If you find the DJ light switch off, flicker, change color, pattern, etc. That may be a sign that you need a DMX terminator! The information carried in the signal is therefore not clear as it should be and your lights start to behave strangely. Just picture this : your appliance receives the reflected signal as well as the original signal, it sees two numbers at once.
Therefore it gets confused. It is a simplification, but helps to understand what is happening. A DMX terminator will simply stop this reflection from happening, keeping the single signal clean. One common mistake is to use microphone cables, namely microphone cables, instead of DMX cables. Indeed balanced microphone cables have the same plugs or connectors, but they have a different cable impedance.
Therefore, though you can plug it and seems to work, these cables are different and should not be used. Microphone cables have a lower impedance than DMX ones, this characteristics will dampen the square signal which will affect the readings of your fixtures. Using a Microphone cable is a common mistake, so be careful! Below that, having one is recommended but not mandatory.
Therefore, if you are a mobile DJ with not many lights and thus do not plug many DMX cables, then not having a terminator may be fine. In that case a DMX terminator will probably solve the issue by removing the noises in the signal, wherever they come from.
The higher the cable length or number of appliances, the higher are the chances of having trouble. So do not hesitate to put a DMX terminator when you increase the complexity of your installation. Please note that when having a problem, it may happen that only one appliance behave strangely. That may happen even when you placed the exact same model at several places in your chain. That tends to confuse people into thinking that the DJ light is faulty when really it was only a DMX terminator missing.
