Bunnings lights with Controller System?

[lgrant90]

Is it possible to connect my already purchased Bunnings lights and Christmas Warehouse/Christmas World lights that have pre-programmed functions for flashing quickly and slowly, or do I have to start my purchasing again to only puchase LED lights that have no functions so I can start to create my own controller and music light display?

 

[thewanderingpine]

There are systems that will hook up to your existing lights. It’s only going to be on/off for the whole string — but can still look super effective.
I know @Skymaster in Sydney does a bunch of Bunnings/etc led strings integrated into his display.

 

[Notenoughlights]

If the lights have 2 wires coming from the power supply, and the power supply has the little 8 function controller with the press button on board, this board will do what you want. https://www.hansonelectronics.com.au/product/2811dc2-30/

I use the (now discontinued) DMX version of this board, to run hundreds of bunnings light strings, and they work very well. You need to ensure that the voltages match what you are feeding the board, i.e you can't mix 24v and 31v strings, as there's only one voltage output (the supply you are feeding in) from the board.

 

[lgrant90]

Thank you. Are there any products available that are more simple such as a plug and play controller from Light O Rama? Or will I need to invest time and energy into playing around with wires and voltage etc.?

 

[Skymaster]

(now discontinued) DMX version

As far as I'm aware on the DMX2-18 is discontinued, the DMX2-24 replaces it.

Alan does have a ready-to-run version of this:

DMX2-24 ready to run | Hanson Electronics

Ready to run DMX2-24 light dimmer for fairy lights

www.hansonelectronics.com.au

This allows you to connect directly to a USB-DMX adapter and run with xLights or similar and plug in the 2wire Bunnings lights.

 

[lgrant90]

Fantastic. Yes the end of these plugs on this controller do match the ends of the lights I have.
Now my next question is if I buy the DMX2-24 controller and hook all of this up to this, what options do I have to program the lights?

 

[Johnnyboy]

Fantastic. Yes the end of these plugs on this controller do match the ends of the lights I have.
Now my next question is if I buy the DMX2-24 controller and hook all of this up to this, what options do I have to program the lights?

XLights is the main program used. It’s free and you can have a play around before you get in to deep and buy a bunch of controllers and power supplies.
There are also lots of free sequences on the xLights Google drive that are a good place to start.

 

[MikeKrebs]

Very few of those free sequences will have any sequences to support for your basic bunnings lights.

You can run that controller in "classic" mode and it will act like a big 8 function controller.

You can use Vixen or xLights to create sequences that will do single string programming and use the controller to turn the lights on/off/dim based on your sequence.

 

[Skymaster]

You can get some nice effects and patterns by setting the strings up in particular ways and overlaying various effects in xLights.

The bigger question is, what do you want to achieve from a visual point of view?

 

[lgrant90]

I want to be able to use my knowledge of music (as a music teacher) to sequence Music to lights, without starting my light buying from scratch since I have already invested quite a bit of money on lights. I just want the lights to be able to flash at the very least to music or get different parts of a long strand of lights move. I have approx. 15000 LED lights across my display

 

[Notenoughlights]

I would suggest Vixen3 for effects/sequences for dumb/non-addressable led strings. I've found it has far better support and easier setup for strings of lights as opposed to doing it all via Xlights. It is possible to do the whole music to lights sequencing in Xlights with non-addressable lights, however the setup can be a little more tricky.

 

[lgrant90]

So you can't do Music sequencing in Vixen3?

 

[Notenoughlights]

So you can't do Music sequencing in Vixen3?

You can do music sequencing in both xlights and vixen3

 

[MikeKrebs]

I just want the lights to be able to flash at the very least to music or get different parts of a long strand of lights move. I have approx. 15000 LED lights across my display

Whatever you use to do your sequencing, you will have a lot of controller/wiring to think about. For example, maybe now you have 4 strands of lights plugged into each other and they stretch across the front of the building. Then you decide you would like a "4 count" of lights across the front of the building. Four ports are required and one extension cord to each set of lights. I ran through over 1000 feet 18 AWG wire when I did 48 ports of AC lights.

Print several pictures of your layout space. Blob in the various things you light up highlighting in colors a "controllable unit". Figure out where you would put the controllers and start guesstimating the distances involved so you can load up on extension wire and plugs. Make sure your controllable units are within the current supply of the controllers per port and per controller.

Likely when you start breaking down your 15,000 lights, you will find that to get the movement you are looking for, you might have to break them down into much smaller units than you previously did and subsequently need many more extension cords.

 

[hwick]

Hi, if I already have a F16V3 Pixel Controller and expansion boards for the pixels I have started to run, just wondering as I also have a lot of LED lights/displays if I purchased the DMX2-24 to run the LED’s back through can I use the F16V3 to run the DMX2-24 back to and x lights to control it all? .. thanks