Gilderfluke&Co Analog Output Smart Brick (ver 2.nn w/Eprom memory) - Manual (Page 8)

12 on the backplane. This allows the DMX-512 signals to be bussed between cards within a
card cage. The default position for JP-1 is ÔneitherÕ.
The DMX-512 standard was developed by the United States Institute for Theatrical
Technology (USITT) for a high speed (250 KBaud) asynchronous serial data link. Although it was
originally designed for controlling light dimmers, it is now supported by hundreds of suppliers
throughout the world for controlling all kinds of theatrical equipment.
Even though the DMX-512 standard calls for 512 channels of data, the DMX transmission
from PC¥MACs is limited to 256 eight bit wide channels. You can address your DMX-512 com-
patible output devices to respond to any address between 00 and 255. Addresses above the
256th are used in PC¥MACs for transmitting a checksum. The BS-ANA can use this to verify that
the data received from PC¥MACs has no transmission errors in it. If you address a light dimmer
or other DMX-512 device to addresses 256 or 257, you will see this verification data displayed
as a flickering pattern. Note that at frame rates higher than forty FPS, not all 256 channels can
be transmitted through the DMX-512 output.
The DMX-512 standard calls out a 5 pin XLR connector for all cabling. Unfortunately these
connectors won't fit on a 1Ó wide card. For this reason we chose a 5 pin MiniDIN connector for
this signal. the pinout is as follows:
MiniDIN pin # SIGNAL 1
1 Signal Common (shield)
2 Dimmer Drive compliment (Rx Data -)
3 Dimmer Drive True (Rx Data +)
4 Data In True (Tx Data +)
5 Data In compliment (Tx Data -)
Facing the end of the male end of a cable, the pins are located as shown:
Data In True (Tx Data +)
Dimmer Drive Compliment (Rx Data -)
1
2 3
4 5
Dimmer Drive True (Rx Data +)
Data In Compliment (Tx Data -)
signal ground
Data from a PC¥MACs should be fed into pins #2 (-RxD) and #3 (+RxD). The shield should
be connected to pin #1.
Only 256 channels of data are transmitted from the BS-ANA. Since the 256th and 257th
bytes are not transmitted, the checksum is not sent. The transmitted data will also pause when
the BS-ANA is busy as it redraws the screen in configuration mode. For this reason it should
only be used to control lighting and other equipment that doesn't mind an occasional pause
or data error.
C) Output Fuse Indicators: These four LEDs are lit unless one of the four PTC fuses has been
tripped by an overload on the J6/A output cable.
D) Output Level Indicators: These sixteen red LEDs show the current output level on all of the 0-
10 volt outputs. You will see these LEDs fade in and out as the signals on the outputs change.
E) Z-Brick: This twenty pin IDS connector is used to connect to one or more Z-Bricks. When en-
abled, the BS-ANA puts out data from the DMX-512 input or onboard Eprom to this connector.
The format of the data is as follows:
G ILDERFLUKE & C O .¥ 205 S. F LOWER S T . ¥ B URBANK , CA 91502 ¥ 818/840-9484 ¥ 800/776-5972 ¥ FAX 818/840-9485
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1 Don't blame us for these names. These are directly from the USITT.