What are The Functions of DMX Decoder and DMX Controller?

What are The Functions of DMX Decoder and DMX Controller?

We've mentioned in another post that an LED light usually consists of 3 parts: LED chips, LED driver and housing. But DMX LED light is special, which still includes a built-in DMX decoder. In addition, All DMX LED lights belonging to a same system need to work with an external DMX controller.

So, what are the functions of the DMX decoder and controller?

First, let’s look at a real photo of one of our DMX LED flood light.

We can see that there are two drivers (on the top and bottom) and a decoder (on the center) on the back of the light. Two black cables out from the drivers are led to the decoder which has three output cables – two black cables and one white cable. One black cable is for DMX input signal while the other is for DMX output signal. And the white cable is connected to the LED chips in order to provide power and controlling signals for them.

So, the DMX controller acts like a control center of the whole light. It receives the external DMX signals, decode them to original electric signals, and control the behaviors of the LED chips – on/off, colors and brightness, etc. And it will also forward the DMX signals to the next DMX device.

The DMX decoders from different companies are different. They can also be bought from the normal market directly. Our DMX decoder was designed and produced by ourselves, which is strong and runs very stably.

On the other hand, what is the function of DMX controller?

We have known that decoder is the control center of the whole light. Similarly, controller is the control center of the whole DMX system. In general, one DMX system only has one controller that controls the behavior of each light – on/off, colors, brightness, etc. Usually the controller is programmable and it has included some default programs in its memory. By running these programs, the lights can display some basic colors (red, green, blue, white, etc.) and changing effects (fading, jumping, flashing, etc.). The lights can display more complicated color effects by programming the controller.

Question: Must I use your controller if I buy your DMX LED lights?

Answer: Not really. Because DMX (usually refer to DMX512) is a standard. All DMX LED lights or controllers support this standard so you can use other DMX controllers instead. So while you are buying our DMX LED lights, we usually suggest you to use your own controller if you have a familiar one, then you can avoid spending too much time learning our controller.

Further reading:

What are The Functions of DMX Decoder and DMX Controller?

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