# 4-pin DMX?



## brinkkl2000 (Mar 31, 2017)

Hi all, I am kind of a novice in the lighting field and am just trying to increase my knowledge of pretty much everything lighting related. I don't have many people to go to, so forums have been an immense help so far. I am the lead lighting tech at my church and am trying to "freshen" up the rig. My question pertains to some old lights I found. We aren't necessarily budgeting a lot of money into lighting right now, so I am trying to bring some of the old fixtures back to life.

Anyway, I found some old Nexxera Wybron Wash lights upstairs. I was going to hook one up to see how it works and found that the scroller requires a 4 pin input/ output. I have only been familiar with 3 and 5 pin to this point. How do I hook this up. We are running an etc ion board.


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## techieman33 (Mar 31, 2017)

That's not DMX cable. You should have a power supply somewhere for the scrollers. The DMX cable goes into that. And then the 4 pin cable comes out of that and carries power and data to the scrollers.


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## RideTheSquirrel (Mar 31, 2017)

The 4 pin cables carry power, and also are used in a com application with a microphone/headset.


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## brinkkl2000 (Mar 31, 2017)

techieman33 said:


> That's not DMX cable. You should have a power supply somewhere for the scrollers. The DMX cable goes into that. And then the 4 pin cable comes out of that and carries power and data to the scrollers.



So, are you saying there is a separate "box" for lack of a better term that the dmx cable goes into, and then a different scroller wire comes out of the box to the fixture?


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## microstar (Mar 31, 2017)

Here is the instruction manual:
http://www.wybron.com/stage-lightin...user-manuals/discontinued/NexeraLX_manual.pdf


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## Amiers (Mar 31, 2017)

brinkkl2000 said:


> So, are you saying there is a separate "box" for lack of a better term that the dmx cable goes into, and then a different scroller wire comes out of the box to the fixture?


Yes


Manual, In case you haven't found that as well.

http://www.wybron.com/stage-lightin...user-manuals/discontinued/OldNexeraManual.pdf


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## derekleffew (Mar 31, 2017)

That's correct. The "box" is properly called a Wybron RAM power supply.

From Nexera User Manual-Wybron.pdf :



The 4-pin "scroller" or "RAM" cable carries data (DMX or proprietary) on pins 2&3, and 24vdc power on pins 1&4. See the thread https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/4-pin-scroller-cable-rules.20437/ for more.


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## porkchop (Mar 31, 2017)

And now you know why I always buy 4 or 6 pin XLR connectors for custom cable assemblies.


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## Lightguy5 (Mar 31, 2017)

Now I'm curious, why would it not be compatible with the Forerunner power supply?


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## derekleffew (Mar 31, 2017)

See post https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/coloram-power-supply-with-rosco-i-cue.19343/#post-176306 .

And/or:

derekleffew said:


> ...
> The pin-out for Wybron PS power supplies, for use with "the NexeraLX and the Forerunner, as well as all new InfoTrace products: Coloram IT, CXI IT, Eclipse IT, and Eclipse II IT" is as follows:
> XLR Pin # Wire Color Function Size
> 1 White Ground 14 AWG
> ...


Notice pins 1&4--although wire colors are the same, polarity is reversed.


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## RonHebbard (Apr 1, 2017)

techieman33 said:


> That's not DMX cable. You should have a power supply somewhere for the scrollers. The DMX cable goes into that. And then the 4 pin cable comes out of that and carries power and data to the scrollers.


Also realize that the scroller power supply needs to have it's line cord sourced from a constant source of 120 volt 60 Hertz power and definitely not from the output of a dimmer regardless of if the dimmer is set at full / 100%. 
Repeating and rephrasing: The scrolller power supply's input power MUST be sourced directly from a normal (undimmed) receptacle or a dedicated "non-dim" source providing unblemished pure sine wave power at full or zero with no possible variations in between. Yes, I realize that's a wordy oversimplification but it's the best this blind guy's taking the time to type for you at 1:37 a.m. my time.
All the best. 
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.


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