Soon I will have four lasers and I will be using ILDA over ethernet and the RJ45 in on the laser to get from my ether dreams to the lasers. I have bought a bunch of used 50m ethernet cables. But should I need a longer run, can I use an ethernet switch to connect 2 x 50m cables, or will this not work because the signal is not a network signal?
Would the better option be a 50m cable from ethernet switch to an ether dream and then another 50m cable to the laser?
Also if I have 4 Ether dreams, A net pocket artnet interface, a macbook pro and a pc laptop on the same network, am I wise to have an 8 port router assigning IP addresses in the network instead of an 8 port ethernet switch?
Hi there, I’m 99 percent sure you can just use a through connector. You would only need to boost the signal over about 108 meters as far as I understand it.
The way you have worded he question makes me think you’re looking at this the wrong way. It sounds like you’re wanting to send ILDA over a long distance from the EtherDream. You should be using cat5 to send network signal over a long distance to the EtherDream which is right next to the laser with a short ILDA jumper cable.
If you are in fact trying to extend the ILDA analog signal over a cat5 then a network switch in the middle would absolutely not work. As for connecting 2 50m cat5 together for networking it will likely work and if not you could put a cheap switch in that run to extend.
On a show network I prefer to manually set IPs. If you do use DHCP you should probably set reserved IP addresses since I think some lighting software will want a hard coded IP of the artnet node. If it somehow got assigned a new IP you would need realize that and change your settings.
If at all possible, keep the etherdream close to the projector, and run network cable for the distance runs. If that’s not possible, and you really need to run a long length of ILDA, this (from X-Laser) may be better than the heavy ILDA cable. ILDA over CAT5 Adapter Pair
This is the right way to do it. Use the ED4s as a way to convert from analog ILDA - its a shitty protocol that hates to travel far and requires 25 pins. IP is scalable, can be multiplied with a network switch, sent via fiber, point 2 point, etc. Great solution
Random tip: If you haven’t built in your ED’s yet, they’ll require external power as you’ll know. Seb advised me on this and one of the solutions was to get a 230v-12v adapter and rebuild the cable from a standard plug to a powerCON grey plug. This way you can tap power from your laser, instead of needing extra power sockets in your setup. This is how I do it now and it works like a charm, but its still a bit messy, really need to take the time to build them in.
Thought I’d share, as the need for external power was something I overlooked, and this seems like the best solution if you dont build them in and don’t want to require extra powersockets for all your lasers at a venue.
Thanks for that tip. The ether dream I have has a USB C socket for power so my plan is to get some USB power supplies and basically run them off the powerconn out of the Laser just as you suggested.
