The following is not electrical advice. Please contact a qualified electrician if you have questions!
People often ask what the difference is between SPT1 and SPT2 wire. The main differences would be the thickness of the wire/insulation and the amount of amperage it can handle.
Generally speaking, SPT1 wire can handle 7amps, while SPT2 can handle 10amps. The thickness of the insulation will come into play as well for weather related purposes.
You can, but it requires some help. You need to use the LOR iDMX1000 in order to run DMX from the Showtime Director. Why? The iDMX takes the LOR signal and turns it into DMX signals. Prior to the LOR software being able to support DMX adapters, this was required for computer run shows as well.
You have a G3 board.
LOR was going to call the new controllers Gen2. However, the software was at S3 so they thought it would be good to get things in sync and have G3 controllers and S3 software.
Unfortunately the silkscreen on the green cards reads the original name for the card “CTB16PCG2” because of an oversight.
To quote LightORamaJohn in a post he made on the forums.
The board you are talking about is a g3 controller. These CTB16PC boards are marked “CTB16PCG2 – V4” which refers to the circuit board rev level. The main differences from the previous generation are faster processors, higher current accessory power supplies, ghost loads and much better zero cross detection — obviously we also moved to surface mount technology to keep the price stable. Additionally, the firmware has been upgraded to support LED curves. We decided to call these g3 since there have been a few generations of the original PC controllers. We should have changed the silk-screening to avoid confusion. Sorry about that. The picture attached is a g3 CTB16PC.
The Light-O-Rama environment has many parts that need to work together or else you do not have any control of your display. This LOR Troubleshooting Guide is intended to help you methodically track down where the problem might be, and how you can resolve the issue.
The LOR Software has to be able to talk to the controllers somehow. To do so, LOR uses a USB adapter that converts the lighting commands into the RS485 protocol. These USB adapters (connectors) use the COM ports on your computers. While this is somewhat technical in nature, just know that one function of a COM port is communication.
Like every other piece of hardware or software to attach or install to your computer, it need a driver in order to work correctly. If you have never installed the drivers for your USB adapters, then you should do so right now. You can download the drivers here.
The easiest way to troubleshoot a COM port issue is to use a single controller, connect it to the USB adapter, and see if you can talk to it via the LOR Hardware Utility.
Before you do that you should open the Windows Device Manager, and with your USB Adapter connected make sure that you see something similar to the image. You should have “USB Serial Port (COM#) where # equals a number. If it doesn’t say that, then go back and re-install the USB drivers.
Notice in the example here it says “COM4”? This will come in handy when we get to the Hardware Utility. You will want to make sure that you have COM4 selected on the left hand side of the HWU.
For more help on troubleshooting COM port errors, please see our Clear COM Port Errors page.
Ready to get started with S3? Want more help? Take a look at these video tutorials from Light-O-Rama.
Looking for more help getting started with the new S3 program? Bob, who works at Light-O-Rama posted the following content in the forums.
The contents of the post, as of 10/18/2011 are posted below. You might want to check the post to see if it has been updated.
When working with the Light-O-Rama system, it is very important to use a common ‘language’ when discussion various aspects of the software. For example, “Control Panel” is a term used to define part of the LOR Software. However, it’s also used in the Windows world. This article is an attempt to define the terms within the scope of the LOR software and hardware environment.
Most likely, the only cable that you will see that is NOT Data Cable is a wire that is intended specifically for phones. If you go to the local Hardware Store and purchase a phone extension cable then that wire it is NOT a Data Cable The distinction between Data Cable and Phone Cable is important because the wires are swapped in a phone cable. There are selectors, jumpers or jacks on most Light-O-Rama controllers that allow you to choose the correct wire type.
Only the wire coming into a controller (from the previous controller or show source) is used to determine the selector settings. The wire leaving a controller (if there is one) can be of any type and has no bearing on the cable selection. For example: If you have a Phone Cable in and a Data Cable out then set the Unit for Phone Cable.
A show is a file that contains a number of Sequences and the order in which they should be played. Shows are created using the Show Editor program.
Depending on the version of the LOR Software that you are running various tabs/sections are available for use. In the Advanced version you have:
Let’s say you create a show, and call it “Show 01.” Within this show, any or all of the tabs/sections can be filled in. In other words, they could all be used for that “show.”
