PropController - sACN (E1.31) to DMX Node

[DynamoBen]

I started a proof of concept project last night and was able to stitch together some code to turn the PropController into a 4 port (4 universe) DMX node. At present it takes sACN (E1.31) in and outputs data to four separate DMX connections. I have to do some more testing but it looks good so far.

From a hardware point of view the only thing needed to build this are some RS485/DMX daugtherboards. In a perfect world the daugtherboards could be either isolated or non-isolated by populating different sections of the same board. Thoughts, Opinions?

[chilloutdocdoc]

What I plan on turning my PropController into for my show

[DynamoBen]

What I plan on turning my PropController into for my show

Awesome. Well the good news are the basics are covered, now it's a matter of making it nice and tying up the loose ends.

Beyond the basics there are some design choices that need to be made to make this more user friendly. For example if you use 4 universes of sACN data then you have to use up all the available sockets. Which is fine until you want to use DHCP, now you need to close one socket, talk to the DHCP server, and then reopen the socket for sACN data. Some would say you only need to do this at boot but you need to remember DHCP is lease based so every 3 days this needs to happen and will take a couple of seconds to complete. So the design decision is if DHCP should be allowed or not.

This is one of many design choices I've been considering.

[chilloutdocdoc]

Awesome. Well the good news are the basics are covered, now it's a matter of making it nice and tying up the loose ends.

Beyond the basics there are some design choices that need to be made to make this more user friendly. For example if you use 4 universes of sACN data then you have to use up all the available sockets. Which is fine until you want to use DHCP, now you need to close one socket, talk to the DHCP server, and then reopen the socket for sACN data. Some would say you only need to do this at boot but you need to remember DHCP is lease based so every 3 days this needs to happen and will take a couple of seconds to complete. So the design decision is if DHCP should be allowed or not.

This is one of many design choices I've been considering.

Wasn't there talk of getting more than one universe through in a socket?

[DynamoBen]

Wasn't there talk of getting more than one universe through in a socket?

Sure there was talk of it and that might be possible, at present I don't have to time to investigate it though. Take a look at Raw mode in the W5100 datasheet to see if this is feasible. If that works that will open up a number of amazing possibilities.

[chilloutdocdoc]

lol let me understand how to get it working in any mode first! i'll take a look though.. (remember total newb here)

[DynamoBen]

lol let me understand how to get it working in any mode first! i'll take a look though.. (remember total newb here)

Once I've done a bit of testing and cleanup I will post all the code to the google project stie, then you can get a jump on it. ;)

[pmscientist]

E1.31 to RS485 DMX is certainly something I'm interested in, hopefully will have time to incorporate that this year.

Have you given any thought to using the WIZ830MJ down the road? It supports 8 sockets, and does DHCP internally, among other features. Same price as the 812/811, just a bit bigger foot print.

[DynamoBen]

Have you given any thought to using the WIZ830MJ down the road? It supports 8 sockets, and does DHCP internally, among other features. Same price as the 812/811, just a bit bigger foot print.

I don't believe it supports SPI which means that we would loss several I/O pins to accommodate it.

[pmscientist]

Ahh, that's what I get for not reading the data sheet. I suppose you could use an SPI or I2C to MCU bridge, but that adds a couple bucks to the component cost, and the code probably gets a bit more complex too.