Problem sending sACN through NS8 to Stardust

NETRON
1

Recently installed an NS8 on my Nomad Lighting cart. Having an issue I think may have to do with IGMP snooping.

Current configuration:
MiniPC running EOS → Netron NS8 → Lumenradio Stardust (powered over POE)

Previous configuration that was working:
MiniPC running EOS → tp-link TL-ST1008P → Lumenradio Stardust (powered over POE)

All IP devices are set with static IP addresses (including the NS8). I have been running all unmanaged switches with Static IPs for years. I have less than 5000 addresses patched spread over 22 universes and using only unmanged switches has never been an issue. My aim was to use the NS8 as an unmanaged switch with better control over my POE and a bigger POE budget. Initially I decided to set all my ports to VLAN A, toggling off “DHCP Server” as well as IGMP Querier and IGMP Snooping.

ISSUE:
Output A (set to Universe 2) on the Stardust is not outputting. All other outputs are outputting. Problem is intermittent (was not a problem a few days ago, absolutely could not be sovled yesterday).

Occasionally when booting the Stardust, some other universes/outputs don’t immediately output on startup (indicated by non-bolded letters on the Stardust Web Config page), but usually begin outputting after a few moments.

Also at some point during all the diagnostics, I pulled out my ProPlex IQ tester and was able to read DMX levels on Universe 2. ProPlex is Static IP addressed.

REMEDIES TRIED AND RESULTS:

  1. Power cycling the transmitter, switch, PC. Restarting EOS. Same behavior.
  2. Swapping Cat cables. Same behavior
  3. Swapping Stardust transmitter. Same behavior.
  4. Powering Stardust with True1 connector/AC power. Also disabling POE on the port feeding it. Same behavior.
  5. Tried powering off the Stardust, running an effect on a U2 fixture so there would be constantly changing data on U2, powered up the stardust on a new port on the switch. Same behavior.
  6. Tried switching the port feeding the transmitter to “Trunk” away from VLAN. Same behavior. Realized in retrospect I did this step quickly, checked the web config, wasn’t satisfied and moved on. I suppose I could have set this to trunk, waited a few minutes, tried power cycling things, etc. Also I believe the port connecting the MiniPC to the switch was still on VLAN A.

My understanding is that switching to “trunk” should eliminate all management?

FINAL HAIL MARY/THE SHOW MUST GO ON:
Skipped the switch entirely. Went MiniPC → Transmitter. Problem resolved immediately.

Questions:
I haven’t had a chance to turn IGMP snooping back on. If anyone thinks that might be the remedy, does anyone have a link to a rundown of what all the IGMP settings do and suggested settings?

Misc Notes:
Stardust is set to 2/4 CRMX2. Outputs ABCD are CRMX2 and Outputs E and G are CRMX Classic. I’d love to have them all CRMX2, but our drop load lights are always at the mercy of whatever the rental house gives us, which sometimes is not compatible.

2

Hi SC, I had a client who was having issue’s with Stardust on NS8. Couldn’t get it to power up properly I think. With testing he found he needed to set POE to 28watts and that seemed to solve the issue. Try that maybe?

1 Like
3

Interesting. I had all the ports set to 30W max. Do you think setting it to 28 specifically would make a difference?

It does seem to appear that re-enabling IGMP snooping (and querier on one switch) has solved the problem for now.

4

For sACN to work efficiently, all switches on the network should have IGMP Snooping enabled, and one with IGMP Querier enabled.

If a port is set to trunk, this means all VLANs are “trunked” through this port. The device connected to the trunk port must be able to understand the trunked VLANs. Typically it is only used to connect managed switches together, so they can share the VLANs.