What is DMX512 and what is DMX-RDM?
Recently there have been a lot of customers asking about DMX512 and DMX-RDM fixtures, so what is the difference between them?
DMX512
DMX512 protocol is proposed by the United States Institute of Stage Lighting (USITT) a data dimming protocol, which gives a kind of lighting controller and fixture equipment communication between the protocol standard, it is called DMX 512, because it can be used to control up to 512 "channels". To better understand the term "channel", think of DMX "channels" as "colors".
So if you have an RGB light, that light will use 3 "channels" or "colors". You can control up to 170 RGB lights in a single DMX universe;
If your lights are just normal white, you can control up to 512 single color lights in a single DMX universe.
Each fixture is specifically addressed in one of the 512 universes using a DMX decoder/driver, and you can program your lighting scenes based on the DMX address assigned to each fixture.
Why do I need DMX-RDM when I have DMX512?
DMX512 is a unidirectional protocol, which means that data flows in one direction - from the console to the lights. The DMX512 protocol can only be transmitted in one direction, and in the event of a device anomaly, error messages cannot be fed back to the control system. RDM ( Remote Device Management ) is a protocol based on the normal DMX512 data standard. With the addition of RDM, the DMX512 system becomes a bidirectional system. The control system can send requests to the fixtures, the fixtures can answer these requests and the settings of the fixtures can be changed from the console. In this way, the RDM protocol allows the console to modify and monitor the DMX system in an unprecedented way. In the event of a luminaire anomaly, information about the problem is fed back instantly, allowing for two-way synchronization of luminaire management and monitoring.
Our ROKEE LIGHTING LED SPORTS LIGHT can be equipped with DMX512 or DMX-RDM Driver.
Please do not hesitate to send your project requests to rokee@rokeelighting.net