2811 ic controler
- Thread starter timm1811
- Start date
dariansdad
New elf
Sandevices and J1Sys are very popular
timm1811 said:
Ron Boyd said:
Those are the prodominant ones used in this hobby, there are also a few others out there, but with Sandevices and J1SYS you can expect a good level of community support.
jerrymac
Apprentice elf
I have both J1Sys and San Device products. Love both. Also don;t forget some of the new DMX- SPI converters comming out (Holiday Coro has one due VERY soon). The multi string E131 controllers are great for centralized setups (matrix's and mega Trees etc). but the smaller controllers (J1 has a couple also) often fill a much needed non centralized situations.
The choices are getting much larger, resolving the 1 size fits all problems. Depends on the situation and setup as to which may be the best choice for each piece of a display
The choices are getting much larger, resolving the 1 size fits all problems. Depends on the situation and setup as to which may be the best choice for each piece of a display
kane
Dedicated elf
jerrymac said:
What I'm looking forward to is an ECG-P2 or similar with two ethernet ports (a bit like many VOIP phones have), to allow you to daisy chain your ethernet cables between controllers.. Obviously there's would be an extra cost involved, but it certainly would be handy. If it was only $10 or so extra, I think it'd be a winner.
That would require the pixel controller to also be a switch (because you can't daisy chain DMX). I would be very surprised if someone makes one like this.
remoteutah
Full time elf
Just put a cheap ($10) network switch in before the p2. That will allow for expansion.
That can be done? I just ordered an e6804, for testing/learning i'm plugging into the router, but when i take it out, will be plugging direct to the laptop. We have lots of wiring and other gear to think about, if it's possible to power via cat5, that would save yet another step. I haven't worked out the best option yet, but was thinking the 12v strips would be best, can either 12v or 5v be pumped through the cat5?
justinj
Apprentice elf
It is possible to send voltage down the unused portion of a cat5 cable when running at 100mb however at 5v (Ignoring any voltage drop which is an issue unless you're talking a 2m run) you're limited to enough power to run the board and maybe a dozen pixels. At 12v (Again ignoring voltage drop as you haven't specified how long your cable run is) you'll still be limited to around 50 - 80 pixels once your board is powered.
robt said:
Cat5 is really only rated to around 1 amp per wire and then the issue with doubling up wires is that most people will use solid core CAT cable which is designed for permanent installations and when used and moved a few time can have a tendancy to break cores, this can then create an overload situaltion on your CAT 5 cables and start to heat up, in a worse case scenario it could possibly ignite and cause a fire. The other thing as already mentioned is the voltage drop you get when using a lower amperage rated cable like CAT5
Most of us use 4 core 14/020 security/alarm cable rated at 4 to 4.5 amps per core which is cheaply bought from Ebay
robt said:
I think CAT5 is rated up to 48 volts, but not higher