Newbie Question on LOR RGB tape lighting

[KSaliga]

I read through the manual on your site, and I feel like I'm swimming in new information, most of which is over my head. I'm trying to do a simple setup with tape lighting along the gutters of my house. I love the idea of being able to have different colors and patterns of lighting, but I'm also trying to keep it simple - probably an impossible balancing act.

So I ordered a Light-O-Rama starting kit. It came with a control board that has two sockets for tape light, as well as two rolls of tape light, each about 16 feet long. I've been playing with it, and got both sets working with a manually made sequence, to rotate between various colors.

Now the hard part. The length I would like to go is longer than 16 feet. Is it possible to connect multiple tape lights together? If so, will each tape's "channel 1" go off as channel 1 for that unit? (In other words, if I have two sets connected together, will channel 1 on each set go off with my programmed channel 1? This is the desired effect, btw.)

If it is not possible to connect multiple tape lights end-to-end, is it possible to add more tape lights to the Light-O-Rama board? Or do I have to purchase separate boards for each pair of light sets? And if so, is there a better board that can connect more than 2 together?

I'm sorry if these are some of the most basic questions.

 

[OzAz]

Hi @KSaliga could you provide a bit more info, like the part/model numbers of the items you are asking about? Maybe a link to the product would help us with answering your question

 

[KSaliga]

I’ve got the Cosmic Color Controller II. The shop page for the package is here: http://store.lightorama.com/cococoiiwi2c.html

 

[KSaliga]

It appears from everywhere I’m reading that I cannot hook more than two Cosmic light strings to this controller. I’d either have to buy multiple controllers and daisy chain them together, or buy a controller that can support more light strings. If this is true, how do I connect so many light strings to one controller, if they are all so fat apart? Are there extension cables for the lights to reach the controller box?

 

[videoman3857]

The cosmic colour strings are limited to the strings attached to the controller
You can daisy chain several units with the cat 5 cable and have multiple units to extend to whatever you are doing
If you go for the pixie 4, 8 or 16 controller They support a maximum of 100 pixels each channel. ergo a pixie 4 does 4 x 100 pixels and Pixie16 does 16 x 100 pixels
Generally you make up your own extension leads - everyone has their own idea of what to do.
a lot of guys use 3 wire extension leads and cut the ends off. They use (Australia) Blue?Black for negative, Brown/Red for positive and the Yellow/green wire for Data.
Some use multi stranded, multi core Security alarm wire.

Voltage loss can be a problem, depending on the size wire used and you may need to inject power along the way to make the lights work properly.
The biggest problem with voltage drop is noticeable when you want all the lights to be white, as the lights towards the end of the string/.strip look pink.
By simply injecting power at the end of the strip, they will be white.

I cope that hasn't confused you too much.
The 101 manual explains power injection and with the diagrams, it's much easier to understand

 

[Cologne LED]

The cosmic colour strings are limited to the strings attached to the controller.