Help - NOOB to LEDs

[mrpbjnance]

I currently have 2 LOR Controllers with the MP3 media Player that plays and controls my show. Already looking at next Year I want to start adding LEDs but dont want to get rid of my LOR controllers right away.
I would like to switch to XLights but dont want to have to run my show from a Laptop.. So I have a some questions I have not been able to figure out

What controller will control both my LOR Controllers and NodeNCUs that I will use for my LEDs (or should I get something else for my LEDs

What can I connect to the Light Controllers that will run my shows without having to run it from my laptop?


Thank You in advance!

 

[AAH]

Welcome to ACL.
Grab a copy of the ACL101 and have a read.
As a playback device that takes the place of your PC for controlling your show a Raspberry Pi running Falcon Player (FPP) is the way to go. They're very cheap and can run very big shows comfortably.

 

[mrpbjnance]

Welcome to ACL.
Grab a copy of the ACL101 and have a read.
As a playback device that takes the place of your PC for controlling your show a Raspberry Pi running Falcon Player (FPP) is the way to go. They're very cheap and can run very big shows comfortably.

Yes Thank You AAU! I was reading the 101 Manual which is Fantastic but I was not able to confirm the Falcon Player would be able to control MY LOR Players.. will that work?

 

[AAH]

What model are your LOR controllers? Most LOR boards can be controlled via DMX which FPP will happily control. The NODEMCU are ESP wifi pixel controllers?

 

[mrpbjnance]

My Controllers are 2 CTB16PC controllers. I am just preparing for next year so I bought a few NodeMCUs to play areound with. So not married to thiose.
Want to know what the best is (for reasonable cost) to add Pixels to my show.

 

[AAH]

The CTB16PC can be controlled via DMX. I have 1 still in my own display and it's been run in dmx mode for about 5 years now. There's plenty of pixel suppliers around. Ray Wu, Scottled (@benbrown ), E-Top (@Paul Zhang) and many others. Stay away from ebay ones. For pixel controllers it depends on how big you want to go. I make some Pi and Beaglebone Black based ones as do several other people on the Falcon Christmas forum. Alternately there's Falcon, Advatek and San Devices who all make dedicated pixel controllers and probably every 1 of those options will work out cheaper per output/channel than going with a LOR pixel controller. Personally I'm not a fan of wifi based pixel control as there's often lagging and signal loss as a result of the electrically noisy environment around Christmas lights.