Hi Everybody

[bubba691]

Hi everybody,


My name is Jason aka BUBBA691.


I am brand new to this whole thing of led strips and controllers. I do like to put a lot of lights on my house and I thought it was about time I stepped up my game. I am trying to start out with just an outline of my eves and garage. 2 Eves at different spots


I do have a few questions if you don't mind helping me out.


1. I know I want to buy something like the CCR (Cosmic Color Ribbon) or something that will allow me to change the lights to any color also want 60/m. Is there something on Ray Wu's Store Like this? Don't really want to spend $290 on one strip.


2. How do the lights get power? I see that a lot of them are plug and play and a lot that aren't.


3. How often do you need to add power to the line?


4. Would these http://www.hitlights.com/ls5050-rgb-extension.html work with what I want to do? Change to any color? Work with Light O Rama or another program?



IM SOOOOO CONFUSED!




Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[buzzdude]

Howdy

I was the same when i started.... confused... but reading the manual from the below topic, really helped.

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,1889.0.html

Thanks

Buz

 

[kel]

​

 

[kane]

I am brand new to this whole thing of led strips and controllers. I do like to put a lot of lights on my house and I thought it was about time I stepped up my game. I am trying to start out with just an outline of my eves and garage. 2 Eves at different spots

As mentioned, have a good read of the 101 manual - it'll help you out a lot with this.

1. I know I want to buy something like the CCR (Cosmic Color Ribbon) or something that will allow me to change the lights to any color also want 60/m. Is there something on Ray Wu's Store Like this? Don't really want to spend $290 on one strip.

The CCR is 30/m from memory, and each group of 3 led's are grouped together so you can't individually control each LED. Ray has the same as this, as well as 60/m, and the choice of individual leds being controlled. Keep in mind that the CCR is an all in price - controller, power supply and strip.

2. How do the lights get power? I see that a lot of them are plug and play and a lot that aren't.

That is the advantage of the LOR gear - it's much more plug and play. If you're not at all inclined to use a soldering iron, then the DIY route may require you to learn a bit, but it'll certainly give you a lot better bang for your buck! (it doesn't necessarily mean you'll spend less, you'll probably be like the rest of us and end up with more stuff!)

3. How often do you need to add power to the line?

This is a how long is a piece of string question (or how long is a string of lights?) For example, if you've got 60 led/m, then you'll need to inject twice as often as 30 led/m Easiest way is to hook it all up, stick all lights on white, and see if you start to get pinkish tones at the end. If you do, then this means you need to inject power at the end.

4. Would these http://www.hitlights.com/ls5050-rgb-extension.html work with what I want to do? Change to any color? Work with Light O Rama or another program?

The lights linked are what we refer to as "dumb strip", where the whole strip lights up the same colour. Can be useful for some situations, just depends on what you want to do. To get these to work with LOR (or any other program), you'll need a DC controller, and a way of getting a DMX signal out from your computer to the controller (either a DMX-usb dongle, or an ethernet-dmx gateway such as a D4) Chec the wiki or 101 guide for more info on this.

 

[Bird]

to ACL Jason

 

[fasteddy]

Welcome to ACL, Lots of info to absorb in a very short period if your wanting to get something going at this end of the year, but others have done it, it just takes a higher level of dedication. Good luck

 

[Charl Marais]

Welcome to ACL mate. Good people and good advice here.

Good luck with your endeavours for this year. This was about the time I started last year as well and although it can be done you will be very busy.