Hello from Maitland NSW

simonmac

New elf
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
1
hey guy's,

I have a simple set up with some store brought LED strings and icicles.

I want to venture into pixles and and the awesome fun lighting that can be had, but time and budget are an issue this year.

i would love to have the strings and icicles "synced" to be more visually pleasing,

I have multiple strings, one goes along the ridge of the roof and another is icicles along the gutter, they are just plug in 240v and have a controller that you can press the button to change display functions,
It drives me crazy having them timed differently,
I have tried running them off the one controller but they are very Dull, i would suggest that there is not enough power to run the whole lot.
what is the easiest way to rectify this issue?
I have tried putting them onto a timer and they will start off good but slowly fall out of sync.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
Community project designer
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
4,188
Location
Eaglehawk
Welcome to ACL
The lights that you have sound like the dreaded 2 wire/2 channel ones which have a plugpack which typically drops the power down to 31VDC, has a mutifunction controller on it and has 2 wires going from the controller out to the lights. If that's the case there is very little that can be done easily with them. They can be controlled by my DMX2-18 or 2811DC30 for computer control but there's no easy way to sync up multiple lights without going down that track.
 

franky_888

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
160
Location
Medowie
Hey Simon.

Welcome!

Your problem is the exact reason that brought me here a few years ago. Couldn't cope with out-of-sync lights!

David's suggestion in chat would be your cheapest option (DMX Dongle + Power Supply + DC 2 wire control board). Many of the newer pixel controllers support DMX outputs, so it's somewhat future proof. To be honest though, I shelved my cheap store-based lights when I moved to pixels.. May end up re-incorporating them one year but not sure yet!

Best of luck!
 
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