Halloween over - Now onto Christmas

BobMLT

BobMLT

New elf
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
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Hi all. Been following this site for a couple of years on and off. Been blown away by the community of it all, and also by the technicality of this passion. I've been around lighting (DMX) control for many years, but now want to start looking at intelligent pixel lighting for Christmas (yes I know I'm coming in late). I have started looking at purchasing pixels and a power supply from Ray Wu (waiting on an invoice to save on shipping) and still deciding on a controller. Mu budget limits my options (for this year) but I want to expand next year.
My plan for this year is only a string of pixels for my roofline (probably about 250ish) and maybe a small tree if I can get it together in time.
Any suggestions on a (reasonably) cheap controller would be appreciated (secondhand is ok, but can't find anything on ebay).
Also, with the controller, is there a rule of thumb for when to change output (i.e. is it a good idea to have each prop/group of props on a different output?). I understand universes, but still not sure how you can control 300 pixels (@ 3 channels each) on one output in a DMX512 universe.

Anyway, thanks for any advice (other than telling me I am too late to the party - I know!).

Cheers
 
Hi and welcome.
If you haven't done so already, have a read of the 101 manual. It has all the information you could want in there.
So far as controllers, there are a few types available, but they are not something you will find on ebay, One of the most popular is the falcon series of controllers and if you are luck darylc may have something available as he does bulk buys for us in Aus.
Otherwise AAH sells his own controllers and would be worth having a chat and see if you can come up with something.
If you haven't got your pixels yet, you may be pushing to get them in time as nothing happens real quick in China at this time of year, but good luck anyway.
 
You won't find many secondhand RGB controllers on ebay, mostly sold through forums like this or on the facebook groups

Where about are you located? @darylc might have some falcon controllers for sale $200USD + shipping, else you could get one of @AAH 's Pi hat boards if you only want something smaller for now. There's also several other vendors in USA

There's no rule of thumb, some max out each output (eg 1024 pixels per output on a falcon board) other's spread it out over several ports. For instance, I have a 4 port controller which has 1 arch and 1 candy cane on each port, with no power injection. Others might have put all 8 props on the one output and used power injection.

Basically each output/port is broken into a number of DMX Universes (depending on maximum pixels the board can handle per output); eg, An output may have 4 of 512 channel universes, so 300 pixels @ 3 channels each would span nearly 2 universes (Note: you can use all 512 channels but most people just use max of 510 (3 x 170 =510)

Despite the fact that lots of people seem to dislike HolidayCoro, I still think this is one of the best pictures for explaining pixels / channels / universes / outputs (ports)
 
Thanks all for the replies. I am located in Brisbane. Have had a look at AAH and love the look of his BBB board but don’t have a BBB which is an added expense. I like the idea of the differential / long distance options too from falcon and Hanson but out of budget for this year. It looks increasingly like next year will be my first year!
unfortunately(as always) I focused on Halloween for ten months and once that is over started to consider xmas.
 
I have checked out the Advatek stuff as well. Some good options there, particularly the weatherproof options which I like.
However I think I will save up for a Falcon Board just for the fact these seem to be 'industry standard'.
Another question, however, where can one buy pixel net (similar to Pixnode net from Holidaycoro) in Australia?
 
Best ones to get are from Ray Wu or other Chinese vendors such as Daniel Zhang. Have brought anumber of times from these vendors. Tho leaving it abit late for this year
 
Thanks for that. I won't be attempting this year, just getting in early for next year.

Still getting my head around everything. So much to learn.

Thanks all for the help
 
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