Renard to Olsen 595 Protocol Converter [Archive] - Do It Yourself Christmas Forums

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BillAd

06-04-2007, 01:40 PM

This year I'll have a mix of Renard and Olsen controllers; probably quite a few of us will. Has anyone given thought to designing a device to convert a Renard command stream via RS484 to the standard 595 command structure that Vixen sends to the parallel port? My though is run a single CAT5 cable to the Renard board with the output of the last Renard sent to the converter and first 595 controller. All of the channels would be defined to Vixen as Renard with the protocol and cabling conversion occurring on this new device. This would allow me to run a single CAT5 from my house and extend the distance I can reliably have between my PC and my 595's. My gut feeling is that this would be a simple circuit and program although I'm not sure I have all of the the skills needed. Any thoughts?

Bill

ErnieHorning

06-04-2007, 01:58 PM

You know that you can still run the 595 on the parallel port and Renard on the serial port at the same time.

I know that Phil was messing around with a Renard chip that controlled 8 595 streams. He was looking at changing the outputs fast enough to effectively dim each channel. I believe that he had determined that it couldn’t be done reliably. The code should be pretty easy to modify so that just standard 595 on/off could be done. Vixen would still accept a dimming value, but the adapter would only recognize that it was either on or off.

P. Short

06-04-2007, 02:03 PM

BillAd

06-04-2007, 02:24 PM

My desire is only for on/off control. The main benefits to me will be the 1000 foot (or more) range that RS485 allows and the ability to attach Renard and 595 to a single CAT5 data stream (Last year I ran one CAT5 underground from my basement to the front yard: guess I should have run a few lines :oops:)

wjohn

06-04-2007, 06:37 PM

Are you talking about the dimming 595 design or just on/off? I'm not sure that the Renard plugin (as it exists now) will handle a mixture of dimming (8 bits/channel) and on/off (1 bit per channel).

As for how to do it, the 8-channel Renard hardware platform (with special firmware) should be able to do it. And, to boot, that would solve the parallel port voltage problem.

--

Phil

Phil,

a REN8 with modified code would be the answer to my problems. I'll have a mixture of controllers this year (595 and REN) plus a LEDTRIKs, so the standard PC wil one parallel port is an issue.

I could fit a second parallel port, but a REN8 special sounds so much better.

P. Short

06-04-2007, 09:19 PM

It's a pretty trivial change to the firmware...mostly removing stuff. However, as I noted, it would take a change to the Renard plugin, because afaik that plugin only handles dimmable channels. And, as most people have been alluding to, the on/off channels would have to be at the end of the chain.

--

Phil

ErnieHorning

06-04-2007, 10:31 PM

I'm not sure that the Renard plugin (as it exists now) will handle a mixture of dimming (8 bits/channel) and on/off (1 bit per channel).

Ignore the dimming value. If its 1 or higher, its on. Same plugin, nothing changes.

P. Short

06-04-2007, 11:00 PM

Bandwidth would be a problem...

--

Phil

wjohn

06-05-2007, 04:59 AM

Phil,

I think the max you have run a RENARD at is around 200k?

Which RS-485 interface did you use?

P. Short

06-05-2007, 10:14 AM

The max that I got I've got the Renard to run at is 250,000 baud, for the DMX experiment, and this was without any RS485 involved. The issue is not really the speed of the 485 chips. It is how fast the PICs can run and transfer data, and how that translates into number of channels and updates/second. Using one full 8-bit character to transfer an on/off value is not very good use of the serial line, and will greatly limit the number of 595 on/off channels that can be supported.

Of course, this may be moot if the 595 boards can be converted to full dimming in some sort of convenient manner.

--

Phil