Starcloth power and wiring help

[jpkloppers]

I'm trying to connect my starcloths (I've got three 6x6m cloths) to the LEDJ controller.

I don't know how to connect it though as the 5 pole male is different to the 5 pin DMX out on the controller. Can I rewire the cable onto a DMX plug? If so, what do I do with the 5 cables as it appears the DMX only needs 3?

[mattydj50]

I'm trying to connect my starcloths (I've got three 6x6m cloths) to the LEDJ controller.

I don't know how to connect it though as the 5 pole male is different to the 5 pin DMX out on the controller. Can I rewire the cable onto a DMX plug? If so, what do I do with the 5 cables as it appears the DMX only needs 3?

If its one of these, there are "Data 1" and "Data 2" connections to which the starcloth should be connected. This controller can then power up and run the starcloth.

The DMX connections are to connect up a DMX controller which that can then be used to control the starcloth through this unit.

https://prolight.co.uk/product/pro-l...-cw-star414243

[Excalibur]

Now here I'm in well over my head, but the controller can cope with 5 pins, and there are five cables in the loom. Parity. As far as I know, many people recommend changing to XLR connectors. Justin is the man with the knowledge on this matter, I think. Where are you lad?

[DJ Jules]

Going to back to basics for a second....

DMX - low power, low voltage data/control signal. The 3 wires have a ground reference and a positive/negative data signal. There are 3 and 5 pin variants of the connectors used due to conventions introduced by manufacturers many years ago (but in the 5 pin plug, only 3 pins are used). XLR connectors are used.

Controller output - usually 12v (but can be higher), higher power, directly lights the LED's in the starcloth. One ground connection and 3 or 4 wires that each power a chain of LED's in the starcloth.

You can't connect the cloth to the DMX connector but, as has been said, some people have changed the connector used to connect the starcloth to an XLR connector as they're somewhat easier to get hold of. Repairing the connectors isn't that hard though and there's colour coded wiring diagrams available on most DJ forums as they break all the time

Julian

[rth_discos]

That 5 pin plug looks more like the connector from an Equinox star cloth, so is likely expecting to be plugged into an Equinox controller...

[Excalibur]

That 5 pin plug looks more like the connector from an Equinox star cloth, so is likely expecting to be plugged into an Equinox controller...

Oh Dear Lord, we're about to head into MKII Kam fixture land here. As Gavin says, we're definitely not talking mix'n'match here.

[Nakatomi]

To further complicate matters, some cloths have leds powered & controlled directly from the box, and some later models have leds powered from the box but the led control is done with circuitry inside a further box within the cloth itself.

They're not interchangeable & plugging the wrong cloth into the wrong controller could result in a dead cloth, dead controller or both!

In the new style of prolight/leddj/equinox cloths they use the latter scheme I described. 24 or 28 volts dc is taken from the 5 pin output connector, then 2 signals (clock and data) are sent out from the controller to the secondary box inside the cloth.

Without knowing specifics like model numbers it's hard to advise. You might be better calling Prolight technical support

[Excalibur]

To further complicate matters, some cloths have leds powered & controlled directly from the box, and some later models have leds powered from the box but the led control is done with circuitry inside a further box within the cloth itself.

They're not interchangeable & plugging the wrong cloth into the wrong controller could result in a dead cloth, dead controller or both!

In the new style of prolight/leddj/equinox cloths they use the latter scheme I described. 24 or 28 volts dc is taken from the 5 pin output connector, then 2 signals (clock and data) are sent out from the controller to the secondary box inside the cloth.

Without knowing specifics like model numbers it's hard to advise. You might be better calling Prolight technical support

Methinks JP would be advised to let us know if he has a full set of kit from one manufacturer. Even then, as I have seen more than once, it's possible for items proclaiming to be the same model/item to actually be running on different software/voltages/hardware etc.
I think also, as Justin suggests, a call to Prolight would be a good thing.

[jpkloppers]

If its one of these, there are "Data 1" and "Data 2" connections to which the starcloth should be connected. This controller can then power up and run the starcloth.

The DMX connections are to connect up a DMX controller which that can then be used to control the starcloth through this unit.

https://prolight.co.uk/product/pro-l...-cw-star414243

This is spot on yes - I have bought this LEDj controller from ProLight. Let me see if I can get a plug to fit the Data Output port.

[jpkloppers]

Methinks JP would be advised to let us know if he has a full set of kit from one manufacturer. Even then, as I have seen more than once, it's possible for items proclaiming to be the same model/item to actually be running on different software/voltages/hardware etc.
I think also, as Justin suggests, a call to Prolight would be a good thing.

I'll give ProLight a call. I'm not sure the Cloth is from them originally. I bought it second hand. I have 3 cloths, each one 6x6 meters that I want to connect in series. It looks like they all daisy chained together. The Equinox controller looks like the right port, but I can't seem to find anyone that stocks those?