What is the difference between the Aputure Active USB-C to DMX Adapter and the two different amaran USB-C to DMX Adapters?

Just because a port is shaped a certain way, doesn't mean the data coming through it is always the same or even that the connectors are wired the same way. This is especially true of the USB-C shaped port and its variety of uses, from USB 2.0, to DisplayPort, MHL, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 5.

The older amaran products that take DMX are wired so that three DMX pins are wired to USB-C circuitry in one specific way. So it is not a normal USB-C port, just a way to pass the data through the USB-C port to the DMX pins on the circuit board internally. The older amaran DMX Adapter is only compatible with amaran Flex Mats and amaran Tube Lights. 

The newer amaran products, the amaran Halo and some of the larger amaran Ray products, take the new style of locking USB-C input with a newer adapter. This adapter, the amaran USB-C to 5-Pin DMX In & Out Adapter is an active adapter, and will not work with amaran Flex Mats and amaran Tube Lights.

 

The Aputure Active DMX adapter contains a small processor that converts from the USB-C to the DMX or back the other way. That's why we call it "Active". 

 

This is the most common question we get when troubleshooting DMX Control with the lights.