American DJ WiFly EXR Battery · DMX Accessory

I bought one of these ADJ WiFly tranceivers which I use at the DMX PC end of business to send DMX data to two ADJ WiFly D6 receivers/splitters. This saves a lot of time and hassle of not having to run loads of cables up from an optically isolated DMX splitter on stage. I no longer have a dozen XLR leads running up lighting stands through trussing. The two D6 receivers have 6 3-pin XLR output sockets each. This saves on feeding leads with the outputs right where you need them - in the truss. When wiring in over 100 DMX lighting fixtures onto square trussing this clearly is a considerable time saving when setting up and tearing down.This device works best line of sight - which means above the heads of your audience. It's worth keeping an eye on the orientation of the antenna's. For some peculiar reason the best signal is maintained when the antenna's are all either, upright, downward, left, or right. If the WiFly transceiver antenna is pointing up, the receivers on your DMX devices/D6 splitters must be too. There is an LED signal strength indicator on the receivers and even at line of sight over 30 meters if the antenna's are in the wrong orientation you'll lose packets of data and you'll see strange thing start to happen to your show. Over a distance of 50 meters (about 165 feet), signal strength fluctuates between 2/5 bars and 5/5 bars but over the last year or so hasn't been an issue.I've done quite a few gigs in large council owned town halls and music halls with WiFi networks all over the place. I'm pleased to report that none of them interfered with the ADJ WiFly at all. I haven't had to switch channels or make any changes you'd come to expect when the air is a buzz with goodness knows what signals. And the same can be said for smart phones that will constantly be checking for a WiFi signal when punters turn up to the venue. Not to mention the resonant interference that you would expect comes with Bluetooth and 3G/4G. Nothing. And that's with sometimes as many as 800 people in the building, and the ADJ WiFly hasn't flinched. Outdoor gigs have been fine, even some gigs in areas with lots of RAF and army activity - no problems.The D6 receivers have IEC sockets on them, so they can be powered from the same source as your lighting. However, It's disappointing that the WiFly transceiver has a 12V socket with a wall wart power supply. If this had an IEC socket it would probably lend itself more of a professional edge - trying to work out which wall wart supply goes with which wall wart piece of kit can be confusing if you find yourself with too many of them.The units are a bit fiddly when fitting a G-clamp hanging bracket (not included). There is a bracket adapter included, but you actually have to disassemble the unit to attach the adapter - obviously voiding the warranty. Then re-assembling it. I don't have much faith in the velcro kit that comes with the D6 to be honest - not very professional and I find dubious five meters up in the air it doesn't lend itself to being Health and Safety Procedure friendly. In my head all I can imagine is it pealing away and knocking out the lead guitarist when gravity takes hold. Chances are though, if you're into this kind of thing you'll know exactly when you are doing when taking things to bits to fit your own G-clamp. Definitely go with the G-clamp!Pros:Saves time setting up and packing away from using less cablesConnects first time every timeCan be easily mounted onto trussing with velcro kit or your own G-clampsVery bright, very clear LED signal strength displayA great range of extra receivers from ADJ that are fully compatibleCovers distances as far as 50m/160ftDoesn't appear to suffer from external interference such as local WiFi networksUses both 3-pin and 5-pin XLRHas an XLR thru socket so you can patch other lighting such as DMX enabled spot lights/blinders at the mix locationCons:Wall wart power supplyBest performance achieved by line of sight - won't pass through wall easilyAntenna's need to all be at the same angle to get best performance - not always ideal when setting up kit in cramped spacesConclusion: DMX over WiFi is clearly the future and this is a very exciting beginning, not least because it clears up an XLR channel on the multicore, and a dozen 10m XLR's that can now be used for other things!

I got two of these to overcome cabling over a distance. Both arrived quickly and were simply to assemble. Set up was really easy as they automatically detect which is the transmitter and which is the receiver. They worked flawlessly first time so overall have been really happy with these and would happily recommend them.