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Thread: Martin Roboscans / Reverse Phase plug / Dipswitch setting problem.

  1. #1

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    Default Martin Roboscans / Reverse Phase plug / Dipswitch setting problem.

    Hello all. A newbie here but also an oldie in some ways. I am about to get back into the world of DJing and mobile discos. I recently acquired some Martin Roboscan 812s very cheaply. They were too cheap to let go although their condition is reflected in the price, but they all 'seem' to work exactly as they should ... individually! There are three of them, plus a controller.

    I used to have four of these years ago and I'm sure I remember DMXing them all together, all without a controller and without any problem. Suddenly, I find myself scratching my head as what to do in order to get these all synced properly. I have the manual and it looks like I have got all the dip switches set correctly. I was told by a friend that I definitely need to use the controller and that there is no way that they will all sync up unless I a) use the controller, and b) get a reverse phase plug. I never had this problem years ago, so I guess these are different models.


    My questions are:

    Where do I get a reverse phase plug? (Do I even need to buy one? Perhaps I can make one myself if it's a simple case of reversing the two signal cables.)

    Does anybody know of a general guide as to the correct dipswitch settings I should be using in order to get them synced? They don't sync at all when I set them according to the manual. I have seen a few contradictory articles about how the dispwitches should be set, but nothing works.


    Thanks for any advice.

  2. #2
    Imagine's Avatar
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    I've never owned these beasts (I don't know why). I might have to have a little scout around FleaBay when I'm more awake to see if I can make use of some

    From what I've read around the inter web though....

    For "standalone" mode, dip switch 3 appears to be the one you need, but set it BEFORE powering on.

    Having said that, I've just read the manual at https://www.manualslib.com/manual/88...12.html#manual and after a 9 hour shift, it's just made my eyes glaze over! Oh BOY that manual seems to be complicated (and yes it does say about using a reverse cable thingy for serial mode with a diagram). Seems a little overcomplicated to me at this time of night

    I'll have another look tomorrow once my brain's in a better state of awareness

  3. #3
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Right, let me start by saying I have no first hand experience of these beasts, but: Martin always used a different pin wiring to everyone else, which is the " reverse" part. Basically, if you aren't using a Martin controller to drive them, you use a reverser on the output of your controller of choice.

    I'd expect that if you set the first unit as Master ( ie standalone setup, which from my manual found online is 1,2,10 ON for sound trigger, or 2,10 for Auto ) it should control the rest if you daisy chain them. No reversers needed anywhere.

    Alternatively, get a simple controller of over five channels, set all units the same, use the reverser on its output, and with a bit of luck, they'll all respond identically.

    Hope this helps, it's not my area of expertise.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  4. #4

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    Thanks for this.

    What a weird setup with these Roboscans. You can seen why I became so confused. (It might not take much for me though!) The daisy chain sequence of cabling is one of the best things to have come along for DJs, so why the complications with Roboscans I have no idea. I'll be investing in a lighting controller or two at some point, but not yet. Got to get some pennies rolling in first.

    There were some reverse phase plugs on Ebay not so long ago but not anymore. But then, you never see all the listings on Ebay. I need to keep checking. My other half and I can both be searching for the same thing on Ebay and we can often get totally different results. This has got to be why my listing only receive work at certain times, i.e. when they are actually being shown on Ebay. I may be wrong but I'm sure that lower selling users are shoved to the back of the queue. Anyway, that's another grumble.

    Right ... the problem may be solved. I just rather cheekily phoned a sound and lighting specialist and asked. I have already done this and to no avail! So I contacted a different specialist this time and I was told that I only have to reverse pins 1 and 2 at one end of the first plug in the chain, i.e. the one leaving the Martin controller. There are no special components required. Just flip the wiring! This is plain weird. The guy seemed to know what he was talking about too. I'll give it a go.

    Thanks again.

  5. #5
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Good old CPC


    Found some on Ebay, but link not working, I''m on Tablet
    Last edited by Excalibur; 07-06-2021 at 12:09 PM.
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

    www.excaliburmobiledisco.co.uk

  6. #6

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    I never had 812s but I did have a load of 218s and 518s. You're looking at units that were designed roughly 25 years ago when different manufacturers were using their own competing protocols before DMX was 100% standardised globally as the main control protocol. So Martin had it set up for their protocol which used RS485 which somehow meant that the phase reverse was needed for DMX use of the fixtures.

    Quite simply, you literally just need to swap pins 2 and 3 at one end of a cable. I have several short 'jumper' cables with XLR connectors with the wires crossed over in one end. I tend to put these in the DMX line immediately before the first phase reversed fixture so you can use standard DMX through other lights until you get to the first old Martin light. You'll need another swapped cable after the last old Martin light if you'll be continuing the DMX chain through other fixtures.

    More modern Martin lights use standard DMX phasing, but I've still got some old Robocolor Pro400s that see occasional use, mainly on mirror balls for which they're perfect and I have to remember to use swapped DMX cables.

    Regarding the stand-alone and DIP switches, as has already been mentioned you need to set the DIP switches BEFORE turning the units on. And beware that the switches can be temperamental so sometimes need flicking on and off a few times. But the main thing to note is that the auto programmes on early Martin lights were generally fairly rubbish, so you may have to bite the bullet and get a suitable controller and learn some programming. If you want an auto show from kit of that era you'd do much better with something from Abstract.

    And lastly, I've got a friend who's got loads of 812s, Minimacs, MAC250s etc if anyone else wants to source some!

  7. #7

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    Thanks you for a very thorough reply SP. This is hugely appreciated.

    I have the appropriate Martin controller so I should (hopefully) be able to get everything up and running by the end of the week. I'm having a couple of days away from cabling and testing now but I will report back once I can say yay or nay on the success of getting these Roboscans all synced and working properly.

    I should have added that they all work fine on their own, but after changing some of the dip switches (incorrectly) I found that each unit needed time to recover before it returned to normal. This is why I mentioned the possibility of damaging the units should I have got the dip switches set incorrectly, but the advice I got from the lighting specialist this morning said that it was not possible to damage Roboscans in this way. I hope I don't prove him wrong.

    More soon.

  8. #8

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    You're welcome.

    From memory if you've got one of the early controllers like a 2308 you won't need a swapped cable as the output from the controller is already swapped.

    By 'needed time to recover' do you mean that the lamp had gone off and took a couple of minutes to restrike? If so that's a feature of discharge lamps, they were referred to as cold restrike (hot restrike became available later) meaning the lamp had to cool a little before it was happy to light up again. Not quite sure what you'll have done with the DIP switches to force the lamp off but if it's an old lamp it may have nothing to do with settings and could just be that they can get intermittent. Worth watching out for.

  9. #9

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    Good advice there. Thanks for that Storm. I've forgotten so much about this stuff. It's all gradually coming back to me.

  10. #10

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    The cable construction began in earnest today. It's been a long time since I soldered up XLR cables and after a rusty start I got some speed up and it's become quite a production line. I'm quite experienced in the soldering department and use a meter to check for continuity, etc.

    I made a reverse phase cable for the Roboscans, simply swapping the wires on pins 2 and 3 at one end. But no matter what I did, using the controller and not using the controller, which is a 2510 by the way. The Roboscans would not sync up. I tried all the dip switch configurations suggested by the images on the end of the units themselves but still nothing. I had another look at the pdf manual but that just confuses me even more.

    All units work perfectly well by themselves.

    I really am at a loss to know what to do and I see posts on other forums where people have also had the same problems. Probably best to draw a line under this soon but one last post in case somebody out there knows the correct dip switch configurations, etc.

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