8 30 4D 4E 4E 64 A3 A4 A4 98 F9 FB FB 31 4F 51 51 65 5 7 7 99 FC FD FD 32 52 53 53 66 A8 AA 100 AA 33 54 56 56 67 AB AC AC 14 6 STANDARDS DMX512 EIA485 FE FF FF 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 The electrical standard on which DM X512 is based is EIA485 Many textbooks 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
39. 4 Get Oueued Messages on ACK 43 10 11 5 Interleave Null Start Code FF FFY FF FF Yu Yu 43 LOM 6 Self Test ay ben GYT Y GO OADD et Dd GDG Do GR eas ot ep 43 11 COLORTRAN PROTOCOL SUPPORT FF FFF R93 44 12 THE CE MARK wd Y Ae A Sah ee PM DW Ry NE Nu es 44 13 POWERING THE MIND ecu wate Y eae XA NAXOS A T res Was be REPEAT E EVA 44 13 1 LOW BATTERY WARNINGS POWER MANAGEMENT 45 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 V 13 2 Meal Penalty 2 e QI Os Te the fs dug end t rares 45 13 3 BATTERY OPERATING TIME sees ace Gee gas PRES Te ayy YDD TD eae Fed 45 14 MiniDMXter4 TECHNICAL DISCUSSION I FFF eee eee 45 14 1 MiniDMXter4 MAINTENANCE FFF FFF cece eee uad 45 TA OU CEB ANING cpg Sperre ND edere quede DAT YAA OL EP E ERU Te 45 14 2 SPECIFICATION FABLES o arg atest getto m he EPIS PARE DO A e Agta E ege M GU go 46 Table 14 2 RECEIVED DMX512 PARAMETERS I Y GY YY rrrn 46 Table T4 3 A CCUR A CY usui eee Bren aoe eet tt ap C Ed 47 14 3 CONNECTOR FUNCTIONS AND CONNECTOR WIRING YY Y uu 48 14 3 1 Tasa i y rS PER IE REN Ve eO SHENG CDs 48 14 3 2 DM ted USA VR v Ee CU SN RYN Er Mete RO ea aut YN hia 48 14 3 3 Topology for DMX Terminate amp DMX Pass Through Modes 48 14 3 4 Uses of PINS ARS
40. 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 YES Q 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 YES Q gt amp lt RIGHT gt and Hold lt YES Q gt amp lt LEFT gt 10 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 10 11 RDM User Options These items allow the configuration of the RDM functions of the controller most are fairly obvious 10 11 1 Identify on Select This controls whether the responder is set into the Identify mode while you are selecting it 10 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 10 11 3 Ignore Disc Warnings MiniDMXter4 V3 17 42 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
41. ACKLIGHT 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 require any keys pressed between measurements This setting will persist until cleared either by this menu or by the operation of the unit from battery 7 4 NUMBER FORMAT OPTION The next menu item is NUMBER FORMAT OPTION Certain numbers may be displayed in any one of three formats decimal DEC 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 FLICKER FINDER compare limit When the DM Xter 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 2 HEX The current display format is the one pointed to by the filled arrows To set the display format use
42. EE ables 37 10 4 Set DM X Address eter eee e BR a oerte Noten Ra ce CM Y AN IG 37 10 5 Set DM X Personality ee ei eee OPS PAGE GYD WA as bee 37 10 6 Setup ROM DEVICE ten cC La A ctae icit eus dose 37 10 6 E Device Label sier DR rip beri be DD Uy GDG yo gnn A 37 10 6 2 Display Level Brightness 37 10673 Display Invert XAR ERIS AES 38 10 6 4 Pan Invert 1 2 du en e edt e tct gene Enc qiie ru e URS E E atc e e esty 38 10 6 5 Tilt Invert viter er EDO MPO EMI oe ay ee ER MUERE MewotDpxT GNO 38 1026 6 Pan T1lC Swap et eee e XH ae iet Rode ea oer ae 38 10 6 7 Lamp State isse UR REA we C E ee whe nee YN CET S 38 10 6 8 Laip ON Mode tage WER ep AE YG se 38 10 6 9 Power States a suo se yD O GYD Head eee res SS 38 10 6 10 Capture Presets a cette rece de ge egg Me wd eae IAE a OA Reese 39 10 6 T1 Playback Preset ede RR Ue EISE YDA O nune 39 10 6 12 Reset Lamp HOUtS uu toD a Scale qu ae te Gyrn 39 10 6 13 Reset Lamp Strikes erota RED MEE EN a he MUR E 39 10 6 14 Warm Reset Do UY E eer e i etre ced n Ul etd Y P MS IR e Le d 39 10 6 15 Gold Reset i cele BEDS Iv Fa eee St pe iae Y ERES 39 10 6 16 Restore Factory Defaults FF FFF FFF FF FFF Yu 39 107 View S nsors sgol TL aoe FU GO DYDD GYR
43. EST 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 10 3 9 RDM Protocol Version RDM PROTOCOL VERSION de 0 Any reply other than the one shown would be from a newer version of RDM than this software is designed to decode 10 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 responds to messages STANDBY Reduced power mode Device can return to normal without a reset Device still responds to messages NORMAL Normal Operating Mode 10 3 11 Hour and Power Cycles DEVICE HOURS 501 POWER CYCLES 24 10 3 12 Lamp Hour and Lamp Strikes LAMP HOURS 200 LAMP STRIKES 35 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 36 10 3 13 Lamp State and Lamp On Mode Need we say more 10 3 14 Boot Software Version BOOT SOFT 1A2BC3D4 h descriptive string 10 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 contr
44. FT 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 5 Auto increment the Slot Number by 10 Hold down BLUE and then press and hold the lt RIGHT gt or LEFT keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 1 1 6 6 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 MiniDM Xter4 is 8 bit binary Eight bit binary is seldom the best way to display data The MiniDM Xter4 can display 8 bit slot values in three formats percent decimal or hexadecimal You select the default number format in the Setup Menu Pressing the lt UP gt and the lt RIGH T 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 BLUE As a Shift Key There are several places in this software that use BLUE asa shift key to allow one of the other keys to access a second function or status display
45. LEFT 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 DOWN or BLUE The default for this option is percent 7 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 DM X512 cables that deliberately do not have pin 1 connected at both ends Following upon majority interpretation ofthe DMX512 Standard this is a practice that Goddard Design Co does not endorse If the MiniD MXter4 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 LEVEL
46. MiniDMXter4 allow custom characters to be mapped to these and other unused codes Care should be taken when choosing non alphanumeric characters TEXT MSS DB BS DB 07h DB lt TAB gt 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 MES Message 7 tests the behavior when a 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 If 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 17 58
47. OPERATING MANUAL FOR MiniDM Xter4 Software Version 3 17 ShowSaver FOR HARDWARE FD DMX 6 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 2011 by Goddard Design Co 10 12 11 Y word_p wp6doc dmx man mini4_man317 wpd TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION prsata een DAD FFIN de IHRE ae Bee seat Da ae ele a ae Wyd R0 1 USITT DMX512 A AND THIS SOFTWARE m e m I ts 1 HARDWARE FEATURES OF THE MiniDMXter4 RF ug 1 CO SATE FY WARNING yon rat Ga CM a oleae d dde ono 1 0 1 1 Use a Blanking Plug in Unused DMX Connectors 2 0 2 GETTING STARTED QUICKLY e oRX SERE daw bed ee cee eed obey 2 ID CONVENTIONS espe ree RR NEN tid eels eur ea eT en D io a ee oar eats 2 II KEY CONVENTIONS tere ee ke BAN wh a ad we Bae Pe es Eee o De EG 2 Lb ACHONON KEY UD s tz ecu du des tp pU Eat 2 I L2XSBLUE oe REDI a ed ahd teh aa DS aree rete te behead 2 THE lt BACK KEY oos ecw da ERR a wad va RE RE 3 T A SREDSA oos ee esce erus ect E etn these 3 Is LS UP 5 ite e oerte on hia Petite o t eed ds 3 1 1 5 1 Bumping a Numeric Value to Minimum or Maximum
48. S it is the feature we call BNW for broken wire MiniDMXter4 V3 17 22 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 7 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 7 7 COPYRIGHT NOTICE Author Credits What more can we say 7 8 FIRMWARE BUILD 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 7 9 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 7 10 SERIAL NUMBER and UID Serial Number abcd RDM UID 47440040 Need we say more 7 11 CLEAR MEMORIES 7 11 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 s
49. SHOT 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 data to be recorded the bottom line will read briefly SNAPSHOT RECORDED After a brief pause the MiniDM Xter4 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 isstillreading 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 Whate
50. SHUTDOWN TIMER 22 7 2 BACK LITE OFF OPTION 2 kc ee heh hh hmmm RR YR ER A AR ER 22 7 3 DISABLING THE BACKLITE TIMER I GI FF FFI GG hs 22 LA NUMBERFORMAT OP TION ue is oo hash SAW Race EBC ERA BE 22 75 OPEN LINE DETECTOR OPTION ew ES nee e UR RR eee Red 22 7 6 ENABLE BUMP ALL eek 23 7 7 COPYRIGHT NOTICE Author Credits FF FFF FF GG FF ua 23 7 8 FIRMWARE BUILD DATE x uie t eto WAR ae ee cain ADAR Shae ae AR 23 7 9 FIRMWARE CHECKSUM iei hee eae ye ed FF AY eb aed ea YD RD WG GU ene 23 T1O SERIAL NUMBER and UID sees GG Be RRO RTA Y ERAS e ES EXER 23 TE CLEAR MEMORIES xe Ra NM AO I Ua aD 23 TJA ERASE EEPROM d x eds are RR I IHE TS LE Re 23 TEC ERASE FLASH rr evade Reet RR ee dy CPU EA RATS 23 7 11 3 CLEAR RAM AND SHUT DOWN has 23 8S FLICKER FINDER me Ree eee 9 rete ue qud Seed rege Y y eee Nee rique e 23 8 1 RE ENTERING FLICKER FINDER FFF GG GG GG GG heh 25 8 2 TECHNICAL NOTES ON FLICKER FINDER 25 8 2 1 Low Battery Warnings During Flicker Finder 26 D SHOWSAWER S Lo y Dau di ax GR O d 26 9 0 1 ShowSaver Conventions and 26 9 0 2 Selecting Playb
51. T 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 is permanent and will not change if you make changes to USER C PLAYBACK FLAVOR USED FOR ShowSaver BREAK MAB INTER SLOT UPDATE LENGTH TIME 163235 Looms FEN 9 4 ShowSaver Start Code amp Line Termination The receive and edit routines of ShowSaver temporarily change the START Code to which the MiniDM Xter4 is set to the dimmer START Code of 0 Exiting ShowSaver by way of the TO MAIN MENU menu item will restore the START Code to the value you were using beforehand pov The MiniD MXter4 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 9 5 RECORDING SCENES ShowSaver s scenes can be recorded from the output of any DM X512 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 9 7 below An important difference between the MiniDM Xter4 and most lighting conso
52. TL a tet bo o adau 39 10 7 1 Sensors Abbreviation ee succ eg eee estan Pee dry Y wee 40 10 8 DEVICE MESSAGES uu alsa Gnade bee ex exer periere 41 10 8 1 Get Queued Messages 41 10 8 1 1 OUEUED MSG ERR seee eh 41 10 8 1 2 GET OUEUED MSG WRN 41 10 8 1 3 GET QUEUED MSG ADV isi epice FFF ee 41 10 8 1 4 GET QUEUED MSG LAST 41 10 8 2 Get Status Messages a o eae stove dea Shea YD GR peres TRES 41 10 8 2 1 GET STATUS MSG ERR Y FFF FF ee 41 10 8 2 2 GET STATUS MSG WRN 41 10 8 2 3 GET STATUS MSG ADV FFF FF FF ene 41 10 8 2 4 GET STATUS MSG LAST FFF I FF ee 42 10 8 2 5 GET STATUS MSG NONE I I FF FY IF FF tenes 42 10 8 3Cl ar Status ID es GW Y RUE IA YY eed a oe ede 42 10 8 4 Sub Device Status Report Threshold 42 10 9 Send Edit Device slei dd Go DO GRID UR TO DI end DOG ND ruga 42 10 10 Edit Null Start Code Data FFF FF FFF FF FFF 42 TOLL RDM User Options Sethe OG Gyn AES 42 10 del Sl Td entity Select is ors deb nn eere Aree ese ea SN FU fy 42 10 1 1 2 Retry Lost Bad Packets e e tta uy Eg ir add bee ceo rex ERE P 42 10 11 3 Ignore Disc Warnings FF FFF RR I th 42 10 11
53. TRANSMIT submenu You will find yourself at the ADJUST ONE SLOT choice This is an exception to the general rule that lt BLUE gt returns you to the point from which you entered the menu 4 8 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 lt DOW N gt key to scroll 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 DMX512 is a standard primarily intended to communicate 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 sometimes referred to as the null start code The default START Code setting in the MiniDM Xter4 is therefore 0 Some of this equipment uses non 0 ST ART Codes The MiniDM Xter4 provides you with the ability to set the START Code you need for the type of equipment yo
54. X slot assignment of the current device The model ID of that device is 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 RIGHT 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 lt BLUE gt key is held 10 5 Set DMX Personality This item lets you select current personality while displaying the personality description 10 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 of the following menu items will indicate if they are not supported as you scroll by 10 6 1 Device Label Uses the text string editor including the USB option to enter the device s label 10 6 2 Display Level Brightness MiniDMXter4 V3 17 37 If supported this item controls the brightness of the configuration display on the RDM responder The next seven menus read the st
55. ack or 26 ORLA YL BACK y a aisha awa CE ra hase ia sete a ee X wake ies 26 9 2 DMX MONITOR MODE creat oak Sie M ERAS En SOROR Oe RE Ed 27 9 2 1 When the Monitor Mode Detects a Failure 27 9 2 2 If Auto Start Is Disabled oi ssc eda da qt CPU AI aU X 27 9 2 3 If Auto Start Is Enabled ese ee RR nere uer gy Go er e IE 28 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 9 2 4 Now That You Are in Play Back Mode 28 9 3 ABOUT PLAYBACK ue Y GWD yey Week od Ga ae eu ess Sete e dep eee eigen Bae 28 9 3 1 The Playback Display Au Ru Re kt E RARUS eee ade yb eee rate es 28 9 3 2 Keys Used m Playback s vice ak eet re ege Pat age te lett 29 9 3 3 The Cross Padet ee ee Sd ION PR P Yd 29 9 374 Th Grand Master ve ERE eG Nec e BALM i nh 29 9 3 5 The Onstage Editor cedente eu Si eee be ea ede SA ae 29 9 3 6 Playback Summary Display 0 eee eee 30 9 377 Exiting Playback 4 02 55 doer oka ies See deena ddydd dw cakes She 30 9 3 8 Technical Information about Playback 30 9 4 ShowSaver Start Code amp Line 30 9 5 RECORDING SCENES uo Sx AE a EM ep a EN etr e ee n 30 9 5 T The Scene Select Display epe VER ER YW whe e A 31 9 52 Taking the S
56. acter 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 lt UP gt and lt DOWN2 simultaneously and releasing them To clear from the cursor to the end of the line press UP lt DOWN gt and lt RIGHT gt simultaneously Look it s the only three key press in the unit ok When you like the name press BLUE 9 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 9 8 below If you wish to set a different fade time press BLUE and the display will change to FADE TIME IS 3 CHANGING FADE TIME Fade time may be set from 0 to 30 seconds using the UP 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 17 31 3 will change when the value for the default time is changed Pressing lt BLUE gt 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
57. arameters 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 equipment s ability to operate outside the Standard does not make it inherently a better piece of gear than one that does 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 MiniDM Xter4 and not to reception MiniDMXter4 V3 17 9 There are 8 Preset flavor choices NAME BREAK MAB SLOTS IST MBB Updates Sec Mini STANDARD 10Hz 100s 20us 512 21 ps 59ms 10 El 11 DMX512 A 92us 12us 512 Ous 4us 44 08 DMX512 1990 8us MAB 88Ls Sus 512 Ous 4us 4 24 SLOTS 815 MAB 88ps Sus 24 Ous 4us 830 6 DMX512 1990 4us MAB 88ps 4us 512 Ous 4us 44 1 24 SLOTS 4us 88Ls Aus 24 Ous Aus 833 3 70 4us MAB 20 S 70us 4us 20 Ous 4us Colortran Option 512 2u 4us lii 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
58. arily stop the fade by pressing lt BLUE gt and either lt UP gt or lt DOWN gt Pressing lt UP gt forces the slot to full pressing DOWN forces the slot to zero With the fade stopped pressing either UP 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 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 This is one menu from which you cannot change the number format 4 4 CLEARING THE SNAPSHOT The MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDM Xter4 s 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 17 7 This gives you a second chance if you didn t really mean to clear it If you did press lt BLUE gt again and the unit will momentarily read ZZAAPP SNAPSHOT IS HISTORY The MiniDMXter4 will then drop thru to TRANSMIT DMX512 SEND EDIT SNAP
59. ased cleaner Do not immerse the unit If any water enters the unit let the interior dry fully before the unit is operated 14 2 SPECIFICATION TABLES MiniDMXter4 V3 17 45 Table 14 1 Transmitted DMX512 Flavors NAME BREAK MAB SLOTS IST MBB Mini STANDARD 10Hz 1001s 20us 512 21 ps 59ms El 11 DMX512 A 92us 12us 512 Ous Aus 44 08 DMX512 1990 8us MAB 88Ls Sus 512 Ous Aus 44 1 24 SLOTS 815 MAB 88Ls Sus 24 Ous Aus 830 6 DMX512 1990 4us MAB 88Ls Aus 512 Ous 4us 44 1 24 SLOTS 4us MAB 885 4us 24 Ous 4us 70us BK 4s MAB 20 S 70us 4us 20 Ous 4u Colortran Option 512 2u 4us BREAK BREAK TIME MAB MARK AFTER BREAK SLOTS NUMBER OF SLOTS IST INTERSLOT TIME MBB MARK BEFORE BREAK Updates Sec 10 iil 833 3 6 ii N Table 14 2 RECEIVED DMX512 PARAMETERS FUNCTION MINIMUM MAXIMUM NOTES BAUD RATE 250 000 as per DMX512 MAB LENGTH NUMBER OF SLOTS OVFL reported for over 512 slots 1 512 HE mus sse MiniDMXter4 V3 17 46 Table 14 3 ACCURACY PARAMETER ACCURACY NOTES TIMEBASE amp BAUD RATE 75 PPM 0 70 Degrees C by design not tested in ACCURACY production I RANSMI ITED imeba ji i j I f br k NE GI IGIBI E n se jitter 1s the major source o b TRANSMITTED START Code 0 NEGLIGIBLE MAB JITTER BREAK MAB less than 16 380 MSEC TRANSMITTED ixi NON ZERO START Code or BREAK MAB JITTER i Hs MAB time greater than 16 380MS SLOT FRAME JITTER
60. atus of the responder on entry and write back the status on exit 10 6 3 Display Invert Some responders can rotate the displayed characters on the configuration display 10 6 4 Pan Invert Obvious isn t it 10 6 5 Tilt Invert See above 10 6 6 Pan Tilt Swap You ve got this right 10 6 7 Lamp State LAMP STATE M OFFmON STRK STBY NONE ERR The standard defines the following lamps states lm wd 5 LAMP STANDBY Arc Lamp Reduced Power Mode NONE LAMP NOT PRESENT Lamp not installed ERR LAMP ERROR We are not sure how one sets a lamp error but it is allowed 10 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 10 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 17 38 POWER STATE SHUTDOWN Reduced power mode may require device reset to return to normal operation Device still responds to messages POWER STATE STANDBY Reduced power mode Device can return to NORMAL without reset Device still responds to messages POWER STATE NORMAL Normal operating mode 10 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 10 6 11 Playback Preset This item will allow the se
61. bel for the device s operating software version The descriptive text returned by this parameter is intended for display to the user The label may be up to 32 characters MiniDMXter4 V3 17 35 10 3 5 Slot Address amp Slot Foot Print DMX512 ADDRESS SLOT FOOTPRINT dg Hopefully the meaning of the DMX address is obvious The slot footprint field specifies the DMX512 footprint number of consecutive DM X512 slots required This information can be used in conjunction with DMX ADDRESS for auto patching capabilities Both fields are required 10 3 6 Personality PERSONALITY OF YY descriptive text The numeric data is required the descriptive text is optional Many RDM parameters may be affected by changing personality 10 3 7 Sub Device Count amp Sensor Count SUB DEVICE COUNT SENSOR COUNT FEHI Sub devices are yet to be widely supported A sub device allows a 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 10 3 8 Product Category PRODUCT CAT 7101h T
62. charged 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 unusual 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 PROPERTY OF LITES R US Or any two lines of 20 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 thi
63. 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 WARN 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 10 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 QUEUED MESSAGE command The item allows you to get Queued 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 10 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 10 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 Sel
64. e 9 1 PLAYBACK PLAYBACK SCENE is the only method to sequence 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 17 26 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 If the MiniDM Xter4 does not see valid DM X512 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 Otherwise 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 9 5 to learn how to enter scenes 9 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 MiniDM Xter4 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
65. e 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 16mS regardless of START Code we change the method of generating the mark after break This alternate method has an uncertainty of 4ps The MAB will be the length set by the current flavor or up to 4 Us longer 4 11 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR SEARCHES In SEND EDIT pressing and holding down the DOWN key and then pressing either LEFT 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 MiniDM Xter4s the Adjust All Slots routine was found elsewhere 4 12 1 Adjust AII 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 UP 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 RIGHT UP simultaneously It can also be changed by a query in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see sect
66. e 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 BLUE key and pressing the lt UP gt key will cause a bump to the next scene During a cross fade pressing BLUE DOWN 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 9 3 4 The Grand Master The grand master is operated by the lt UP gt and DOWN 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 9 3 5 The Onstage Editor If you need to change the levels of a few 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 SEN D 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 wi
67. e 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 itis possible that 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 DM X512 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 DM X512 cable that no hazardous potentials are present The user should note the following Testing of DM X512 lines that are shorted to the AC lineis hazardous and should not be attempted The MiniDM Xter4 does NOT indicate the presence of hazardous voltages on the DM X512 lines The metal frame and metal front panel parts of the MiniDM Xter4 are not grounded The impedance between the DMX 512 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 MiniDM Xter4 The MiniDM
68. e ede e a de det red edita ra 34 10 2 Select Current DeviGeozss xe RE Yer IG Gy y ERE AN ES 34 10 3 Device Information see e eene tae aeo RR m RR Es 35 TOS Tz Device Model 2 422409 dah dd O4 wt Matha ae hoy wed udo veis pique 35 10 3 2 Device Labels xo Re RES xa ERU dg o des TEN 35 10 3 3 Manufacturer Label uv e ROSTER CERRAR HUE eR YR NO Ya xS 35 10 3 4 Software Version Number amp Label 35 10 3 5 Slot Address amp Slot Foot Print 36 10 3 6 Personality ert Et eden te ep ete eas 36 10 3 7 Sub Device Count amp Sensor 36 10 3 8 Product Category irian eee ds s RP ere te dod ce Rte ea etes qe e aac gs 36 10 3 9 RDM Protocol Version amoriers sa AP eee bah Medd MU buen 36 10 3 10 Device Power State uet ode eU m er See RU exe BEU qai y doe 36 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 IV 10 3 11 Hour and Power Cycles ee ec ase ci ERREUR Male dhe wart RR Rad e 36 10 3 12 Lamp Hour and Lamp Strikes 36 10 3 13 Lamp State and Lamp On Mode 37 10 3 14 Boot Software Version seriti 37 10 3 15 Pr d ct detail list 2 4 aa qt CN RH de RA pes 37 10 3 T6 Supported PIDS he ae ah eee n P De CE HG
69. eived 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 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 Inn B 5 2 VIEW LEVEL GRAPHICALLY annn enn inn This routine allows 32 slots to be viewed at once for a guick overview The number 15 annn MiniDMXter4 V3 17 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 show
70. em since the last discovery It will discover only new devices 10 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 10 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 10 1 4 Store Rig This is the item that stores the Table Of Devices Use the DOWN 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 10 1 5 Delete Rig I hope this one is fairly obvious 10 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 10 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 o
71. ent request messages 10 8 1 1 GET QUEUED MSG ERR This request 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 10 8 1 2 GET QUEUED MSG WRN This request will return messages classed as Warning or Errors or their clearance 10 8 1 3 GET QUEUED MSG ADV This request returns messages classed as Advisory Warnings or Errors or their clearance 10 8 1 4 GET QUEUED MSG LAST This request returns the Queued message or the last status message sent 10 8 2 Get Status Messages 10 8 2 1 GET STATUS MSG ERR STAT 0038h ERR 1 1 descriptive string In this display this message is the first of 1 status 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 DATA1 DATA2 0 0 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 DOW N 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 10 8 2 2 GET STATUS MSG WRN
72. es from a device 10 9 15 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 16 USB OPERATIONS INCLUDING CODE UPDATES Some functions on the MiniDM Xter4 could use a bit more display space than 40 characters Some current or future functions could benefit from a full keyboard Allthe 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 51 The USB port on theMini is not isolated 16 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 emulators which can be c
73. essage 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 Null packets but continues to send ASC packets the no data message will NOT appear As long as some valid DM X512 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 UP key can be used at any time to see if the display is being updated or is static 5 1 3 DOW N gt Restarts the Receiver Pressing DOWN 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 rec
74. evels Decimal or hexadecimal notations are available for the START Code and for the FLICKER FINDER compare limit When the MiniDM Xter4 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 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 of this 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 TURN ON If the unit will not turn on but instead displays MiniDMXter4 3 00 MEAL PENALTY Then the battery has dis
75. f any dimmers were on they will be taken to black To get lights up you must select a previously stored scene and press lt BLUE gt 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 DM Xter 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 A MiniDM Xter4 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 If 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 9 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 17 28 There are four fields in the display They are STAGE Shows which scene is being transmitted to the rece
76. f 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 On entry you will see SELECT SELFTEST 1 of selftest 1 If you press lt UP gt you will lower the test number DOW 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 routine for that number If you press BLUE 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 SELECT SELFTEST x current self test MiniDMXter4 V3 17 43
77. f 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 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 see odd characters consult APPENDIX A 5 10 RECEIVE UTF 8 TEXT PACKETS MiniDMXter4 V3 17 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 K 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 lt RIGHT gt button while the hex dump is active When filtering is enabled only the Start Code is pri
78. first dimmer rack The console must be turned on and transmitting valid DMX512 to the dimmers Select the ShowSaver menu and select PLAYBACK SCENES Ifthe unit detects valid data you will see the following display ISTAGE 9 GM 100 AUTO START ON FAIL In the field following STAGE you will see a small ok chasing rapidly This indicates valid DMX reception At this point the MiniDM Xter4 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 NEXT 1 TIME 3 While the MiniDM Xter4 is in monitor mode the lt RIGHT gt and lt LEFT gt keys are active and you may preset the scene you wish to go to following the OK scene in the event of a failure 9 2 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 out If the MiniDM Xter4 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 ISTAGE x GM 100 NEXT Si TIME 0 NEXT 1 TIME 0 This is meant to get your attention assuming that what
79. hoice 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 lt UP gt 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 numeric values that are set by the UP and DOWN keys 1 1 5 2 Bumping a Numeric Value to H alf Press both DOWN and UP 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 lt UP gt and DOWN 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 lt UP gt key If you hold down the DOWN key the value will auto decrement towards its minimum 1 1 6 LEFT lt RIGHT gt The most frequent 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 17 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 aslot number press the lt LE
80. in Ms 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 3ps 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 of the MiniDM Xter4 The average value will still be shown but its validity should not be counted on MAB length is not START Code sensitive the MAB length ofall packets is measured regardless of the START Code that the packet is transmitted with 5 4 3 List Received START Codes The MiniDM Xter4 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 lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt thru all the START Codes being received The START Code may be displayed in hex The status may be changed by gueries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 START Codes may only be displayed in decimal or hex If percent is selected for levels via SETUP OPTIONS START Codes will be
81. ion 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 17 11 In this software there is a switch 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 1 25 50 1 25 60 FADE I 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 at60 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 equal 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
82. 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 9 2 2 If Auto Start Is Disabled The MiniDM Xter4 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 calling the shop Choice 1 Retest the DMX 512 line press the UP or DOWN keys this will cause the DMXter to retest the incoming DMX line If valid DM X512 has returned the unit will return to monitoring the line If on testing the line the MiniDM Xter4 does not find valid DMX it will go into ShowSaver playback just as if you pressed BLUE MiniDMXter4 V3 17 27 Choice 2 Go to playback press lt BLUE gt 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 5
83. isplay 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 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 Answering BLUE to the RECEIVE user needs to answer is DMX512 query puts you in the RECEIVE menu the first question the RECEIVE DMX512 END OF LINE DM X512 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 DM Xter4 RDM However the MiniDM Xter4 may be inserted at any point in the daisy chain That
84. ist Received START Codes 2 eee eh 16 SAA pert Packet seris does iv he iq dd Y Seed ety FUDD 16 5 45 Interslot Time din HS tree cor DRE Icy Le FFO Hep M det Dace RON ed 17 5 4 6 MARK BEFORE BREAK Us 17 5 4 7 MARK AFTER START CODE in MS 0 0 RR n 17 5 4 8 Average Routines for 5 4 5 5 4 6 5 47_ 17 5 4 9 Break to break Lime coeno ea OR De dete c ETE dyn ted 17 54 10 Updates per Second c6 ev p ERE GYD a 17 5 5 RETURN TO MAIN MENU yad EG DD NIE 17 5 6 CHANGING THE START CODE ec cen eh e m hee 18 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 II 5 7 SETTING THE MINIMUM LEVEL FOR SEARCHES Fu 18 5 8 DMX512 PARAMETERS NOT CHECKED 0 III I IG GG GG a 18 5 9 RECEIV E ASCTII TEXT PACKETS maniy uni ear odes rU a wee GO hed bu vor Eu e UY 19 5 9 1 Displayed Character ono bes Inia eas Wie FU ee 19 5 10 RECEIVE UTF 8 TEXT PACKETS heh 19 5 11 RAW HEX DUMP TO USB PACKETS 0 0 I III I FF hs 20 6 CABLE TESTER i eddu oboe Beet BIA TY GORED S Der nw Sea Be ee eg 20 6 1 DOUBLE ENDED CABLE TEST I IG 20 6 1 Endingi Cable Test 22025 veu RODO Ps e OL Bea y beh 21 T SETUP OPTIONS 5 eee A Y ot aes Baas GDG A YN yd NR 21 7 AUTO SHUTDOWN TIMER a5 RAD YD RATA DG GOG W RES RR GDG 21 7 1 1 DISABLING THE AUTO
85. ivers 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 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 LEFT 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 9 3 2 Keys Used in Playback The seven keys all have functions in Playback The following list is a quick 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 exits 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 9 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 th
86. lection 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 10 6 12 Reset Lamp Hours 10 6 13 Reset Lamp Strikes 10 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 10 6 15 Cold Reset A cold reset is the equivalent of removing and reapplying power to the device It also clears the Discovery Mute flag 10 6 16 Restore Factory Defaults 10 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 sensor description Select the sensor you wish to look at with lt UP gt or DOWN and then press lt BLUE gt 1 VOLTAGE 12 1 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 to 10 7 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 val
87. les is that the MiniDM Xter4 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 17 30 The entrance message for recording a scene is appropriately SHOW SAVER RECORD SCENE 9 5 1 The Scene Select Display When you press the lt BLUE gt key you will see RECORD SCENE RECORD SCENE PIR 23 4 52 678 or bl 2 3 4 5 6 T 8 The numbers 1 thru 8 are the eight scenes that ShowSaver can 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 LEFT 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 LEFT and RIGHT 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 e
88. ll not be present when you return to the scene you modified 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 17 29 STAGE 2 GM 100 NEXT 3 TIME 10 9 3 6 Playback Summary Display If you would like to see a summary screen of the NEXT 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 equal or greater than 1 and the first and last such slot 5 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS 3 TO 510 9 3 7 Exiting Playback To exit Playback press the BACK key Y ou will be asked to confirm that you are aborting Playback Until you answer lt BLUE gt Playback will continue 9 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 STAR
89. lower than the R value At this point pressing the RIGHT key will take you to an identical screen for the next slot with errors Using the lt LEFT gt 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 lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys have auto repeat functions Holding the lt BLUE gt key while pressing either the lt RIGHT gt or LEFT 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 lt BLUE gt 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 lt BLUE gt This will return you to FLICKER FINDER TO MAIN MENU 8 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 c
90. lt RIGHT gt or LEFT keys to auto increment or auto decrement by 10 RETURNING TO THE FIRST CHARACTER Press both the RIGHT and lt LEFT gt keys to return to the first character which is in slot 3 MS 0 L 24 c 3 miniDMXter4 v3 17ll 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 different 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 DOW N gt keys You can scroll through a message using the LEFT 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 DM X512 A allows for a device to send up to 256 different text messages They 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 17 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 d
91. m and average break to break length of a DMX512 signal where this time is 900s or longer If it receives a break to break time of less than 900s all three values will be removed from the display and be replaced by the words TIME LESS THAN 900uS 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 is transmitted with The method of measuring break to break length on the MiniDM Xter4 has a statistical uncertainty of at most lps 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 DM X512 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 itis refreshed once per second To leave this display press either lt UP gt or lt DOWN 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 17 17 5 6 CHANGING THE START CODE DMX512 is a standard primarily intended to send level information to dimmers It has provisions for non
92. ment for Goddard Design Company s MiniDM Xter If you have used a MniDMXter Li DM Xter 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 powered 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 is written for software version 3 00 If you ve useda DM Xterin 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 MiniDM Xter4 supports the recommendations requirements and terminology of ANSI E1 11 akaDMX512 A HARDWARE FEATURES OF THE MiniDMXter4 A micro controller running at 48 mHz Four and a half megabytes of non volatile RAM for data storage The physical layer supports both DM X512 A RDM E1 20 e A USB interface allows use ofa PC as a data terminal for the DMXter Th
93. n 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 UP and lt DOW N 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 95 127 159 191 223 254 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 except it 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 a 3 4 2 6 7 8 8 ID 11 12 213 25 LY te X9 20 100 50 100 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 To see the other 3 pages of slot values use the lt LEFT gt or lt RIGHT gt keys The following key presses are also available and work the same way
94. n 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 17 34 lt BLUE gt lt DOWN gt selects the first device of the next manufacturer in the TOD 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 DEVICE 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 the lt UP gt or DOWN key lt BLUE gt lt U P gt sets the sub device to maximum 512 lt BLUE gt lt DO WN gt sets the sub device to the root device sub 0 10 3 Device Information All RDM responders are reguired to return a minimum set of information about themselves They can optionally return a great deal more
95. n 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 the rule 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 50 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 14 5 PERCENT TABLES Table 14 1 REC D XMIT REC D XMIT REC D XMIT 0 00 02 00 34 57 58 58 68 AD AF 1 03 05 05 35 59 5B 5B 69 BO BI 2 06 07 07 36 5C 5D 5D 70 B2 B4 B4 3 08 0A 0A 37 SE 60 60 71 B5 B6 B6 4 0B 0C 0C 38 61 62 62 72 B7 B9 B9 5 0D 0F OF 39 63 65 65 73 BA BB BB 6 10 11 11 40 66 68 68 74 BC BE BE 7 12 14 14 41 69 6A 6A 75 BF CO CO 8 15 16 16 42 6B 6D 6D 76 C1 C3 C3 9 17 19 19 43 6E 6F 6F 77 C4 C5 C5 10 1A 1B 1B 44 70 72 72 78 C6 C8 C8 11 1C 1E 1E 45 73 7
96. napshot 4 ceo apre RE adio Slept Ae qaos 31 9 5 3 Naming the Scene ss bode entree pU ei 31 9 54 Setting the Pade Time eR deer eo eges aedes debct aeu eed 31 9 6 CLEARING OLD RECORDED SCENES lees 32 9 7 EDITING RECORDED SCENES ders SERRA EV EIN GAWN 32 9 8 CHANGING THE DEFAULT FADE TIME 32 9 9 OAD SHOW a cien eit xps eed car ee dE RUN ete dd ROI ed ees UAR Bee Sine ATE 33 9 IO STORE SHOW facie e MM AU S EA Be E 33 9 11 DELETE STORED SHOW Hn ons d DI que S POCO e NICA EA OS 33 O TI27EBRASE CURRENT SHOW 0 epus fas A RODEO MANARE T REA PAN 33 9 13 RETURNING TO THE MAIN MENU GG GG I GIG II GIG I res 33 O T4 PLAYBACK SCENE uw y neun RE eR Red ge C E Eg e ea 33 9 15 GETTING A SUMMARY OF THE 33 I0 RDM CONTROLEER 4 aate Septem Wat S do dod Rotes Rhe ete les atto o s Rte Mi 34 10 1 Discover Devices bale GY PAG auia das Gol Td Wi ce ns Sodas 34 10 1 1 Discover Newly Connected Devices 34 10 1 2 Discover AIL DGyiceS zo ee SPE AR EN ey RES EH 34 TOPS THO Ad Rig i ce S S eet ce equ RS a TRO Se eie E 34 10 1 4 Store Rig c2 exito beer Cx ied i pa re orbc Exe E E YY DE ENDE Xd e 34 10 1 5 Delete RAg ou Iesu nd ege tei et E M
97. now the actual level that you are receiving It should not be assumed that a MiniDM Xter4 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 to 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 DM X512 is used to drive other devices such as color scrollers Technical note The conversions from percent to decimal and decimal to percent in the MiniDM Xter4 are all table driven When the MiniDM Xter4 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 are all displayed as 50 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 17 48 stored and re transmitted as different levels BUT whe
98. nted for Null Start Code packets The state of filtering is displayed on the bottom line ofthe LCD If you are using Teraterm with Window no special driver is required for the Mini The USB will auto configure to deal with the high data rate of this routine 6 CABLE TESTER The MiniDM Xter4 includes a cable test feature While DM X512 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 DM X512 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 of the cable and take a new sample If the samples are the same the cable is assumed to be good 6 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 question CABLE TESTER TEST PINS 4 AND 5 Yes we know DM X512 doesn t use pins 4 and 5 except tha
99. ol driver 401 Neat 10 3 16 Supported PIDs PID 0081h l VEZ MFG LABEL An RDM device must provide a list of the non required commands PID that it supports This menu lets you retrieve that list The display above shows the first of more than 27 non required 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 RDM command PID These parameters are in the range of 8000h FFDFh Manufacturers 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 10 4 Set DM X Address CHANGE ADDR TO il modelID text This item lets you change the DM
100. onfigured for serial communication via USB will work in a 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 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 require 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 16 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 16 3 Downloading new operating code to the MiniDMXter4 If you are getting a software update for your MiniDM Xter4 you must provide us with your correct serial number Each update file is made for one and only one MiniDMXter4 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 lt DO WN gt keys The display should then
101. 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 requested THE FOREGOING WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESSOR ADEQUACY FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE GODDARD DESIGN CO SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIALDAMAGES 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 All 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 purchaser All material in the container
102. play Atthis 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 quitting some functions will return you to different points in the menu These will be pointed out later in the manual MiniDMXter4 V3 17 2 1 1 3 THE lt BACK gt KEY The BACK key usually terminates a function similar to the use of the lt BLUE gt key 5 9VDC OFF OM Pressing it when you are in a ue menu query will back the miniDMXter4 MiniDM Xter4 up one menu pe Ma MENL 25 layer Since some of the E CNN AE menus have become rather deep this can be a real time saver 1 1 4 lt RED gt A few routines in Version 3 00 implement the RED or MORE 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 lt UP gt lt DOWN gt lt UP gt and DOWN are used to step thru items of the menus When setting slot levels or changing the value of a numeric parameter the MiniDMXter4 uses the UP and DOWN 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 c
103. qual or greater than 1 the first and last such slot 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS 3 TOS DEO These conventions will be used any time you see a display of this type 9 5 2 Taking the Snapshot Press lt BLUE gt 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 9 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 have 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 lt BLUE gt The cursor will appear at the first space of the name on the second line Each press of the UP key will step you thru first the numbers 0 9 then the alphabet Pressing the DOW N gt key steps you thru the same sequence backwards When you have the right char
104. receives this request and replies An important detail to keep in mind is that a responder may NEVER reply unless it receives a request An RDM system is controlled by the controller The RDM software accessed by the Controller menu allows the miniDM Xter4 to act like a controller providing basic identification and configuration of RDM units Even in a system with a RDM console the miniDM Xter4 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 10 1 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 10 1 1 Discover Newly Connected Devices This item looks for all devices connected to the syst
105. reviously 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 MiniDM Xter4 provides considerable control ofthe parameters ofthe transmitted DMX signal This isrequired because DM X512 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 ofthe available 7 flavors are shownin 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 3d dl TO LEVEL 0 The level may be displayed in decimal percent or hex
106. s 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 17 5 3 MAIN MENU The MiniDMXter4 works on a function menu All tests and functions ofthe MiniDMXter4 are accessed by way of seven MAIN MENUs You can step thru the choices by pressing the lt UP gt or DOWN 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 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 DMX512 signal to allow you to check that the receive end of your transmission link is correctly receiving the signal Originally DM X512 was a standard primarily intended to communicate level information to dimmers It had provisions for non level or non dimmer communications by means ofa START Code Fordimmercommunication the START Code has a value of 0 sometimes referred to as the null START Code The default START Code setting in the MiniDM Xter4 is therefore 0 4 0 1 Ifa Non zero START Code Is Set If you p
107. slots of hex 55 These packets have every other bit set It was included in the new version of DMX512 as a test pattern It may be useful for measuring bit delay and bit distortion through DM X512 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 Hold down the lt RIGHT gt 4 12 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 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 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
108. sn Sve E wea lp CRI er es pare era 48 14 4 THE PERCENT SCALE una tei os CH eae Es a eee 48 14 5 PERCENT LABLES ce px eter ey nu o Ee n E pape yd rd To dots WLED G0 49 14 6 STANDARDS DMX512 EIA485 20 e mI 50 14 7 RELEASE NOTES amp SOFTWARE VERSION HISTORY 50 M30 ie Paus o tero Re erp aa ett grs uetus de s E ERR S sa t e dco GAU Y 50 WV3 08 V3 10 GDG AG ve RR Ee e fos ae WYR e eder A 50 QUEE YN FN FFA EE NA NE NN RD HO DT SF YF FFYN YN NT HR MHEN YDA 50 WYN ec Rd AWYR sd RN te d eem est ts eie Ok 51 IS ECC PART 15 STATEMENT tee HER OI e p eod RR NOE RR E RIDERE EX NER 51 16 USB OPERATIONS INCLUDING CODE UPDATES he 51 16 1 Terminal Emulator Requirements and Recommendations 52 16 2 Using a PC with Routines That Support USB e 52 16 3 Downloading new operating code to the 1 4 52 17 THE SFRINGEDITOR uei GG e y ad s e erede ete e Ue ope CR coe t acere eee e 53 Es WARRANTY tre anil Dy BY tbt tee qe a Sek dnas zi d em i ace ae adus SM rS dibs Ay 55 APPENDIX A TEXT MESSAGE LISTINGS eese 9 ee 56 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 VI INTRODUCTION The MiniDM Xter4 is a portable test set for checking DM X512 transmission and reception and for configuring responders using the RDM protocol It is a replace
109. 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 7 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 SHUTDOW ENABLE SHUTDOW 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 21 7 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 MiniDM Xter4 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 down until the unit is unplugged 7 2 BACK LITE OFF OPTION BACKLIGHT ENABLED BACKLIGHT DISABLED DISABLE BACKLIGHT ENABLE BACKLIGHT Pressing lt BLUE gt switches between the two settings 7 3 DISABLING THE BACKLITE TIMER The next menu will be one of the following items BACKLIGHT TIMER ON B
110. ssage 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 LEFT and RIGHT keys MS DM X512 A allows a device to send up to 256 different text messages They are Viewing the Text Packet Moving about the Display numbered from 0 to 255 This routine generated up to 8 canned test messages The above left screen is the first of canned message in the MiniDMXter4 AUTO INCREMENT Hold down the lt RIGHT gt or lt LEFT gt keys to auto increment or auto decrement the character position by one 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 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 UP and being transmitted lt RIGHT gt C This is the position within the packet o
111. t 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 BLUE 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 test sequence 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 display 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 DM Xter without pressing any keys on the MiniDM Xter4 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
112. 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 MiniDM Xter4 is receiving DM X512 it checks for the following problems PE PARITY ERROR FE FRAMING ERROR BK BREAK TOO SHORT less than 8815 MK MARK AFTER BREAK TOO SHORT less than 8s DM X512 1986 called for a 44s mark DM X5 12 1990 requires a mark of 8us or longer We flag marks of less than 8ps 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 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
113. the stored shows 9 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 9 13 RETURNING TO THE MAIN MENU 9 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 query 9 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 1 2345 67 8 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 instead you press lt BLUE gt you will get a latched summary display as per the example below 5 2 THIS SCENE NAME 10 SLTS RO 212 If you wish to view a summary for another scene you may increment or decrement the scene number using either the UP and DOWN keys or the lt LEFT gt and lt RIGHT gt keys NOTE When incrementing or decrementing cleared scenes are skipped MiniDMXter4 V3 17 33 10 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 request a responder
114. this at the console end only checking the console only Or if you have any reason to suspect the DM X512 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 MiniDMXter4 V3 17 23 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 Be certain that the MiniDM Xter4 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 that 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 isa very brief moment when data is not passed thru to the DMX512 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
115. time between the end of the last slot of a packet and the break is 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 Ms The Mark After Start Code is conceptually the same as inter slot time However some software designs could cause its value to be completely 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 maximu
116. tions such as CABLE TEST and AUTOFADE ONE SLOT while the unit is 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 13 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 13 3 BATTERY OPERATING TIME Table 13 1 Approximate operating times In Main Menu 36 hours Receiving at end of line 32 hours Transmitting Mini default flavor 22 hours Transmitting other flavors 15 hours 14 hours 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 14 MiniDMXter4 TECHNICAL DISCUSSION The following are discussions of a few items of interest that we couldn t find a better place to put 14 1 MiniDMXter4 MAINTENANCE Other than cleaning the MiniDM Xter4 requires no on going maintenance 14 01 CLEANING The exterior of the MiniDM Xter4 may be wiped clean with a soft damp rag The rag may be moistened with any mild water b
117. to the RECORD SCENE 1 234 5 6 7 8 display To reach the next menu item press lt DOWN gt 9 6 CLEARING OLD RECORDED SCENES SHOW SAVER CLEAR SCENE Pressing lt BLUE gt will get you to this display CLEAR SCENE 1 23 4 5 67 8 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 9 7 EDITING RECORDED SCENES SHOW SAVER EDIT SCENE Pressing lt BLUE gt will get you to this display EDIT SCENE 1 2345 67 8 The conventions for manipulating this display are the same as for recording scenes You will see IVE MODE or BLIND MODE EDIT SCENE BLIND EDIT 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 lt BLUE gt Each time you press lt BLUE gt the edit mode and display will toggle to the other state When you press DOWN you will enter the edit slot screen This display is exactly the same as the SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT display see section
118. tored 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 7 11 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 7 11 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 8 FLICKER FINDER Running a cue causes DM X512 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 problem 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 equipment we understand the least the MiniDM Xter4 allows you to do a quick 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
119. u are testing If you press lt BLUE gt the display will read MiniDMXter4 V3 17 10 START CODE IS 0 CHANGE START CODE Press the UP and DOWN keys to change the start code to your desired setting Pressing lt UP gt and lt DOWN gt together will cause the start code to bump to 128 Pressing BLUE and DOW N gt together will return the start code to zero When the desired value is displayed press the BLUE key to save this value The MiniDMXter4 will use this value as its START Code for both standard TRANSMIT and RECEIVE until itis 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 The Hex 55 test message p ASCII Text messages UTF 8 Text message oon RDM request and responses E The START Code initializes to 0 when the factory defaults have been restored See section 2 5 amp MEAL PENALTY Section19 3 The START Code may be displayed in hex The current status may be changed by queries in the SETUP OPTIONS menu see section 8 4 or by using UP RIGHT START Codes may only be displayed in decimalor hex Ifpercentisselected forlevels via SETUP OPTIONS START Codes willbe displayed in decimal Exiting CHANGE START Code jumps you to ADJUST ONE SLOT This is an exception to the general rule that lt BLUE gt returns you to the point at which you entered the menu 4 10 1 MAB Accuracy Vs START Cod
120. ue of 12000 and a mulitplier of 10 This is displayed by the SI abbreviation milli A list of the abbreviations used by the DM Xter 4 are in 10 7 1 Multipliers with negative exponents use lower case abbreviations while ones with positive exponents use upper case abbreviations MiniDMXter4 V3 17 39 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 lt RANGE gt MAX 0 32766 These are signed 16 bit values that represents the lowest and highest values the sensor can report A value of 32768 indicates that the minimum is not defined A value of 32767 indicates that the maximum is not defined Normal Minimum Maximum Value MIN NORMAL MAX MIN NORMAL MAX 723000 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 01234567890123456789 RECORDED VALUE RECORDED VALUE 24031 NOT AVAILABLE This 15 a signed 16 bit value that represents the value that was recorded when the last RECORD SENSORS was
121. ver 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 MEAL PENALTY 4 6 SEND EDIT SNAPSHOT Pressing 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 ofthe slot displayed in the left most position on the display MiniDMXter4 V3 17 8 The levels may be displayed in decimal percent or hex Ifpercent 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 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 ofthe display 4 6 2 Re entering Send Edit Snapshot On exiting SEND
122. y 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 14 3 2 DM X out The female 5 pin connector is the DM X 512 output connector It is used for all DM X512 transmit functions Pins 2 and 3 of the DMX OUT connector are always wired to DM X512 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 required for DMX512 but neither is it prohibited 14 3 3 Topology for DMX Terminate amp DMX Pass Through Modes The DMX IN connector is always terminated If a pass through mode is required the output transceiver is enabled and transmits a copy of the data from the input Using this mode increases power consumption Ifthe MiniDM Xter4 is turned off or shut down for low battery it will cease passing through data 14 3 4 Usesof Pins4 amp 5 The Cable Test routine tests the continuity of Pins 4 and 5 No otheruse is made ofthese pins and they do not loop through 14 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 k
123. y to harm the MiniDM Xter but it may cause mis operation possibly requiring power cycling to reset the unit 0 2 GETTING STARTED QUICKLY So you want to play NOW First read the SAFETY WARNING above Then go right ahead We feel that the operation ofthe MiniDM Xter4 is fairly straightforward But we would suggest that you read the following sections before you start taking our name in vain 1 0 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 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 Asarule the MiniDM Xter4 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 willlay 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 dis
124. ycled or if you have run the SHOW SAVER PLAYBACK or if you have run the MUL TI 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 lt UP gt 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 8 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 BLUE turns it back on During the comparison test the only key on the mINIDM Xter4 that is operational is lt BLUE gt If during the data comparison section of the test any slot records 65 535 errors the test will be suspended The display will read TEST STOPPED ERROR OVERFLOW VIEW MiniDMXter4 V3 17 25 8 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

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Manual manual manualslib manual car manuale digitale manually meaning manual timesheet manual transmission manual wheelchair manual arts high school manually update your device drivers windows manual definition manual for courts martial manual labor manual lawn mower manual muscle testing manually register devices with autopilot manual muscle testing grades manual transfer switch manualidades manual blood pressure cuff manual handling manual transmission cars for sale manual digital manual pdf manual autopilot enrollment

Related Contents

euxyl® PE 9010 - Schülke & Mayr  METELLI-Manuale-Tecnico-Trasmissioni-ITA  EBLデバイス  DV457 / DV487 - s3.amazonaws.com  Sharkoon Temptation  Jackson JG4 Gas Grill User Manual  Manual do operador  Betriebsanleitung SIMPLABELT Compact Units  LC1115CE.3 MATCH IT! Antibody v1.2.1 User`s Manual.book  

Copyright © All rights reserved. Failed to retrieve file