House outline plans

[gnatman]

Okay so I started asking my question is Chad but had to leave for work today so I decided I would ask on the forms so that way I could come back and read and ask more questions as I need to. So for those that were in the chat when I has to question I plan on running a total of 7 5 m 2811 pixel strips at 12v. My total house outline will be a total of 12 5 m pixel strips. I want to know what controller I should use and how many power supplies will be needed to run all of these pixel strips. And for those that don't know I plan on running DMX e1.31.

I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what I need to make this dream become a reality it

 

[mborg10]

Firstly pick what type is strip you want and find out how many ICs per m it has. For house outline Id recommend 10ic/m
If your using 125m you multiply this by 10 so you will have 1250 channels. Divide this by 170 to find out how many universes you need. Rounds up to be 8 universes so then find a controller that can handle 8 or more universes.

I'd recommend a j1sys p2 which can handle 8 universes. 4 per output.

 

[gnatman]

Well, let me correct myself and say that I'm thinking I should split it up into groups. One peak will be 8 meters and then I'll have another section of my roof which will be 18 meters, that will be the entire roof line. Roof 1 = 8M, is too far away to connect to the rest of the roof group. So, it'd probably be best to have at least 2 power supplies.


I wish I could get more visual help with my layout as I'm more of the visual type of person.

 

[SKMoss]

Gnatman,


I'm really new and going through the same questions as you. I'm using a couple SanDevice 682s for a mega tree, and have some room on of them for more universe/pixels. If I can't do it with what I have, I'm contemplating a 6804 controller also from San Devices. Its less expensive, with 1/4 the number of connections, but drives the same number of pixels as it's big brother.


I mentally got caught up in the thought that each section of roof line had to be an individual connection. I got gently corrected, and remembered the software is where i will break up the roof line. Actual connections just need to fit the controller in use.


For help with the design, i'm using a combo of Google Earth, and a couple of sequence design packages. One of which allows me to import a picture of my house/yard, and then superimpose elements on it. I'm finding that to be a great help to visualize what I want to do. Several of the software packages allow you do to the same thing. I'm using, for now, Vixen 3, but hunt around for the software that fits your needs the best.

 

[gnatman]

I'm using LOR s3 for the visuals. What size gap can I have from say section a to section b. The physical distance from the end point of section a I felt was too far to try to continue the strip to section b. It's over 3 feet. Wouldn't it almost be better for me to start a new section at that point.

 

[mborg10]

I'm using LOR s3 for the visuals. What size gap can I have from say section a to section b. The physical distance from the end point of section a I felt was too far to try to continue the strip to section b. It's over 3 feet. Wouldn't it almost be better for me to start a new section at that point.

3 feet should be fine. I have 6 feet between my strips for my spiral trees with no issue

 

[gnatman]

Thanks, just bought a few of the strips to start the project. Next up, will be soldering some pigtails on. Maybe this weekend if I get them by then