RDM Master UID assignment question

[berntd]

Hello

Can I make all the RDM masters of a certain type of product/ model have the same UID?

I am just wondering because there can only ever be one master on the bus so it should not matter.

Opinions?

Best regards
bernt

[sblair]

Bernt,

I'm not aware of anywhere that this should cause something to break. Worst case would be if you are connecting to some type of clever system that does something specific when it sees a controller change, i.e. someone flipping a Priamry/Backup switch on the console.

There is nothing defined in RDM itself that would be affected.

Where it WILL be an issue is if this RDM Master is going to connect to an E1.33 network in the future!

[ericthegeek]

Can I make all the RDM masters of a certain type of product/ model have the same UID?


Doing this would violate section 5.1 of the RDM standard which requires that "The 32-bit device ID shall be unique throughout all products manufactured under a specific Manufacturer ID..."

It's also a bad idea. It will probably work most of the time, but could cause problems in systems that have multi-port proxies, mergers, or multi-port responders.

[berntd]

Hello and thanks.

I was only considering it becaue the actual assignment of the UID is a process which our manufacturers struggle with and it is easy to get it wrong or not do it alltogther.


Regards
Bernt

[ericthegeek]

There are lots of ways to assign UIDs to your RDM devices.

Most EPROM and Device programmers offer a serialization feature that can put a unique serial number into non-volatile memory at the same time it burns the firmware.

You can also implement a manufacturer specific "Set UID" PID and set the UID after the device is fully assembled. This can be done manually, but it's also possible to use a batch file or shell script.

Finally, there are inexpensive serial number ICs available that connect to your system via an I2C or one-wire bus.