unison network

Hello Bill,

It depends what you mean by 'live monitoring'. In DR racks there is no feedback from the dimmers - so you will not be able to see things like circuit breaker trips, blown lamps and things like that.

However, you can connect a PC running Lightmanager to see the status of levels/zones and presets.

You would only be able to view the status of one system at a time - you can't really connect all of your systems together. Connection is made using a Unison PC Interface Station, which connects to the station bus and provides a serial connection to your PC. With this, you can use Unison Lightmanager in live control mode to provide a display of the current state and live programming (i.e. changes made in Lightmanager are visible live in the system).

You would need one PC Interface station per system, and you could only connect and do this to one system at a time with one PC.

Hope that helps,

Tom 

Hello Bill,

It depends what you mean by 'live monitoring'. In DR racks there is no feedback from the dimmers - so you will not be able to see things like circuit breaker trips, blown lamps and things like that.

However, you can connect a PC running Lightmanager to see the status of levels/zones and presets.

You would only be able to view the status of one system at a time - you can't really connect all of your systems together. Connection is made using a Unison PC Interface Station, which connects to the station bus and provides a serial connection to your PC. With this, you can use Unison Lightmanager in live control mode to provide a display of the current state and live programming (i.e. changes made in Lightmanager are visible live in the system).

You would need one PC Interface station per system, and you could only connect and do this to one system at a time with one PC.

Hope that helps,

Tom 

Dear Tom

I would like to thank you for your prompt response.

Regarding the live monitoring, I need to see on line the status of each dimmer channel with also I need the ability to change the value/s if this is needed.

Also I would like to know if their is an other solution in order to take the control and monitoring for Usinon Dimmers except for PC interface solution.  

Best Regards

Bill

Using Unison Lightmanager as I described will show you what level the processor is sending to the dimmers, and allow you to change the values live. As I mentioned it will not tell you if the breaker has tripped/lamp has blown, so it isn't guaranteed to be an exact mimic of which lights are physically on.

The PC interface station is the only way to connect a PC to Unison Dimming racks. The only other way to find out the level of the dimmers is using the menus on the front panel.

 
Regards,

Tom

 

dear Tom, thanks for your information.

I have one more question.

Because of the fact that the dimmers are located in different rooms, the question is, if it is possible to use any other network equipment in order to have monitoring from one site (control room). I can imagine that a solution with RS-232 to RS-485 converters works properly, but I want to use a solution with ETC products that has already been tested in another project in the past.

Thank for your cooperation 

Bill 

Hi Bill,

 I'm quite confused as to exactly what final result you require, and what equipment and cabling you currently have installed on site.

From your above posts, the system you have installed is composed of several independent subsystems that can't directly communicate with each other, and this is why Tom has told you that centralised global control cannot be directly achieved.

The option Tom describes requires several Light Manager PCs, each of which monitors and controls one CMEd, but that's obviously not your preferred solution as it involves disparate control PCs.

There are some possibilities involving complex Unison configurations and DMX connections, but your system requirements seem to be beyond the scope of what can be addressed on a public forum.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact myself or Tom off-forum so we can more closely examine the equipment and system you currently have installed, and the goals you wish to reach.

My email address is richard [dot] thompson [at] etcconnect [dot] com, and Tom's email address is tom [dot] steer [at] etcconnect [dot] com

Please get in touch so we can find a suitable solution.