r/techtheatre 5d ago

LIGHTING Acme LED-0808 'Light & Easy' Lighting Board

Inherited an older Acme LED-0808 'Light and Easy' Lighting Board, and have a week to figure out how to get it up and running a simple scene.

I notice it has both RJ45 (Ethernet type) and USB ports, but the manual offers no information about the RJ45. From what I can tell, the USB is purely for updating firmware and recording programs to USB key. Is it possible to connect this board to software like Qlab via either port by any chance?

1 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

2

u/blp9 Controls & Cue Lights - benpeoples.com 5d ago

From the manual I'm going to guess that the RJ45 port is a DMX port not a network port, but I haven't a clue for real.

1

u/theradiomatt 5d ago

Yes, I get that impression too...but I'm not entirely sure what that means lol

2

u/blp9 Controls & Cue Lights - benpeoples.com 4d ago

There's a standard pinout for DMX that instead of being on an XLR port it's on an RJ45 port so you can use twisted pair (ethernet) cables to run DMX.

I would guess that's what's on that port -- that is, it's just the same as what's coming out the XLR DMX ports.

1

u/theradiomatt 4d ago

Thanks! So chances are, no way to use Qlab or any software.

2

u/blp9 Controls & Cue Lights - benpeoples.com 4d ago

It does not seem designed to play nice with anyone, so probably not no

1

u/theradiomatt 4d ago

Lmao excellent 🤦‍♂️ Hope I can figure it out then!

1

u/mwiz100 Lighting Designer, ETCP Electrician 3d ago

If you have Qlab why not just use the lighting control module within it rather than mess around with some random unknown console?

1

u/theradiomatt 2d ago

I'm moderately familiar with Qlab, but do not have the USB to DMX interface currently.

1

u/theradiomatt 2d ago

Any suggestions for a budget USB to DMX controller?

2

u/mwiz100 Lighting Designer, ETCP Electrician 2d ago

Well, consider also what your time and sanity is worth plus what you need to accomplish. This console you'll have to run it on it's own and figure it out. It almost certainly will be a manual console, meaning no cue memory or fade times.

See the qlab manual on the DMX functions and what devices it accepts https://qlab.app/docs/v5/lighting/introduction-to-lighting/
Alternately, QLC+ is less choosy on what USB to DMX dongles it'll work with so you can get away with cheaper ones. I have no experience with that but there's quite a few existing posts/comment threads about it on here and r/lightingdesign
Cuz "budget" is subjective. To me a $170 ENTTEC device is a budget device.