No dimmer channel. Help!

Ask a generic question about the usage of QLC+, not related to a particular operating system
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a7432
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:31 pm
Real Name: Andrew

Hello!

I have probably a super basic question that I haven’t been able to find an answer for. I’m running 4 Chauvet ColorBand light bars which have no dimmer channel for the 18 and 36 channel modes. Currently it looks like my best solution is to create a submaster slider, but I was wondering if I could solve this in the fixture definition editor. If I were to try and create a new definition for this fixture that included RGB control over all 12 LEDs, as well as dimmer control, would this be possible? I suppose I’m wondering if it is okay to create 37 channels on a fixture that only comes preset with a 36 channel maximum. Can the fixture handle this or would this cause it to malfunction?

Bear with me here, as I have a very new understanding of DMX.

Thanks!
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GGGss
Posts: 3052
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:15 pm
Location: Belgium
Real Name: Fredje Gallon

If no (master) dimmer channel is present - you are in trouble... and have to be creative (submaster can help)
Creating a 37th channel won't change anything. It simply won't be looked at.
All electric machines work on smoke... when the smoke escapes... they don't work anymore
etchonmind
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 12:12 am
Real Name: Oliver Keller

Adding a channel to a fixture definition is somewhere between useless and dangerous :)

Look at the channels of a fixture hardware as receivers. Look at the channels of a fixture defintion in QLC+ as senders. If there are 36 receivers, it´s nice if QLC+ sends on a 37th channel, but no one is listening - hopefully.

Now, if you set your first bar to DMX1, it will listen to channels 1-36 in 36 channel mode. If you add another hardware bar and would most likely set it to DMX37, listening on channels 37-72, suddenly what you send on channel 37 is received, but not by whom you expect. I would assume the first LED of the second bar to do something funny in red in our example. Setting the second bar to a start address of 38 would stop that erratic behaviour, but then again nobody listens on ch37, so why bother sending something from QLC+-

Hope this helps :)
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