DIY 5 channels dmx dimmer for 4 stage halogen lights.

Get the full assembled board: http://gfehandmade.bigcartel.com/product/dmx-dimmer-for-4-stage-halogen-lamps

• Author: Giacomo Mammarella
• email: [email protected]
• YouTube video test 1: testing video n1: lamp test
• YouTube video test 2: testing video n2: strobe and dimming

The software is based on a finite state machine. The DMX start address can be choosen on the software modifying "#define DMX_START_ADDRESS 65". The DMX channels are currently set like following:

• DMX CHANNEL 65: lamp 1 dimmer (0 -> 100% fade)
• DMX CHANNEL 66: lamp 2 dimmer
• DMX CHANNEL 67: lamp 3 dimmer
• DMX CHANNEL 68: lamp 4 dimmer
• DMX CHANNEL 69: strobo all lamps at chosen speed (40 - 255 strobe from 100ms to 1s)

To let Arduino IDE compile the code we need to do some mods to the HardwareSerial0.cpp file. On my current Mac OSX Arduino version (1.6.10) the file is placed at the following path: Arduino/Contents/Java/hardware/arduino/avr/cores/arduino/HardwareSerial0.cpp. Inside it we need to comment out the whole block between line 40 and line 51:

/*
#if defined(USART_RX_vect)
  ISR(USART_RX_vect)
#elif defined(USART0_RX_vect)
  ISR(USART0_RX_vect)
#elif defined(USART_RXC_vect)
  ISR(USART_RXC_vect) // ATmega8
#else
  #error "Don't know what the Data Received vector is called for Serial"
#endif
  {
    Serial._rx_complete_irq();
  }
*/

That's because we need to tell the Arduino IDE that inside the code we wrote our personal Interrupt Service Routine ("ISR") and we need it to use it in DMX serial communications. Remember to remove the mods after uploading the code or Serial communications ( like the one we use in Serial.print() ) wont work anymore.

You can find my copy of modded HardwareSerial0.cpp inside the file list.

• DMX_dimmer.brd: the Cadsoft Eagle 6.5 board file.
• DMX_dimmer.sch: the Cadsoft Eagle 6.5 schematic file for the board.
• Code: the folder containingh the sketch for the project.
• HardwareSerial0.cpp: The MODIFIED HardwareSerial0.cpp for uploading the code

Painting the enclosure and test fitting the pcb: