Multiple DMX Universes

Question

I am Mike Gall, and I am the relatively new lights manager at a 150 seat Community Theatre in Callao, VA. We have a new ETC Ion XE20 light board and generally hang 30-40 lights for a production. Recently, we added 6 new Blizzard FlurryZ Moving Head lights, each of which eats up 22 DMX addresses. We are just about out of addresses in our first universe of 512 addresses. I need help from someone in the Forum in adding a new universe. 
 Questions: 
 1. On the Ion board, I go to PATCH and then to Shift Page, and can see the addresses for the next universe, starting with 513. What do I do with this data, since none of my lights will accept a DMX address greater than 512? Do I need a separate new DMX cable from the back of the Ion Board to my splitter? How do I identify the second universe? Is the syntax "2/345" and if so, where is that identifier entered? 
 2. Assuming that someone in the Forum can get me over the initial hump, how do I patch lights into cues when some of my lights will be in universe one and some will be in universe two? What syntax do I use to distinguish the two universes in the PATCH view? How do I enter it? 
 3. Are there alternatives to adding a new DMX cable from the board to the splitter? Is there a preferred solution that you would recommend? 
 4. Do any lights accept addresses greater than 512? Or is that question just reflective of my ignorance about the whole universe process? 
 5. Is there a good primer available online that can help me out of my big hole? If so, please send a link.

eos moderator · Answer

All fair questions. I'll try to get them answered in order. 
 1: To your console adress 513 and 2/1 is the same. 2/1 means 1st address within universe 2. I suggest using 2/1 syntax rather than 513, it's just simpler to understand what's happening. 
 2: Outside of patch you'll never have to worry about your fixtures' addresses. You identify them by channel numbers and the console will know where to send the information (by looking at the info you provided in patch). 
 3: Usually DMX splitters are for 1 universe. It is a 1-to-many box. So your second DMX cable out of the console will go to either an additional splitter or into the first fixture you have patched to universe 2 and then daisy-chain from there. An alternative would be using a network cable out of the console to the stage and there using a box (called "gateway", or sometimes "node") that converts network to multiple DMX outputs, and each of those outputs could be its own universe. I do think however that for your operation a network is probably still like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. 
 4: Technically speaking yes there are, they take network input rather than DMX. But to keep it simple: The idea of DMX is from around 1986. It was a simpler time Lights mostly would take direct DMX, you'd run the signal to dimmers. Which meant 1 light = 1 address. This has obviously changed. But most lights still take a DMX signal. Since a universe is defined as "the amount of DMX one cable can take (i.e. 512 addresses) within one cable you can only ever have addresses from the same universe. The fixture itself is not aware of universes, and doesn't need to be. You help in that endeavour by plugging the right universe's DMX cable into the light. 
 Does that help?