Hi, Just introducing myself and a bit of a plug for a product I made.

Unfortunately making the lights themselves addressable with no other controller was too hard. The light fitting is extremely small (the base is not much bigger than a 3 pin DMX plug itself). This PCB they sent me does not have a DMX out port for some reason although the website shows it does. They have sent me a slightly different product.

I personally would find them pretty easy to use even if I had to remove them every year. There still plug and play at the moment. And to address them is as simple as plugging one end into the controller and clicking to the right address and hitting write. I suppose if you had128 fittings in a row then cascading would definitely stop you having to plug in all those fittings.

Appreciate everyone's input.
 
Hi, I'm not sure you fully understood David’s post (a couple back). You should be able to cascade these, DMX in and out are the same things in this application. Just keep connection in to in and out to out up to 170 times, giving each one a different address as you do now. Power yes that’s a problem.
 
Maby I am using the term cascade incorrectly. To simplify I believe he was talking about paralleling the data cables which I currently have done now in my garden numbering each light fitting from 1 to 11 or 1, 4, 7, 10 and so on.

I think what people like to use for Christmas lighting is automatic DMX numbering where each light after the first is automatically numbered to the next fitting. This removes the requirement for a program for each fitting as each fitting is automatically numbered by each PCB following the chain. Kind of like how the WS2811/Ws2812B digital LED strips work.
This is what I was referring to by cascading and its what I believe the in and out ports on the DMX PCB accomplish. It does make sense to use this system especially when dealing with say 100 lights. If you plugged them in each year in the same order then numbering them might work as well.

Thanks for those links I might look into it in the future but at this stage, I think the market for it is so small that it is not worth modifying for others. It works in my situation which is fine for me now. I also got the reaction from you guys that I was looking for so I can understand what is good and bad about it which I really appreciate.

I would be happy to help anyone out with the type of lights I am using or the PCB. I am easily contactable from my sparky page linked below. Would appreciate a like if anyone willing :). I post electrical related stuff every so often like downlights or home theater/automation related stuff. Happy to speak about anything really.

Thanks for everyone's time and I'll try and contribute when I can.
 
shirec said:
I think what people like to use for Christmas lighting is automatic DMX numbering where each light after the first is automatically numbered to the next fitting.

Thanks for those links I might look into it in the future but at this stage, I think the market for it is so small that it is not worth modifying for others. It works in my situation which is fine for me now.
Click to expand...


I think you have no interest in the christmas lighting community except for trying to offload a few garage projects and up your FB page followers..

If you were genuinely interested you would find that the oppurtunity for sale of a well designed and priced product that addresses most of the requirements of the target market (ie those afflicted with the clap) would be a winner in sales, and could be arranged via a group buy or similar.

I dont believe any of us expect DMX fittings to be automatic addressing, however being able to adjust them easily in the field, and feed the dmx in and out of them is at a minimum expected.. Yes you can address them with the correct writer, however when connecting and disconnecting and trying to find faults a visual indictation on the unit is invaluable. An regards the dmx in/out, yes it also can be done outside the fitting but that requires an additional junction box and terminations, which then requires additional weatherproofing and work, when a simple 4pin male in and 4pin female out on the spotlight would theoretically be minimal additional work during the manufacturing process..

A WS28** version would also prove popular, maybe more so than the straight DMX variant.. Same story on the in/out connectors though.. Voltage on these would prove another contentious topic..

Your spotlights are close, and a fine looking product, but in my opinion just require some refinements to further increase there value to the christmas light enthusiast market..

Cheers..
 
That was my main point for joining. Trying to get people interested in a product is almost impossible these days with the amount of click bait that's around. I also run Vixen lighting around Christmas with other components so I am somewhat into scripting shows.
I have taken everything everyone has said and in the future, if I can source the right components I will attempt to build another fitting.
I also did plug my FB page everywhere is free advertising and I only just started it so it's hard to survive when every other person is cutting your price down and investing in high levels of advertising on facebook and google.

Thanks for the input I will still look at the issues stated. I think I can solve them eventually. The voltage issue will be the biggest problem as I know the plugs they make don't have higher than .5mm cores and I won't know how many can be connected in a row and at what length.
 
I believe Alan's 2811 product does not mix the voltage. You can use large and small voltages. The power feed is separate to the control feed (WS28XX)
 
And if you need a guinea pig, I'm keen on buying 25 of them to replace my current garden lighting (all 12v LED)

I would like all 25 in one run - each pre-programmed on individual DMX start channels (no need for pixel style cascading), so obviously need DMX in and out (which could be done using a T junction outside the light itself). Would need a way of being able to supply sufficient power to all 25. (I already have a 12V line running the full length, so could use this for power injection)

Kane
 
s-l500.jpg

Anyone know how to wire a pwm signal into this using a negative pwm signal and positive common?
 
Do you mean you want to use a conventional DC controller to drive this board?

If so, I would say that you can wire the DC controller's channel output directly to the PWM pin of the CC driver.

You would likely need a pull-up resistor as well. Do you have a data sheet for the IC on the CC board?
 
Just to quickly explain I am currently using this one below but as there is no DMX out I am unable to provide the cascade feature.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DM-...input-300ma-3-channel-output/32636590851.html
However, the one below I linked now does have the DMX out feature yet does not have a constant current of 300ma and blows the 10w RGB LED. I tested one by blowing an LED....
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DM-...input-max-2A-3channel-output/32637896900.html
I was hoping if I could use the second PCB and connect it with the "3 x conventional controller" above thus giving me the full input/output of the dmx. Fitting three of those plus the control circuit is likely possible but I would hope there would be a better way.

I plan on attempting to make a full kit including a driver, cables, power supply etc. I think DMX is a better option to begin within only because there is no real distance limitation between fixtures. Others say the ws2811 seems to have a limiting distance between 3 and 10 meters (tho with coax up to 50m....)
I am however still going to attempt to make a ws2811 as well but I have yet to figure out which exact components I would need.

I was hoping I could figure out how to use the below PCB for a 10w RGB LED. I would need a device to be able to take the output from the WS2811 PCB and make it work for a 300ma rgb 10w LED. I suppose my knowledge on WS2811 is too limited but if anyone has any ideas of how to make this work I would be happy to listen and test it.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/fre...S2811-LED-Pixel-Module-Light/32755999690.html

As with everything I really must keep the price low because I just don't think people will pay too much for a basic 10w RGB flood. I don't have any data sheets other than ones I could try and google for you. If you want me to give it a crack let me know. Cheers.
 
Like I said, you should be able to use the DMX RGB board with CC boards that have a PWM input. One issue is that the dimming may end up being inverted.

When the DMX boards channel output is off, the CC driver would be at full drive (and visa versa). You could correct this by the use of an inverting stage (IC or transistors + resistors) between the boards.
 
I've been following you're thread as the concept is good and wanted to see where it ended up.

In my view you’re off track now – the original concept worked, with the disadvantage that the user cannot set the DMX channel for the light. That’s where you should be spending you’re time.

I’ll help if I can but I’m busy for the next two weeks.
 
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