Revised ACL 101. draft here for a limited time

AAH

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As many would know I've been working on revising Eddys ACL 101 lighting manual. I've now reached the point where it needs some constructive criticism on what has been missed and what else could go in there. I have massive battles with M$ Word so there are a few formatting issues in there still.
I haven't checked that all the links are still valid or that all of the prices are still correct (E6804 has no price yet). I plan on putting in a few links to tutorials for LOR, LSP, Vixen, HLS, maybe multimeter use and soldering guides etc but as I don't use them I don't know where any good ones are located. After a phone convo today I thought that a quick noob guide to what the difference is between 3 wire and 4 wire pixels and also what universes/pixels per output translates into.
Any constructive comments or requests post into here and I will work on getting it into the manual. After a few days of leaving the draft manual around for people to pick through I'll finish revising the manual at which time this thread will either get locked then deleted and/or moved and the final manual will go onto the proper section of the site. I've only plonked it here so I can moderate it if I need to.
 

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logandc99

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davrus said:
I didn't see anything about the need to have fuses on power going direct from the power supply to the pixels. (e.g. power injection).
And maybe a discussion about in-line fuses, and multi fuses in a box
e.g. http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=SZ2008&form=CAT2&SUBCATID=969#1

That's a good idea, especially for those using the P2 that doesn't have a fuse.
This my setup ( still under construction ) but I'm using one of those multi fuse boxes that you linked to from Jaycar for my enclosure that will house my P2. (Still have to connect up the V- lines to the power injection cables and hook up the P2 with its own inline fuse and the data out from the P2. )
 

AAH

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Woohoo. Just adding a bit about fusing seems like all anyone wants. Except for a couple of PMs that gave me more details including old errors that date back years it seems like everyone is happy and now knows everything :smirk:
 

battle79

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Noticed that you make reference to the more recent E682 in the E6804 details, but only have the E680 & E681 in as products.

Sorry for creating more work. ;)

Regards,
Rowan
 

AAH

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The San Devices site went down whilst I was chasing info and I never got back to it to chase stuff up. When the website is up it is hard work finding info on there as well. I'll try to find info on the San Devices range and get it in there though.
 

fasteddy

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I would like to thank Alan for putting in the hard work to update this resource. It takes a lot of time and research to update a document like this and unfortunatly i have been too busy to do this. So i thank Alan for taking the initiative to get this users guide updated to reflect the changes that have happened in our hobby over the last 24 months.
 

algerdes

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Alan & FastEddy,


1st and foremost - THANK YOU.
A few hours ago I received and read the 2012 version. So many questions were answered reading through it.


As I am somewhat of a newbie to pixels, and only slightly versed in "older technology", I offer fresh eyes to go through your new version draft - if you would like.


I can send qualifications and references if need be. (At least my wife of 39 years will vouch for me, I think. :-\ )

BTW - It is Al, or Allen, or "Hey You". All seem to work around here. (Southern Illinois, south-east of St. Louis, Mo about 30 miles.)
 

fasteddy

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algerdes said:
As I am somewhat of a newbie to pixels, and only slightly versed in "older technology", I offer fresh eyes to go through your new version draft - if you would like.

I think Alan would appreciate any feedback that can help make this manual an even better resource.
 

algerdes

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In no way should any of my following items be misconstrued as negative. This is a great document with MANY things that one needs to know about within its pages.


Within the copy that I downloaded a couple of hours ago, I found:


1. Preface in the Table of Contents is "undefined".
2. Page 14, "Mains Voltage LED Light Control" seems to be missing something in the graphic.
3. Page 42, a possible addition - In the US and Canada they are known as "Ground Fault Circuit Interupter (GFCI)" or "Ground Fault Interupter (GFI)". [Item 4 on the list].
4. Page 49, "4 core extension cable 0.75mm". At first I thought the prices quoted were for singles, of which I wanted to get stock in that company. (Their profit margin appeared to be tremendous.) Then I noticed that it was for "50". Is there a way to make it more obvious?
5. Page 60, "Pixel Controller Output" graphic needs a bit of tweaking. Lines on the right are OK, their left end is off.


I found quite a few blue-underlined items that were not links. Quite a few were. If they weren't all meant to be linked, perhaps a different color for those not linked underlines.


Didn't I hear about some Pixel Controllers now working on the Renard protocol? The PX1 rings a bell, but I'll check that first. But if so, would it be prudent to mention Renard along with the others?


All in all, even the second read-through was enlightening.
Thank you both for the good read and all the knowledge.


Al Gerdes
 

BundyRoy

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On page 11 are the definitions of IP 3X and IP 4X back to front.
 

algerdes

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Do you mean "protected... 2.5mm" verses "...1mm"? That makes sense.
I actually printed that chart out and put it on my bulletin board (cork style). I'll make that note.
 

AAH

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Thanks for the input. The links sometimes don't work due to the settings chosen when converting to a pdf. They also sometimes don't come up as links due to the security settings on Adobe Reader. Can you point to specific ones as the few I just checked all appeared to work.
I will add GFCI for those who don't speak Aussie speak :)
The IP3X and IP4X were fixed after David_AVD picked it up. That error dated back to 1st edition.
Some of the drawings got screwed up a bit with my battles with Word. Any that are noted I will work on fixing.
I didn't even notice that the Preface error had crept in. That was due to another of my formatting issues with Word.
There definitely is something missing on the mains voltage page. I don't know why but some of the text boxes and graphics boxes show up fine in word but don't render across to pdf. Of the ones I've picked up they all seem to have a reference in the data to Eddys computer and I have to do some editing to sort it out.
As for the Renard protocol stuff I know nothing at all. ACL is the only Xmas site I'm a member of and none of the Renard stuff has really made the transition over to here. It's not that I have anything against any of the sites or anything but everything I've needed to get going has been here so I haven't needed to spread myself thinner. Eddy may have left details of the Renard protocol stuff out as it isn't 1 of the "official" lighting protocols like E1.31 and dmx.

I will pop a revised document up on Friday or Saturday and leave details of changes.

Alan
 
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