Hey,

So after trying to convince the Media Manager of my church to buy DMX cable for our 16 new Par64's, he bought regular XLR cable instead.

I've read about XLR cable causing glitches, what kind of glitches should I expect?


Thanks,

for traditional pars you may expierence perhaps flickering or some faders not responding right away. But it also depends on how long the cable run is. it could work great or it could not work great. you'll just have to wait and find out. sincerely,

Alright, thanks. If we have any flickering or glitches of any type, I'll be sure to bug the Media Manager on a poor decision

Actually, I wouldn't mind having some flickering in the lights, maybe then he'll listen to me

The run is about 120ft.

hmmm just pars? is it terminated?

Yes.

No, not currently atleast. We just have the DMX cable going out the back of the board and into the current 2 dimmer packs (4ch each). After the new lights are in place, it'll be running through 4 dimmer packs(4ch each). So we're currently not terminated, and unless I can get the Media Manager to listen to me, we might not be after we get the new lights.

Well, while the cabling issue is a slightly expensive deal, the DMX terminator is not and should not be left out. They can be easy to forget, but they are a very inexpensive spec into a rig, and can possible save a headache later down the 'line'...haha get it?..'line', as in DMX line... OK, sorry.

DMX terminators are just one of those things you use, but never really know if they're working or not (unless you're having problems, add a terminator and the problems cease).

Here is another good question about dmx 512 cable and regular mike cabel.
From what I found out about xlr cables.

Impedence on mike cabel is 90 ohms
Impedence on dmx cabel is 120 ohms

If you make a terminator for regular mike cabel should you use a 90 ohm or a 120 ohm resistor ???

And for dmx cabel you should use 120 ohm resistor correct ?

Perhaps, but the fact that the cable has the wrong impedance for carrying the DMX 512 signal pretty much outweighs the use of the terminator anyway. A terminator on an XLR cable may not end up helping anything at all because the cable could be causing the problems anyway. A terminator on a mic cable may be useless, but cheap enough to try.

You also have to use the correct wattage or the resistor that is soldered into the terminator.