Fixing lag on Wi-Fi

If the lights on a Wi-Fi Art-Net node respond late or stutter, the cause is almost always hiding in the Art-Net traffic on your network. This guide gives you a short checklist ordered from most likely to least likely: first you fix one setting in Relackout, then you check for another source on the network, then a port conflict.

Symptoms

This guide is for lights that respond to commands late, freeze or stutter here and there, or occasionally miss a command entirely — but only on a node that receives Art-Net over Wi-Fi. If the same rig works fine over a wired connection, the cause is almost certainly the wireless network itself, which is exactly what this checklist covers.

Why this happens

Relackout’s Art-Net output always sends DMX data as a broadcast — there’s no option to send it to one specific node only. The packets carrying the light data always reach every device on the network. Every active universe keeps being resent even when nothing changes, so an empty universe still produces a steady stream of packets. On a wired network, that traffic is invisible. Wi-Fi’s channel is shared, so every packet occupies it for a moment. If your rig uses a single universe but all four are switched on, the other three are adding packets from universes nobody needs. Relackout also doesn’t let you manually pick a network interface for Art-Net or sACN — see Connection settings for that side of things.

Checklist: most likely to least likely

Work through these four in order — in most cases, the first one on its own is enough.

1 · Broadcast only the universe(s) you use

Open Settings, find the Art-Net card under DMX Outputs, and look at the Broadcast universes row: how many U buttons are lit? If more of them are on than your rig actually uses, this is the most likely cause.

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   Click U2, U3 and U4 to turn them off, leaving only U1 on.

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Only selected universes are sent over Art-Net. Output pauses for 1.5 seconds while a change is applied.

2 · Check for another Art-Net source on the network

If the lag continues after fixing the universe count, another Art-Net source on the same network could be the cause: a visualizer, DMX software on a different computer, or a leftover app nobody closed. Click Settings, then under General Settings click System Logs. On the screen that opens, under Network & DMX Diagnostics, check the Art-Net row’s status in the Connectors list.

3 · Check for a port 6454 conflict

If the Connectors list shows ERROR (or the Art-Net card’s badge reads Error), the cause is usually different: Art-Net uses UDP port 6454, and another application on the same computer claimed it first. When that happens, Relackout shows a dismissible amber warning in the bottom-right corner of the screen — not on the Art-Net card itself:

The fix is outside the app: close whichever application is holding the port, restart the computer if needed, then relaunch Relackout.

4 · Move the node to wired or a separate 5 GHz network

This last one isn’t specific to Relackout — it’s general Wi-Fi advice. If you can, move the node to a wired connection. If not, put it on a separate 5 GHz network away from other devices; the 5 GHz band is far less congested than 2.4 GHz and runs much more reliably.

Is your phone remote lagging too?

If it’s the Remote Access panel on your phone that feels slow rather than the DMX output, the cause is usually the same: the phone shares the same crowded Wi-Fi channel, so step 1 above typically helps it too. If your computer has more than one active network connection (Wi-Fi plus a VPN, for example), Relackout lists every address it detects as a separate badge under Access addresses:; if your phone was given the wrong one — a VPN’s virtual address, say — the connection can feel slow or fail to connect at all. Tap the badge (Show QR code for this address) for the address that matches the Wi-Fi network your phone is actually on. The full setup is covered in Remote control from your phone.

What’s next

In most cases, a single step — broadcasting only the universe(s) you use — is all it takes. For the full walkthrough of that setting, see DMX output: Art-Net, sACN and USB DMX; for network interface details, see Connection settings; for setting up your phone, see Remote control from your phone.