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Old December 13th, 2016   #2
sblair
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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Welcome!

Both ends have to support RDM. You have to have support for it in both the controller and in the device for it to work. Additionally, if you have any DMX Splitters in-line they also have to have RDM support as well.

There really isn't any easy way to add RDM to a device that doesn't support it. Wybron used to make a product called the "Dog Bone" that was basically a small microprocessor that plugged into a socket in place of commonly used RS485 receiver chips to add limited RDM functionality. Wybron went out of business though and I'm not sure of anyone else making anything similar.

RDM doesn't require any special hardware for a fixture, it just requires support for it in the firmware. The best thing to do is always to let manufacturers know that RDM-support is a factor in your purchasing decisions.

In your specific case, you've got a DMX decoder that does support RDM, so presumably that would let you set starting address and maybe a few other parameters. But, that is just converting the DMX signal to 0-24V to drive the LED strips. There really is no intelligence beyond the output of the DMX decoder since it is just analog drive. All the intelligence is located in the DMX decoder which is where the RDM support is actually needed. There is no logic or intelligence in the analog LED strips that you would be able to get any info back from anyway.
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Scott M. Blair
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