Trouble communicating Vixen to E1.31 bridge to DMX

I

Irvin.lyons

New member
Hi I am having trouble getting my lighting system to work through Vixen. Ive got dum RGBW lights with a DMX Controller that matches and a E1.31 bridge to DMX controller that will control all the DMX controllers. I've followed The setup on how to stream sACN and through Xlights was getting my controllers to work Via Multicast. Vixen Lights is more user freindly to me and I would like to stick with this platform. My trouble is that when I setup my controllers and activate them I can not get them to light up. I do have a DMX signal showing on my E1.31 controller but it does not transmit from Vixen for some reason I've attached photos of my controller and my setups. Do I have something setup wrong? or is there something else needed for Vixen to make this work properly? Thanks in advance for whoever can help me with this.

Software:
Vixen Lights
Release: 3.6u4
Build #937

Below are photos and screenshots of the devices and settings I am using:

Devices:

41wYBm--u8L._AC_.jpg81fP4eS5C3L._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Network Settings:

2020-03-22 (1).png 2020-03-22.jpg

Patching:

2020-03-22 (3).jpg
 
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The one thing you didn't mention was the network setup.....are the components all on the same network?
 
I am currently using multicast until I can get better control of my lights. I am using my PC's ethernet port directly to my E1.31 controller which has 4 ethernet ports to connect to my DMX controllers I have configured my network on my PC like the screenshot below and my E1.31 controller settings from within its page also screenshot below.

PC settings: E1.31 settings:
2020-03-22 (9).png 2020-03-07.png
 
gateway and dns settings do noyhing for a connection straight from the pc to the bridge. why is the bridge using a trmp address?

please show the vixen e1.31 config as well.
 
Hi Martin the gateway has a temporary address different than the static one. that is the address i use to configure the gateway if thats what you were asking. as for Vixens E1.31 this is all I have for the E1.31 configuration in Vixen
2020-03-22 (11).png
 
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Does the bridge status indicate it is receiving universe data?

Please ty an experiment for me.

Switch the bridge to use its 192 address.
Switch Vixen to use unicast to send the data to the bridge.
Do you
 
Thanks for the info Martin I did switch it over to Unicast but unfortunately still no results. Only when I use Multicast do I see a DMX signal on the bridge.

Multicast Configuration
2020-03-24 (3).jpg

Unicast Configuration
2020-03-24 (4).jpg

do you know if Vixen has to have certain communication ports open through a firewall or anything like that?
 
This indicates issues with how your network is set up. Unicast should always work. If it does not then your network is not set up properly.
 
Just out of curiosity, how do you know it doesn't work? Are you running a sequence in Vixen? Using the test function in Vixen?
 
Unicast seems to definately have the problem I've tried focusing everything on getting unicast to work but no luck with Vixen or Xlights. I've followed the procedure for setup with PC giving myself a static address of 192.168.1.5, with the E1.31 address to 192.168.1.205 (I changed the E1.31 end IP from 206 to 205) both subnets match 255.255.255.0 and gateways match. My DMX device has no dipswitches it is capable of lighting up 8 separate Dumb Led strips it is supposed to be able to detect the hardware changes. Has anyone had any troubles with Network cards or had to get extra protocols to install. I feel like some small detail is missed somewhere. Here are my setups again.
E1.31 device setup.jpgPC Setup.pngUnicast Setup.jpg41wYBm--u8L._AC_.jpg81fP4eS5C3L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
 
you have the bridge ip set to .205 and Vixen pointing to .206 or did I read your post wrong?
 
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How many interfaces are active on your PC and if more than one, please show us the configuration for the other interfaces. Please show interface configs by opening a command prompt window in admin mode and typing: ipconfig /all

You should get a result like the attached image.
 

Attachments

  • ipconfig.JPG
    ipconfig.JPG
    124.9 KB · Views: 19
hi gassy yes i had wrong picture of my unicast this is the correct picture
Unicast Setup.jpg

Martin here is my networks from ipconfig


C:\Users\irvin>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DadTop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net

Ethernet adapter Multicast Vixen:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 74-86-7A-17-1D-6A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9E-2A-70-D1-70-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9E-2A-70-D1-78-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-BF-55-45-22
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1704 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9C-2A-70-D1-70-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2601:407:4100:b180::d69a(Preferred)
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, March 25, 2020 10:27:51 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, March 31, 2020 11:31:57 PM
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4cbc:d4f9:a594:30f7%20(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.10(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, March 25, 2020 10:27:33 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, April 1, 2020 4:31:55 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 94120560
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-25-83-71-9A-74-86-7A-17-1D-6A
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:558:feed::1
2001:558:feed::2
75.75.75.75
75.75.76.76
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

C:\Users\irvin>
 
This is my networks ipconfig when e1.31 is connected and with wifi disabled

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18362.720]
(c) 2019 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\irvin>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DadTop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9E-2A-70-D1-70-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9E-2A-70-D1-78-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Multicast Vixen:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 74-86-7A-17-1D-6A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4194:3b38:771c:c84a%5(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.5(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 91522682
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-25-83-71-9A-74-86-7A-17-1D-6A
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-BF-55-45-22
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.mi.comcast.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1704 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9C-2A-70-D1-70-1D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\irvin>
 
You haven't mentioned how you're testing in Vixen to know that the controllers are not lighting up your lights.
 
MikeKrebs said:
With multicast, it doesn't matter. The bridge is listening for multcast universes not looking to connect with the PC.
Click to expand...

That is correct...the comment was made when another member was trying to help him connect with unicast rather than multicast.
 
MikeKrebs said:
This bridge appears to be a multicast only device for e1.31 data. The only thing the ip address is good for is setting the parameters. I can't think of what you are missing in the Vixen config. You got the lights to work using xLights so all the physical and logical connections would appear to be working. I don't see any explanation for the leds on the bridge while it is running. Do they change when you start up Vixen?
Click to expand...

I believe your correct this is probably Multicast only. On the box it says Multicast, but I understood that to be an option. I emailed the company about the item because their literature does not specify accurately, as to whether this does Unicast or not or displaying Multicast only anywhere I hope they respond back but until then I'm going to focus everything towards Multicast option now.
 
gassy said:
Just out of curiosity, how do you know it doesn't work? Are you running a sequence in Vixen? Using the test function in Vixen?
Click to expand...

These are the test I've been using through both Multicast, Then Unicast

Multicast Vixen debug
multicast debug.jpg
Multicast Vixen dummy light testing
unicast dummy light.jpg
.
Unicast Vixen debug
unicast debug.jpg
Unicast Vixen dummy light testing
unicast dummy light.jpg
.
Also tried running sequence on both formats
2020-03-26 (3).jpg
 
In your 5th picture on the right, I see that the effects preview is off......was it turned on when you tested?
 
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