User Manual

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ToughPAR 1 Manual Rev. A Copyright (c) 2011 Blizzard Lighting, LLC
Cable Connectors
Cables must have a male XLR connector on one end and a female XLR
connector on the other end. (Duh!)
CAUTION: Do not allow contact between the common and the fi x-
ture’s chassis ground. Grounding the common can cause a ground
loop, and your fi xture may perform erratically. Test cables with an
ohm meter to verify correct polarity and to make sure the pins are not
grounded or shorted to the shield or each other.
3-Pin??? 5-Pin??? Huh?!?
If you use a controller with a 5 pin DMX output connector, you will need to use a 5 pin to 3 pin adapter.
They are widely available over the internet and from specialty retailers If you’d like to build your own, the
chart below details a proper cable conversion:
Conductor 3-Pin Female
(Output)
5-Pin Male
(Input)
Ground/Shield Pin 1 Pin 1
DMX Data (-) Pin 2 Pin 2
DMX Data (+) Pin 3 Pin 3
Not Used. No Connection. No Connection.
Not Used. No Connection. No Connection.
Take It To The Next Level: Setting Up DMX Control
Step 1: Connect the male connector of the
DMX cable to the female connector (output)
on the controller.
Step 2: Connect the female connector of the
DMX cable to the fi rst fi xture’s male connec-
tor (input). Note: It doesn’t matter which
fi xture address is the fi rst one connected.
We recommend connecting the fi xtures in
terms of their proximity to the controller,
rather than connecting the lowest fi xture
number fi rst, and so on.
Step 3: Connect other fi xtures in the chain
from output to input as above. Place a DMX
terminator on the output of the fi nal fi xture
to ensure best communication.
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ToughPAR 1 Manual Rev. A Copyright (c) 2011 Blizzard Lighting, LLC
The ID Address Feature
The ID Address feature available on the ToughPAR 1 is a powerful tool which
when utilized gives you the capability to control up to 64 fi xtures set to the
same DMX address either as one fi xture, or independently. This effectively in-
creases the number of ToughPARs available in 1 DMX universe from 56 to 3,584
in 56 groups of 64 ID addressed fi xtures. Whoa!
For instance, in an environment with 12 ToughPAR 1s grouped together into two
separate master groups of 6 fi xtures each:
Group 1’s fi xtures are set to DMX address 1. Group 2’s fi xtures are set 9 ad-
dresses higher, at DMX address 10. Each group’s fi xtures are set to different
ID addresses using the fi xture’s 9th channel. This gives the user independent
control over each fi xture as long as each DMX message includes a different ID
address (channel 9) value.
For instance, if we wanted to change the green value of only fi xture ID 2 of
group 1, we would change DMX channel 3 while channel 9 was set to “2.”
Similarly, if we wanted to adjust the green value of fi xture ID 5 of group 1, we
would change DMX channel 3 while channel 9 was set to “5.”
If we wanted to change the green value of fi xture ID 2 of group 2, we would
change DMX channel 12 while channel 18 was set to “2.” (The 3rd channel is
green; since fi xture group 2 starts with DMX channel 10, green is channel 12).
If we wanted to change the green value of ALL of group 1, we would adjust
channel 3 while channel 9 was set to “0.” Similarly if we wanted to adjust the
green value of ALL of group 2, we would adjust channel 12 while channel 18
was set to “0.”