Gilderfluke&Co Z-Brick User Manual

GILDERFLUKE & CO .• 205 SOUTH FLOWER STREET • BURBANK , CALIFORNIA 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • FAX [phone]

E

AST COAST /FLORIDA O FFICE • 7041 GRAND NATIONAL DRIVE • SUITE 128d • ORLANDO , FL. 32819 • 407/354-5954 • FAX [phone]

Z-Brick

Printed April 25, 2002

0123

Fuse

s

Output

s

7
6
5

4
3

2
1
0

DMX Rec'd

0

1

F

26AE

3

D

5

B

97

8
0

1

F

26AE

3

D

5

B

97

8

Z-Brick

4C

4C

Z-Buss

Updat

e

MSB
x0h)

(

Addres

(0

s

LSB

xh)

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GILDERFLUKE & CO .• 205 SOUTH FLOWER STREET • BURBANK , CALIFORNIA 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • FAX [phone]

E

AST COAST /FLORIDA O FFICE • 7041 GRAND NATIONAL DRIVE • SUITE 128d • ORLANDO , FL. 32819 • 407/354-5954 • FAX [phone]

Safety Disclaimer: Any electronic or mechanical
system has the potential to fail. Certain applica­tions using Gilderfluke & Company equipment may
involve potential risks of death, personal injury or
severe property or environmental damage
(“Critical Application”).

Gilderfluke & Company equipment is not de­signed, intended, authorized or warranted to be
suitable in life support applications, devices or
systems or other critical applications. Inclusion of
Gilderfluke & Company products in such applica­tions is understood to be fully at the risk of the cus­tomer. In order to minimize risks associated with
the customer's applications, adequate design and
operating safeguards should be provided by the
customer to minimize inherent or procedural haz­ards.

Gilderfluke & Company assumes no liability for
applications assistance, customer produced de­sign, software performance, or infringement of
patents or copyrights. Nor does Gilderfluke &
Company warrant or represent that any license, ei­ther express or implied, is granted under any
patent right, copyright, mask work right, or other in­tellectual property right of Gilderfluke & Company
covering or relating to any combination, machine,
or process in which Gilderfluke & Company prod­ucts or services might be or are used.

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GILDERFLUKE & CO .• 205 SOUTH FLOWER STREET • BURBANK , CALIFORNIA 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • FAX [phone]

E

AST COAST /FLORIDA O FFICE • 7041 GRAND NATIONAL DRIVE • SUITE 128d • ORLANDO , FL. 32819 • 407/354-5954 • FAX [phone]

Overview .............................................................. 1

Z-Brick with DMX-512 input ..................................... 1

Z-Brick as a Digital Output Expander ....................... 1

On the Front of the Z-Brick ................................... 4

Output LEDs ........................................................................... 4

Fuses LEDs ............................................................................. 4

Update LED ............................................................................ 4

DMX-512 LED ......................................................................... 4

Address Switches ................................................................... 4

Z-Buss .................................................................................... 4

On the Back of the Z-Brick ................................... 6

J-6 cable ............................................................................... 7

Output Capacity ................................................................... 8

DMX-512 Data In/Out ............................................................ 9

Edge Connector .................................................................. 10

HEXadecimal to Decimal to Percentage ......... 12

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GILDERFLUKE & CO .• 205 SOUTH FLOWER STREET • BURBANK , CALIFORNIA 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • FAX [phone]

E

AST COAST /FLORIDA O FFICE • 7041 GRAND NATIONAL DRIVE • SUITE 128d • ORLANDO , FL. 32819 • 407/354-5954 • FAX [phone]

A note about this manual:

This manual covers the specifics of the Z­Brick. To program the Z-Brick you will need to
also need the PC•MACs manual sections that
cover the PC•MACs software.

Gilderfluke Show Control Equipment is
sometimes programmed in ‘Software-only’ or
‘Hardwareless Realtime’ mode. Refer to the
‘Quick Start’ sections of the PC•MACs manual if
you are unfamiliar with their use. If you are
using the PC•MACs MACs-SMP or MACs-USB for
programming your Z-Brick through the DMX­512 input, please refer to the PC•MACs
‘Unlimited’ mode.

The full PC•MACs manual can be down­loaded from our web site at:

http:/ /www.gilderfluke.com

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GILDERFLUKE & CO .• 205 SOUTH FLOWER STREET • BURBANK , CALIFORNIA 91502 • 818/840-9484 • 800/776-5972 • FAX [phone]

E

AST COAST /FLORIDA O FFICE • 7041 GRAND NATIONAL DRIVE • SUITE 128d • ORLANDO , FL. 32819 • 407/354-5954 • FAX [phone]

Overview:

The Z-Brick is an output card which has thirty-two digital out­puts. It is designed to be used as an output card for use in a
PC•MACs system, or as a digital output expansion card for BR­ANAs, BR-EFBs, BR-SmartMedia, or any other Gilderfluke &
Company card which provides a Z-Buss or DMX-512 output.
Each Z-Brick adds another thirty-two digital outputs. Up to sixty­four Z-Bricks can be used for a total of 2048 digital outputs.

The Z-Brick can be used in two different ways:

1) Z-Brick with DMX-512 input: In this mode the Z-Brick re­ceives up to 256 channels of DMX-512 data transmitted
by a PC•MACs Animation Control System, or any other
source of DMX-512 data, and uses four channels of this
data to update its outputs. The Z-Brick can be ad­dressed to use any DMX-512 address from 0 to 255. The
DMX-512 input allows the Z-Brick to be used as a perma­nent output device for a PC•MACs or other Animation or
Lighting Control System. DMX-512 reception can be dis­abled by moving the ‘DMX-512 Disable’ jumper to the
‘disabled’ position.

2) Z-Brick as a Digital Output Expander: BR-ANAs, BR­EFBs, BR-SmartMedia, and some other Gilderfluke &
Company cards don’t themselves have digital outputs.
One or more Z-Bricks can be attached to these cards via
the twenty position IDS ‘Z-Buss’ connection on their front
panels.

In either of the modes, the Z-Brick’s thirty-two outputs are ad­dressed as four consecutive eight bit channels. This means that
each Z-Brick needs four eight bit channels worth of data. The two
HEXadecimal switches on the front of the Z-Brick are used to set
the address. The address is set using HEXadecimal numbers (a
chart which shows both numbering systems is at the rear of this

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