Anyone know of a 2 input SPI switch?

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Burrington

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I have RGBW strips under the eaves of my house. For Christmas, etc they display RGBW colours using HinksPix controllers. But most nights I just want to have them lit up white to outline the house. Seems a waste of energy to be running the big HinksPix network when a simple addressable LED controller could do the simple "white" job. Does anyone know of a two input, 3 output SPI switch that I could use to switch between the HinksPix controller and a simple controller? I can easily DIY a 3PDT relay to do it, but thought there might be a clean ready made product to save some work.
 
The energy to run a controller is going to be a lot less than that required to run the lights. I'd guess the controller is probably sub 10W maybe even sub 5W so it's unlikely that you're ever going to save much. If you wanted to save that 5-10W WS281x pixel latch to the latest colour so you could disconnect the output and power down the controller and at that point you've save the entire 5-10W without needing any additional power to run something else.
 
Burrington said:
I have RGBW strips under the eaves of my house. For Christmas, etc they display RGBW colours using HinksPix controllers. But most nights I just want to have them lit up white to outline the house. Seems a waste of energy to be running the big HinksPix network when a simple addressable LED controller could do the simple "white" job. Does anyone know of a two input, 3 output SPI switch that I could use to switch between the HinksPix controller and a simple controller? I can easily DIY a 3PDT relay to do it, but thought there might be a clean ready made product to save some work.
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A relay (or three) is probably going to be the most cost effective way here.
You could use some digital switches, but they might end up being a bit more complex.
 
AAH said:
The energy to run a controller is going to be a lot less than that required to run the lights. I'd guess the controller is probably sub 10W maybe even sub 5W so it's unlikely that you're ever going to save much. If you wanted to save that 5-10W WS281x pixel latch to the latest colour so you could disconnect the output and power down the controller and at that point you've save the entire 5-10W without needing any additional power to run something else.
Click to expand...
Hmm, you make a great point. I can just run the controllers to start the lights running white, then turn the controllers off and the strips will remain white. Maybe I will try that first and see how it works out.

My HinksPix Controller box measures 34 watts (with no lights), and the Long Range Receiver box is 11 watts. My strips are on the receiver box, so both need to run to control the strips. 45 watts is not a lot, but when the lights run for about 5 hours a night it adds up to 82 kWHr's per year.
 
Have doubts here. My 32-port Hinks with 4xLRS-350 enclosure uses 12-13W on standby (probably 5W or less of that is the controller proper, with the rest going to PSU waste and all the status LEDs), though that gets reported as 30VA due to the lousy PF of cheap DC supplies. If I you want to use less standby power, just get better PSUs, or a smaller controller with less of them... if you're leaving it on for several years straight (at your $13/yr for 82kWh) you might get a double digit percentage of your money back.
 
another question is, you worried about energy used, but you running outside lights for 5 hrs a night 7 days a week , are you outside this entire time ? if you so worried about energy usage, why have lights on if your not going to be actually using it ?
why not get a ELV(12v) motion sensor and only have them come on if someone is actually outside ? this would save more energy than just removing the controller usage ?
 
merryoncherry said:
Have doubts here. My 32-port Hinks with 4xLRS-350 enclosure uses 12-13W on standby (probably 5W or less of that is the controller proper, with the rest going to PSU waste and all the status LEDs), though that gets reported as 30VA due to the lousy PF of cheap DC supplies. If I you want to use less standby power, just get better PSUs, or a smaller controller with less of them... if you're leaving it on for several years straight (at your $13/yr for 82kWh) you might get a double digit percentage of your money back.
Click to expand...
True that what I measured was VA rather than watts. Hard to believe the power factor is so bad that 32 VA is only 12-13 Watts, but I suppose that's possible. I couldn't care less about the cost of the power, just trying to be as energy efficient as possible.
 
Juddge said:
another question is, you worried about energy used, but you running outside lights for 5 hrs a night 7 days a week , are you outside this entire time ? if you so worried about energy usage, why have lights on if your not going to be actually using it ?
why not get a ELV(12v) motion sensor and only have them come on if someone is actually outside ? this would save more energy than just removing the controller usage
Click to expand...
True - I could shut down the entire light show and really save energy!..

I never said I was "so worried about energy usage". I couldn't care less about the cost of the energy, just trying to do my display and home esthetics as energy efficiently as possible. Running a PC, a HinkPix Pro 32 port controller, and a Long Range Receiver to turn the strips white when a simple 2 watt controller could do the job seems silly to me. Hence the original question.
 
Burrington said:
True - I could shut down the entire light show and really save energy!..

I never said I was "so worried about energy usage". I couldn't care less about the cost of the energy, just trying to do my display and home esthetics as energy efficiently as possible. Running a PC, a HinkPix Pro 32 port controller, and a Long Range Receiver to turn the strips white when a simple 2 watt controller could do the job seems silly to me. Hence the original question.
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sorry want intending that to sound as rude as it was , was just trying to establish as to why you wanted lights on for 5 hrs a day , was wondering if there was a reason thats all
 
I'm going to try starting the strips with the existing controllers and then shutting the controllers off and letting the strips just stay in their last state. Easy to do with my automation system. If that doesn't work I'll go the relay route. Thanks for your help & ideas everyone!
 
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