DMX bridge to Insteon ??

[frustratednon-geek]

I recently installed 8 devices to control house lighting at my church and it works fantastic. The critical requirements were simplicity and independence from the DMX board (Elation Pro) we use for stage lighting.

 

We accomplished what we wanted and then some (thanks to the ISY I robbed from my house to write some awesome scenes), but it would be really nice if the sound tech could hit 1 button on the DMX board, say for the 'movie' cue, and not only control the DMX stage lights but cue the corresponding scene in House lts which are Insteon-controlled. It's a bit awkward to hit the DMX scene and then turn around and hit the little button on the kpl in the wall. Sometimes it's the wrong button, sometimes they mix & match Insteon scenes with stage scenes, etc. so it gets confusing.

 

Is there a way to have the DMX board trigger Insteon scenes or even issue commands to devices directly? We need to retain the simplicity and independence of the Insteon system but would like to bridge the DMX board to the insteon devices so house lights cue automatically with the DMX stage scenes. Hope I'm asking this right. Any ideas?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello frustratednon-geek,

 

I am not very familiar with DMX board so I am not sure what it's capable of doing. If it's capable of calling a URL on a remote device on the network, then it's certainly possible to accomplish what you wish quite easily. If not, then we'll have to figure out how DMX can communicate with external devices.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Steigs]

Michel,

 

DMX512 is a lighting protocol used in concert and theatrical lighting.

 

Google "dmx protocol" and hit the Wikipedia page.

 

I'd paste the link for you, but I can only get to the mobile version at this time.

 

I'm not sure how you'd have the ISY speak dmx, but it would sure open a huge window of possibilities.

[Illusion]

frustratednon-geek,

 

Yes this is possible right now, but not super easy. There is no direct Insteon to DMX or DMX to Insteon converter that I am aware of. Your most likely solution, if you only need control of a few Insteon scenes from the Elation board is a DMX contact closure module and some Insteon I/O input modules, like an I/O link for each scene you want to control or one of the EZIO modules that can have lots of inputs.

 

Then you need a DMX to contact closure interface. You could talk to the people at Pathway Connectivity. http://www.pathwayconnect.com/

 

They already have a product: http://www.pathwayconnect.com/content/view/30/29/ that will do 12 Scenes.

 

Another great resource would be Doug Fleenor Design: http://www.dfd.com/

 

He also has a product that I believe is exactly what you are looking for and it already is in an enclosure:

http://www.dfd.com/6r1a.html

 

His stuff is fantastic. I have used dozens of his products in professional settings with no failures ever.

[frustratednon-geek]

Wow, awesome thanks for the links. Yes, I only need to call 4 or 5 scenes at most so that should work perfectly and not cost a fortune. Thanks so much for the help I'll try to report back with progress...

[frustratednon-geek]

Pathway connect didn't have any pricing but their interface would definitely work for triggering scenes via SimpleHomeNet Interface http://www.smarthome.com/31280/SimpleHomeNet-6-Input-INSTEON-Interface-Module-EZIO6I/p.aspx

 

The Doug Fleenor box was over $700 which is way outside budget. I emailed Pathway about their price but I suspect they're not giving away specialty equipment like this either.

 

Too bad I can't use one of the spare loads on a DMX dimmer pack to trigger a sense wire and use that event to execute a scene. Could something like that work? Even 1 or 2 DMX triggered scenes would make life a lot easier...

[Illusion]

If you have dimmers you are not using, then yes, you could use those to trigger scenes with an Insteon I/O module.

 

You will want a ghost load on the dimmers to ensure proper operation. Like maybe a couple of hundred watts probably. You could try a 100w bulb or a 60w. I am assuming these are 2.4k dimmers.

 

Then you could use the output of the dimmer to trigger a relay that would be the contact closure for the Insteon input device like the one you linked to. Or even simpler, if you only need a couple is this:

 

http://www.smarthome.com/24950A2/I-O-Li ... Kit/p.aspx

 

and just have the sensor see the ghost load...

 

I think your sense wire idea would work as well, but again, I think you are going to want that ghost load on the dimmer output. I do not know how sensitive the sense wire is, but easy enough to play with...

[frustratednon-geek]

Thanks Illusion! I think this: http://celestialaudio.com/ca_dmx_32_V2_nfet/index.html plus the I/O Link is actually perfect and would solve 2 problems at once. Part of my installation was 150' of LED strip-lights to uplight the ceiling. The whole load was over 400 watts and dimmable transformers that would work with Insteon were far too expensive, so right now the LED'S flick on & off within scenes.

 

For $300 I'd be able to dim the LED strips from the DMX board and have plenty of spare channels (there's 32!) to trigger the I/O link for the rest of the house lights...

[frustratednon-geek]

Update on the project:

 

http://celestialaudio.com 's DMX 32 board performed as-promised and was easy for a novice like me to understand. Unfortunately, b/c of a combination of clumsiness and lack of experience I cooked the 1st board by dropping a lead on it. Celestial sent me a replacement, no charge. Awesome guy.

 

Halfway through intall of 2nd board:

 

Notice the fuse blocks on the bottom of the case... There's always time to do it right the 2nd time!

 

8 months of trouble-free service

 

The EZIO6I is a POS and easily the weakest link in the system. I tried my hardest to login to the Simplehomenet device so I could de-bounce the inputs. We were getting erratic scene control because of Relay chatter. There's a setting to debounce inputs but it requires RS-232 which doesn't work with Windows 7.

 

I was able to solve this by sequencing our DMX Stage Lighting Controller so that relays open & close in serial instead of parallel/simultaneously upon scene change. It's a pain to program and I'm the only one who knows how so, time to get an ISY--I've held out long enough!!

 

Pic toward back of Church. Notice section of LEDs out (cold solder):

 

Pic toward stage: