Communication - DMX512 TX

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Plugin details

Type: Communication

Name: DMX512 TX

Status ESP32: COLLECTION

Status ESP8266: COLLECTION

GitHub: P054_DMX512.ino

Maintainer: .

Used libraries: .

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Description

For controlling DMX512 equipment, this plugin can be used for sending commands to a DMX bus. As an ESP only has a 5V compatible serial interface, usually a RS485 or DMX converter is needed to connect to the DMX bus.

This plugin can only send out commands to the DMX bus, no receiving or recording features are available.

Configuration

../_images/P054_DeviceConfiguration.png

  • Name In the Name field a unique name should be entered.

  • Enabled When unchecked the plugin is not enabled.

Actuator

See: Serial Helper configuration

Warning

The selected serial port must use on-ESP GPIO pins, as the DMX protocol has some specific coding that is not supported by regular serial chips, and is implemented by directly interacting with the ESP TX pin.

Example selection list (taken from an ESP32-C6 configuration):

../_images/P054_SerialPortOptions.png

  • HW Serial0: First serial port, usually also in use for the serial log, so should best be avoided.

  • HW Serial1: Secondary serial port. Selected as the default, and required to be used on ESP8266.

  • HW Serial2: (Not available on an ESP32-C6, but is available on some other ESP32 models) Can be used.

  • SW Serial: Can be tried, and used if working as intended, but should better be avoided because of the high serial speed (250000 baud).

  • USB HWCDC: Can not be used.

  • USB CDC: Can not be used.

  • I2C Serial: Can not be used.

Device Settings

  • Channels: The number of DMX channels to be used. Determines the size of a memory buffer. Keep as small as possible, especially on ESP8266, where available memory can be limited.

Commands available

Command Syntax

Extra information
dmx,log
List the current content of the send-buffer to the log.
dmx,test
Fills the send-buffer with random data and sends that to the connected devices.
dmx,on
Fills the send-buffer all '255' values and sends that to the connected devices to turn everthing on.
dmx,off
Fills the send-buffer all '0' values and sends that to the connected devices to turn everthing off.
dmx,<channel>=<value>[,<value>[,<channel>=<value>]]
channel: Channel number from 1 .. Channels set in the configuration.
value: Numeric value between 0 and 255 (inclusive) to set for the channel.
Fills the send-buffer given value(s) for the channel and sends that to the connected devices.
If no channel is used with a value, it is set for the next channel. The channel is initially set to 1.
Multiple values, optionally with a channel prefixed, can be provided and will be processed until no more data is found.
Also, other subcommands (not including dmx) can be used, f.e. setting up some channel data and adding a ,log at the end to list the current buffer content to the log output.

Change log

Changed in version 2.0: …

added 2024-09-29: Add selection for Serial port and GPIO on ESP32.

added Major overhaul for 2.0 release.

Added in version 1.0: …

added Initial release version.