Page 3 - Table of Contents
www.elationlighting.com 3 1. Introduction to DMX ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Industry Standards ...............................................................................................
Page 4 - Introduction to DMX
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 4 Elation Professional ® This handbook is designed to promote basic understanding of the DMX 512 protocol, including theory of operation, proper equipment use, and some basic application examples. DMX is an acronym for D igital M ultiple x , a communication protocol (a se...
Page 5 - Industry Standards
www.elationlighting.com 5 About 20 years ago, most manufacturers used their own, proprietary control protocols. This forced system designers to use only fixtures and control consoles from the same manufacturer. There was no control standard to allow the use of different products. A standard is a set...
Page 7 - Theory of Operation
www.elationlighting.com 7 DMX 512 is an asynchronous serial digital data protocol. While that might mean something to an engineer, most people are not familiar with how all this techno-gibberish actually accomplishes lighting control. This section will attempt to explain how DMX operates in a simpli...
Page 8 - The Cable TV Analogy; Cable TV Company
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 8 Elation Professional ® 3.1 The Cable TV Analogy A central concept of DMX 512 is the ability to transmit data on multiple channels over a single cable. To better understand this concept, imagine a simple cable TV system (Figure 1) with four major components: • Cable TV C...
Page 11 - DMX Communications; There are two types of Serial Communication:
www.elationlighting.com 11 3.2 DMX Communications In the world of digital communications, information is sent using precise electrical voltage pulses. A positive voltage pulse represents a 1. A zero voltage pulse (or no voltage) represents a 0. Systems using 1’s and 0’s to encode information are cal...
Page 14 - The topics this section will cover are:; Protocol Specifications
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 14 Elation Professional ® Understanding how DMX 512 operates is important, but it’s only part of the picture. The physical equipment, connectors and cabling, play a critical role in the proper functionality of the protocol. The DMX standard specifies exactly what types of...
Page 15 - atch and; Pin; Shield Drain
www.elationlighting.com 15 4.1 Connectors The DMX standard specifies 5-pin XLR connectors (Figure 5). The name comes from the original manufacturer (Cannon X connector, with a L atch and R ubber guard). Only three of these pins have standardized use however, leading many companies to make use of ine...
Page 18 - Dimmer Control; Sample Applications
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 18 Elation Professional ® The figures on the following pages illustrate several different applications using various DMX products. Samples include: • Dimmer Control • Intelligent Fixture Control • Dimmer & Intelligent Fixture Control • Distributed Control As mentioned...
Page 20 - Intelligent Fixture Control
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 20 Elation Professional ® 5.2 Intelligent Fixture Control 5
Page 22 - Distributed Control
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 22 Elation Professional ® 5.4 Distributed Control 5