entec-open-usb-dmx not responding?

Hi 😃 I’ve finally got my simply lighting console code to the point where I can test it with an actual device, so I got the entec-open-usb-dmx… of course now I’m having difficulty either connecting or getting anything out of it, so I’m hoping I can work with you to do some testing… I’m on a macbook air, osx 10.11.6, using the latest git version of your code. The device shows up as /dev/cu.usbserial-AL00DG7I It works fine using JV Lightning controller, just as a test, so I know the hardware side works fine…

Starting the app with var universe = dmx.addUniverse('demo', 'enttec-open-usb-dmx', '/dev/cu.usbserial-AL00DG7I'); yields a quiet (ie. no error log) startup, but I get no response from the device (an LED par), and it indicates it’s not receiving any DMX signal.

At this point I’m not certain whether I should be looking at the system or node serial driver, or the specific enttec-open-usb-dmx driver code.

I did a test where I downloaded a fresh git copy, did npm install to get required packages, updated the addUniverse line to specify the “/dev/cu.usbserial-AL00DG7I” device in demo_simple.js, and ran it. It appeared to function without error (ie. toggled ‘on/off’ in console) but did not register a proper DMX signal with the light, nor did I get any reaction from it…

I discovered some chatter online about ElCapitan conflicting in some way with FTDI drivers??? That’s way outside my knowledge base, but I tried a couple of the suggestions to no avail… I’m not sure if that’s a red herring, or in fact what I’m up against and should continue… The fact that the device works perfectly with different software and no system modifications suggests that maybe there isn’t a conflict after all, but maybe I’m mis-interpreting…?

I also note that deejbee above is using totally different code to init the device: self.dev = new FTDI.FtdiDevice(device_id) and I’m not sure if perhaps I should be trying something like that as well…?

Anyway - thanks for a great package, and if you have any ideas that might point me in a direction to test, I’d be happy to be your remote tester 😃 Thanks and happy new year! David

[kfstudio]

Hi,

I have same problem, so no signal go out of device. It’s a soft issue but we can resolve by hardware. The rts pin is not controlled well (stay low in my case), so i cut between the rts of the FT232RL (pin 3) and the pin 3 of the 75176B, and connect the pin 3 to the pin 8 of the 75176B. That solve my problem.

There is also a bug in config of serial port, but i do a pull request for that !

[wiedi]

Indeed that was the issue. I’m happy to report that with f27a9c9ea08d648c823ae616bf8ab1941278eb8a the entec-open-usb-dmx is finally somewhat usable.

In my testing there are still sometimes tiny issues, but overall this seems to work pretty ok now.