Large scale DMX controlled setup

[myosis]

Hi there,

I should start off by saying I'm in the deep here. I've never done this before and have very little knowledge, so I'm asking here if what I've learned makes any sense and what would be your advice for handling a setup this big ?

I'm building a massive light installation with a total of 260 meters of programmable RGB led strips.
I'm planning on using 60 leds per meter which would be a total of 15,600 individual pixels.

I want to control these 15,600 pixels during a live performance, so I will be hooking it up to a DMX and controlling it via a pc.

Here is where it gets kind of confusing for me, and I'm not sure what the best solution for this setup would be. I'm fine with soldering and I know where the cables need to go. But the numbers on the dmx parts are somewhat overwhelming.

One dmx driver can take up to 170 individual led lights, meaning I would need 92 dmx drivers.
I believe most dmx controllers only take up to 32 drivers.

I don't think I can use 3 dmx controllers and somehow use them as 1.

There is this thing called Art-net which seems to be made to handle larger than usual setups.
Would this be able to take up to to 92 dmx drivers?
Or what would the approach of this setup otherwise be ?

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Mark_M]

Hello, Welcome to ACL.
Stage lighting and pixels, sounds like fun! You'll see how much of a rip off the hobby pixels is compared to professional pixel lighting.

First off, good that you know something about DMX channelling and universes.
That is correct, 170 pixels per universe is max but you do not need 92 USB DMX adaptors for this.

This is where artNET or sACN comes in.
Both of these protocols can send many universes from a computers ethernet port. The signal is an IP protocol and needs a controller capable at the other end to connect to the pixels.

I'll refer to sACN because that's most common here. But Stage lighting often uses artNET.
sACN is very well known as 'E1.31' around here and Facebook groups.
sACN can provide almost 64,000 universes with one cable. That's almost 11 million pixels!!


So, you're next steps is finding a controller capable of taking artNet or sACN/E1.31.
You can then plug this controller into your computer.
There's also not limit on the number of controllers, you can have many on a small network.
The controller will take the signal from the computer and have outputs for the pixels to wire to.

 

[OzAz]

What Mark said
If your new here and new to all things pixels, LEDs, RGB, Controllers etc, then you should have a read of the 101 Manual
There's also a WiKi with a list of suppliers for various products, though not sure how many ship to Thailand.

Is there a reason you are going with strip rather than strings of pixels? Strip can be harder to modify length and fix.

 

[myosis]

Thank you so much for your replies! This gives me more convenience moving forward.
This installation will be for staging, so I might go for artNET because of this.

@Mark_M If I understand you correctly: The led strips go directly into the artNET, they can take up to 5440 pixels each, meaning I would need 4 artNET’s, instead of 92 dmx drivers. Great!

Can I daisy chain artNET’s, and plug the last one directly in my computer, or do I have to use an ethernet switch as a controller?
A simple 25usd 5 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch doesn't do the trick, does it?
(As I see some being for artNET specific going for 900usd)

@OzAz The reason I'm going for strips is because of weight and size, unfortunately it needs to be small and light.
As for the type, I was thinking: WS-2815 led strip, 12V, 60led/m, IP67.
Best price I have on this so far is: 1900usd for 260 meter.

Does this led strip choice make sense when I use it in conjunction with the artNET ?

Cheers,
Tim

 

[myosis]

Hi again, small update.

I have been talking to a supplier in China and they told me I can daisy chain 4 of their artNET AS_832M, and have the last one connect to the pc like so:

These can connect with Madrix, Madmapper or resolume, and look like this:

Or are there good reasons to avoid "cheaper" Chinese artNET's ?

To power the whole thing I would need a total of 25 power supplies!
(When using a “LRS-350W-12V power supply”)

A quick placeholder sketch to represent just that, would look like:

Seems a bit excessive, and a lot of exposed screw connections (not the safest). Are there better power supply solutions out there ?

And please feel free to call me out if I'm doing something absurdly stupid, I would very much appreciate it
As far as I am aware, this seems to be the way to control 260 meters of led's live via pc.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[TerryK]

If you are looking at Meanwell supplies, you might research higher capacity supplies such as Meanwell's RSP-3000-12. Compared to the LRS supplies, the RSP series is a bit better quality in my opinion and has better specifications although it has a higher cost as well. Typically there is a cost advantage when using a fewer number of higher capacity supplies. Without getting very deep in to the math, a pair of RSP-3000s should run the WS2815 15,000 or so pixels you mentioned.

The WS2815 pixels have a somewhat unique LED drive scheme which makes them more efficient than other pixel strips. If you search the Forum archives you should find some previous threads discussing the WS2815 advantages/disadvantages.

 

[myosis]

@TerryK Thank you for clarifying that, a single pair of RSP-3000s sounds way nicer!
I like the WS2815 because of its high voltage meaning less voltage drop, and 2 extra data pins meaning individual led's can fail, (I believe).
If there are no flaws in the current setup, I will pursue it the way it currently is