AMX Friendly – Exhibit Control Engineering

ECE has developed/programmed over one hundred AMX control systems for museum galleries, exhibits and kiosks and conventional conference rooms. The ratio is 80:20 museum/exhibit systems to conventional AV systems. Occasionally, there are a few challenges that must be overcome when using AMX equipment in the museum environment. We have developed some products to ameliorate those problems or reduce costs.

We have been in the forefront for using AMX controllers in the museum industry for over 20 years. And, we have done some things that even AMX was surprised about. We have controlled servo platforms for a downhill mountain bike simulation, controlled hydraulic action on a Conestoga wagon to simulate a river wagon crossing and controlled RC style servos for a three scene puppet show. AMX is at the top of our “go to” list for large scale museum control systems. Since AMX is driven by the conference room AV world, we occasionally have to develop some hardware to solve specific museum challenges.

If you have a museum exhibit with a large number of IOs, we have developed a couple of pieces of hardware to help reduce the cost of IO additions. NetLinx IOs cannot see any signal quicker than 66msec or occur faster than 10Hz. We have a piece of hardware that can, in many cases, solve this problem. If you are using one of the scaled down controllers that does not have relays, this same device can be configured to convert unused IOs to relay action.

We also have a device to replace the no longer manufactured AMX “PCS” and one to use in place of a PC1. Recently we have developed some products so that NetLinx can interface with devices that use 4-20ma current loops. And, we have developed numerous modules for use in NetLinx systems. For instance, we developed a special NetLinx module to make DMX light show development much easier and less expensive: it’s a touch panel light board.