Isolated DMX repeater/splitter

[Trepidati0n]

I am currently a dozen or so hours away from finishing up an isolated DMX repeater/splitter.  The reason I want this is that I will be having between 12-16 lynx boxes on the roof, in the house, both sides of the driveway, and more in the further front of the yard.  This will allow me to keep zones and thus simplify wiring and I don't have to think to hard how to chain the Lynx boxes.

Basic specifications are:

1.  5.0 Vdc (1 Amp) input - This would be from a small switched mode wall supply (like the one at sparkfun).

2.  RJ45 input.  While some people may cry for XLR5 (or 3), this is for DIY.  I am also not intending this unit to be outside in the elements or for commercial use.  It is intended to be right next to the Enttec box.

3.  Five isolated outputs (1 input + 5 outputs = 6 socket plate) with RJ45 jacks.  The reason for 5 is that the nice wall supply I found handles 5 outputs nicely and this also keeps 6 total jacks on the board making it square. Sorta like me. 

4.  Status indicators for power/comms.

5.  Install as many channels as needed.  Since the output stage is basically mirrored copied, you don't have to install all 5.

6.  Estimated costs would be around $60 for parts, PCB, and enclosure in low volumes (like QTY 1).  Might be as low as $40 in QTY's of 25 or so. This would be a through hole and SMT design to keep costs down.  However, the SMT devices are fairly large pitch.  If I would run a coop it would be billed out as PCB + Core & # of output channels.

NOTE: This just REPEATS the DMX signal.  It is not a multi-universe module.

[RJ]

Cool!   

[wbuehler]

Nice

Bill

[Trepidati0n]

Good news...I got further on the design.

Bad news, the price is going up.  As much as I wanted to drive cost out of the project it was becoming an animal I didn't want to deal with.  Cost is nice... but cost at the expense of simplicity (especially with home projects) is a very poor trade.  The price will be about $80 for 5 isolated channels.

[Aussiephil]

I suppose ultimately as the displays get more complex, channel counts go up then the requirements for items like repeater splitters will increase. If the cost of the DIY solution is well under the price of the off the shelf product then the actual dollar value is of less importance.

phil

[scharbon]

Hey Trep,
   Thought I would bump this and see how it's going?  I don't need a splitter this year and probably not next year either, but I will need one for the year after that.
Steve   

[RJ]

One question I have had in the past when ever this come up is:

Why do you need an isolated Repeator?  Most of the dongles we use are isolated. (Lynx,Enttec pro) You can build a repeater for $3 - $4. to split or extend the number of units you can run. In fact the reality is if you are using the more modern chips on your transmitter and recievers like the ST485EBN then you can run 256 units on a DMX chain in theory. This is one of the reasons I spend the extra $1 or so on these in my equipment. Now that they have dropped it we are having to use the ST485BN which drops this to 64 units. But that is still a lot of units. Even with nothing but SSR4 4 channel controllers this is 256 channels.

If it is for easy of layout of you daisy chain a simple repeater without the isolation would work very cheaply.

If you have a need for one I am glad you guys are on the ball and have one I just want everyone to know what they need and when.

RJ

I also have a design for a DMX isolator similar to this one that costs about $20 in parts, not including PC board, enclosure, or 12vdc wall-wart power supply.
It is 1 isolated input and 4 outputs.  I came up with it because I plan on running my DMX controllers out in the yard in enclosed weatherproof boxes with the PC running the show in the house and I wanted the isolation from the devices to the PC.
My design does not use RJ45 connectors, but 3 pin Phoenix type headers for wire connections instead, but I suppose if a PCB is done I could put options for mounting either
Is there any interest in this?
RPM

[RJ]

RJ,

This device came about for me because I am currently using the Enttec Open adaptor which has no isolation.
I have the Enttec Pro adaptor, but there is no support for these in Vixen 1.1.11 and I won't run Vixen 2 until it is stable on my system even though it has support for the Enttec Pro adaptor.

I'm just offering my designs to others who may have a need for them.

RPM

Gotcha, then yes I would see a benifit to adding isolation in your case.

For people with a Lynx or Pro Dongle something this simple will do the job as a repeater. The parts cost about $3.50.


RJ
 

[David_AVD]

Sorry to drag up and old thread but...

Would there be any group interest in a 8 port DMX splitter with isolated outputs?

[David_AVD]

So no interest at all in an isolated DMX splitter? 

[rrowan]

So no interest at all in an isolated DMX splitter? 

Nope

We have a splitter, the LE has a built in splitter and the wireless gets away from needing one.

Cheers

Rick R.