Connector General

The PulseMesh Connector runs on your FPP as a separate process or on xSchedule as part of the main process. In both cases the Connector consumes timing data from the show player, and transmits it to the PulseMesh platform.

Audio File Ingestion

In addition to timing data, the Connector also handles ingestion of the audio files required for playback. This ingestion happens when the Connector is first attached to the PulseMesh platform by configuring your token, and also each time a new audio file is added.

If you plan to use PulseMesh Connector over a metered connection, such as a cellular hotspot, it is suggested that you first set up the Connector while connected to an unmetered line. This is particularly important for those having lots of, or large, media. After this initial upload the Connector uses an average of only 2MB per hour during playback when sending timing data.

Playback Offset

Since PulseMesh is transparent to network latency and device audio output latency, a problem can appear where PulseMesh playback is slightly ahead (60-100ms) of the output from speakers or a transmitter attached to your show player. This is due to the output latency on the show player itself. The actual delay will vary based on what soundcard you use with your show player and which device the show player is running on.

The playback offset addresses this issue by allowing you to add delay to PulseMesh playback to match your existing show player audio. You can test the actual offset required for your setup with a program like Audacity where you can have the show player connected to one channel and a phone connected to the other. This will give you an exact measurement for your offset. If you prefer to adjust your setup by ear then 80ms is a good starting point.

Log File

The easiest way to access the log file is via the Connector web interface. This will show the most recent 100 lines of the log file. The Connector web interface can be found at http://<FPP-IP-or-Hostname>:8089 for an FPP or http://localhost:8089 on xSchedule.

FPP

The FPP Connector writes a log file to /home/fpp/media/logs/pulsemesh-connector.log which can also be found through the FPP web interface in Content Setup > File Manager > Logs.

xSchedule

The xSchdedule Connector writes a log file to C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\pulsemesh\logs\app.txt.

Start or Restart Manually (FPP)

When installing the Connector as part of the PulseMesh FPP plugin, the Connector will be set up to run as a systemd service. It will automatically start on boot.

If you find you need to start or restart the service manually you can do so via an SSH session.

sudo systemctl start pulsemesh-connector.service

sudo systemctl restart pulsemesh-connector.service

Update Manually

FPP

The PulseMesh FPP plugin scripts are set to check for updates during each startup. If you would like to update manually you can do so via SSH by running the commands below.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y pulsemesh-connector
sudo systemctl start pulsemesh-connector.service

xSchedule

Due to the difference in plugin architecture in xSchdedule, new versions of the plugin are not installed automatically.

To manually update the plugin you can download the latest dll from here.
You may get a warning from your browser when downloading the file. The warnings are different per browser.

Chrome

The Chrome download may show up as an "Unverified download blocked". You will need to click on this message and click the "Download unverified file" button.

Edge

Edge may indicate "pulsemesh.dll isn't commonly downloaded. Make sure you trust pulsemesh.dll before you open it." Click the 3 horizontal dots to the right of the message and click "Keep". You may then get another message saying "Make sure you trust pulsemesh.dll before you open it". Click "Show more" and then "Keep anyway".

Now that you have the dll file you will need to first close xSchdedule, then copy/paste it from your download directory to the xLight directory. Commonly this is C:\Program Files\xLights but may be in a different location on your computer.