Building a matrix for the first time

[aimbrunone]

I’m looking to add a 6ft x 3ft matrix on the side of my house next year with a 1 inch spacing. I’m looking for any tips and suggestions from the community.

Second controller vs receiver
Frame building so I can roll up for storage
Mounting to house
Uses in show: video? Text? GIF?

Any other advice?

Thanks so much!

 

[Skymaster]

Second controller vs receiver
Frame building so I can roll up for storage
Mounting to house
Uses in show: video? Text? GIF?

72x36 pixels is 2592 pixels. You'll want this across at least 6 outputs from a controller, to keep the pixel count in a reasonable range for frame rate.
I would do 6 rows of 72px per output (432px), powered from both ends. Or 12 outputs of 216px (3 rows) with no power injection.
This would need to be 2 or 3 receivers, each with a home run back to the controller and not chained. (Actually in the 3x receiver 12 port mode you could chain 2 of them and have only 2 cables back)

Or you could look at something like an 8 port Baldrick for just the matrix and have it's own controller.
(This could be wired as 8x ports of 324px, 9 columns per port). This would probably be the most ideal as it'll be a self contained unit, and you'd just need power and Ethernet to it and nothing more.

As for using it-
Video, not likely good enough, you're talking the resolution of a late 90s Nokia cell phone. Not exactly high definition.
But effects, text and gifs would work well.

On the mechanical side, I'll leave that to others to answer, but if you could give some photos of your proposed mounting location as well as some idea of what you're house/location is made from, it'll definitely help there.

 

[thewanderingpine]

There's a thread with a few examples here: https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/garage-matrix-builds.15196/

at 72 x 36 resolution - you're not going to get amazing video out of it -- but you'll be able to get some.
̶I̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶-̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶e̶i̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶(̶e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶u̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶4̶ ̶p̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶P̶I̶)̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶8̶/̶1̶6̶ ̶p̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶e̶a̶s̶i̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶ ̶A̶n̶y̶ ̶l̶a̶r̶g̶e̶r̶ ̶-̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶e̶y̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶*̶o̶n̶e̶*̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶e̶i̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶i̶n̶.̶ I think skymaster is right here (he usually is). In theory the # of pixels is just within the limits, but you actually need to wire it -- which probably implies 6 or 8 outputs)

 

[aimbrunone]

Thanks everyone! I like the idea of adding the Baldrick controller. Do you happen to know if I can add two 600watts power sources to it?

I've seen the mesh on Gilberts site with a .95 spacing (50 x 100). This can eliminate the soldering! I may go with this.

I'm debating if I should mount vertically or horizontally. My initial thought was horizontally because I thought about video. However, if the video will not look so good, I may be better off vertically, almost to mimic a mega tree. Thoughts?

Also, how do people play video with their show? TV monitors or projectors?

Thanks again!

 

[Skymaster]

. Do you happen to know if I can add two 600watts power sources to it?

The input connectors are rated to 30A. Each 600W PSU is 50A @12V. So unless it you're breaking out the remaining 20A for power injection, it's a waste.

The common 350W PSU used works nicely as it's 29A, so two of those. Alternatively a single 700-800W server power supply connected to both inputs would work nicely too.