Any ideas for this?

Hello John

So you have a bit to address

The short answer is that the ideal way to do this is by using the 2^nd DMX output from the board. First question: If you cannot do this for whatever reason; do you have another DMX input panel anywhere else in the space? This might allow you to ‘grab’ DMX and route it to where you need it. {There are a number of caveats in doing this}. If the DMX only runs from the booth to the rack then you are in a bit of a pickle. You could hire an authorized ETC tech to come in and install a jump from the rack to a DMX output panel in the dimmer room. You would then need to run cable from there to the gobos/scrollers. (You should also use some sort of Opto-Isolator in-between)  

About the Sensor rack:

The DMX would be ‘hard wired’ on the inside of the rack. (Your first port of DMX goes from the board to the wall and then through the wall to the rack. The RJ45 connector you see on the front is not Ethernet. It is in place for technician programming of the rack via SLTA (Serial LongTalk Adapter).

Could we:

 Make the board wireless?

Yes…you can buy external equipment to do this but it would be quite odd in your situation as you would still need to go from the wireless DMX to a hard line in the booth (for rack control

Cut out the express and run it all by laptop/computer:

Yes… (If you by a control program that allows for DMX output from a computer to DMX. ETC Off-Line does not allow this and you will still need to run DMX cable. Also note the before mentioned info that the port on the front of the rack is not Ethernet.  

Can we take the DMX that connects the moving gobos and color scrollers and make that USB or Ethernet? and if we did could we hook the Ethernet up to the board...

Yes…You will need to buy ETC Net2 Nodes and an Ethernet switch. {Ethernet from the switch to the board, Input Node (1), and Output Nodes (# as needed)} You would still need to get cable from the board to the Output node location and if you could do this then you would be better off running a DMX cable from the 2^nd DMX port to your units.

Let me know if you still have questions…Or, as you seem to have an ETC installed system, you can call ETC and have them look at your job prints to see if there is something in place that you are note seeing.

Sincerely,

Mike

It's quite difficult to offer precise suggestions without knowing the venue wiring.

You are going to need to run a DMX cable from the scrollers/gobo rotators and other 'intelligent' devices back to a console or other controller - there is no other option*.

What tielines exist between stage and booth (or near enough to connect to)?

Most theatres have several tielines, usually for audio, often also for DMX as well.

If there are some audio tielines, you can often get away with using a *balanced* audio tieline for DMX - it's not ideal, but often works well enough, especially for slow-moving items like scrollers where small twitches are less obvious.

If there are no tielines - try to get some fitted. Later users of the space will love you for it!
-Pull a bundle of Cat5 from stage to booth, each end labelled, and terminate one of them to DMX XLR-5 both sides. Cat5 is fine for DMX, video (with the right impedance matching), and ethernet - plus many other things. It's also really cheap.

If you genuinely cannot run any type of cable from the devices back to the control booth, then you have two choices:

1. Control them from another location such as the wings.
2. Get an ETC authorised technician to fit a "DMX Out" socket to the existing DMX cable for the Sensor rack.
   • If there is a 'spare' pair in the existing DMX cable, this could be used for an independent DMX tieline - this would be the best solution, but the spare pair doesn't always exist.
   • If this is not available in your installation, it will be possible to extend the same cable. This has caveats, but the tech will be able to explain the limitations of this.

*Wireless DMX solutions do exist, but they are very expensive to hire or buy. In the vast majority of venues, it's almost certainly cheaper to bring in someone to pull some extra control cables.

Ok... Thanks for the suggestions...

So will most ETC dealers have Net2Nodes?

Which of these is easiest?

Cheapest?

Best?

This really helps! Thanks a ton !

Mike thanks for the reply.. We have a remote input that goes to the board. Could we use this? And will ETC dealers have ETC Net2 software and hardware? The splitting option at the rack as you said... So if we could jump this ? this would create another input/output? that the board would then be ok to talk to the other gobos and scrollers? What kind of cveats are in this?? What's opto insolator? So it sounds that the creating a "jump" from the DMX entering in the back of the rack would be the best / easiest option? 

Thanks for helping and letting me bounce ideas :P
We'll also call our ETC dealer and see if we are missing something..  

Thanks!

The most likely solution will be some form of DMX-Out plugin point extended from the dimmers.

You'll need to get someone in to have a look at what you currently have - your local ETC dealer is probably best placed to come and give you the options you have available, and their respective pricing!