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VDO Fatron™ Family Safety and Installation Guide
System setup
Warning! Read “Safety information” on page 7 and “Precautions to avoid damage” on page 11
before applying power to a VDO Fatron installation.
Pixels and segments
A pixel is the smallest RGB-controllable unit in a fixture’s light output. When using P3 video, one pixel
consists of an individual LED. When using DMX control, one pixel consists of a square of 2 x 2 LEDs
(controlling individual LEDs via DMX would require too many channels in one DMX universe).
A segment is a group of neighboring pixels that can be controlled as a unit.
Pixels and segments are numbered starting from the
female
connector end of fixtures: Pixel 1 and Segment
1 are closest to the female connector end.
Setting up for P3 display
A Martin® P3™ system allows video to be displayed on an installation that consists of or includes VDO
Fatron devices. When a P3 controller is connected to the data link and the installation is powered on, you
can set up all the devices on the link from the P3 controller. See the P3 controller user manual for details.
Setting up for DMX control
A DMX system gives 0 - 100% variable intensity control. Varying the intensity of red, blue and green LEDs in
RGB products gives RGB color mixing.
You can set up and control a VDO Fatron installation over the data link using an RDM-compatible DMX
controller such as the Martin® M-PC Windows application (running on a PC connected to a USB/DMX
interface such as the Martin® M-DMX Interface Box) or the Martin® M1 DMX/RDM control console. The
interface on the Martin® M1 monitor screen is basically identical to the Martin® M-PC interface.
DMX control channels
DMX controllers send control data to devices over DMX control channels in DMX universes. One DMX
universe has 512 channels available. Multiple fixtures can share the same DMX channels if you want
grouped control and identical fixture behavior.
A VDO Fatron fixture can be controlled using four DMX modes (see under “DMX protocols” on page 40):
• In RGB mode, each fixture uses three DMX channels.
• In Basic mode, each fixture uses ten DMX channels.
• In Segment mode, each fixture uses seven DMX channels plus three DMX channels per segment (there
are 4 segments on 320 mm fixtures and 10 segments on 1000 mm fixtures).
• In Pixel mode, each fixture uses seven DMX channels plus three DMX channels per pixel.
Note that, when using DMX control, one pixel consists of a 2x2 block of LEDs because DMX does not
offer enough channels per universe for control of single LEDs. Control of single LEDs is only available
when using P3 control.
Type of VDO Fatron fixture
DMX channels
per fixture, RGB
mode
DMX channels
per fixture,
Basic mode
DMX channels
per fixture,
Segment mode
DMX channels
per fixture,
Pixel mode
VDO Fatron 20, 320 mm
3
10
19
55
VDO Fatron 20, 1000 mm
3
10
37
157
Table 5: Number of DMX channels required per VDO Fatron fixture
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