Starting the basics and need a point in the right direction

[lmpearce]

Hi, first time poster and looking to start the light show worm hole in 2024, I currently have a large stock of Bunnings style 2 wire string lights and am waiting to have some of these incorporated in the first year.

I have been looking at / recommended the Hansen Electronics Dmx2-24 Ready to run package (https://www.hansonelectronics.com.au/product/dmx2-24rtr/) and have a few questions.

1.With my bunnings style 2 wire lights how much controllability / customisation will i get with them using X-lights.
2. in the the years to come should i wish to slowly fade out the bunnings lights and add some other pixel lights with can be controlled down to the individual light will i need a different controller and will it plug and play with the dmx controller.

Should any one like to offer there opinion on controllers or systems to buy im more then happy to go down a more diy route.

looking forward to your responses.

 

[Martin Mueller]

The controller you are looking at is outputting DC and has been sized for strings of a specific length (fairy lights). What type of power does your proposed string need?

As for pixels, that controller does not support pixels. FYI: You do not need to phase out the strings when adding pixels? I have both in my show.

 

[lmpearce]

The controller you are looking at is outputting DC and has been sized for strings of a specific length (fairy lights). What type of power does your proposed string need?

As for pixels, that controller does not support pixels. FYI: You do not need to phase out the strings when adding pixels? I have both in my show.

Thanks for the quick reply Martin, the lights I currently have are just the standard ones you would see from Bunnings I have a number of different sets with power requirements ranging from 28v to 31v. These lights are dc controlled and normally connect into a controller with a single button on the wall which can change the light modes.

which controller would I need for pixels

 

[Martin Mueller]

There are a ton of pixel controllers available. My favorites are the Falcon line and ESPixelStick. The Pixel 101 on this site describes what you will need very well.

 

[Iain]

From his website, Alan writes “Lights in the range from about 27V-36V can generally all be ran from a 31V power supply” so that ready to run box should suit all of your lights.

For sending signals to the DMX2-24, you will still need something such as a laptop, or raspberry pi, and appropriate DMX output.

To integrate pixels, you’ll need a different type of controller. As mentioned above, the falcon range is popular, but there are plenty of others. You can integrate the two together I’ve done a similar thing, using a DMX controller for my pool lights.

This is what I’ve done, but it’s just one way of doing it:
PC > falcon > pixels
> DMX > lights

Hope that helps a bit!

 

[lmpearce]

From his website, Alan writes “Lights in the range from about 27V-36V can generally all be ran from a 31V power supply” so that ready to run box should suit all of your lights.

For sending signals to the DMX2-24, you will still need something such as a laptop, or raspberry pi, and appropriate DMX output.

To integrate pixels, you’ll need a different type of controller. As mentioned above, the falcon range is popular, but there are plenty of others. You can integrate the two together I’ve done a similar thing, using a DMX controller for my pool lights.

This is what I’ve done, but it’s just one way of doing it:
PC > falcon > pixels
> DMX > lights

Hope that helps a bit!

I run a home sever so plan on using a virtual machine with a dongle connected to the DMX board. With Alan’s products do any of the Dmx boards support pixels what connections do pixels usually require?

 

[Kent]

With using a VM as the main show player, beware of any issues with respect to audio if you intend play music. I originally started down that path and ended up with a dedicated machine in my main cabinet.

 

[lmpearce]

With using a VM as the main show player, beware of any issues with respect to audio if you intend play music. I originally started down that path and ended up with a dedicated machine in my main cabinet.

Yep I can see how this would be an issue with audio should that be the case I can always add a seperate machine in as well.

 

[Martin Mueller]

There is a simpler solution. The Falcon controllers (and many others including ESPixelStick) provide ddp/E1.31 to DMX outputs as well as Pixel String outputs. This means no dongle needed and the onlything coming out of your server is Ethernet traffic going to your show network.

 

[Iain]

With Alan’s products do any of the Dmx boards support pixels

Not as far as I know. They’re two separate styles of lighting.

what connections do pixels usually require?

Typically a three wire connection per string from a suitable board. One wire being the “data”, the other two are positive & negative. Be careful with the cable thickness depending on your chosen voltage and distance, as they draw a bit of power.

I agree with above, if/when you get to something like a falcon, switch to the falcon’s DMX output. But to start you can use a DMX dongle from your pc to the DMX board.

Make sure you don’t use wifi from your server!

 

[Martin Mueller]

DMX has a data rate of 256000 bits per second. WS2811 use 800000 bps. Lets say you use a frame rate of 40fps (25ms). That means you have 256000 / 40 = 6400 bits per frame available to send to the pixel string. 64000 bits available / 24 bits per pixel = 260 pixels per string. Whoops, DMX has its own frame that limits us to a maximum of 512 bps. That means you only get 170 pixels per frame with an impressive 500 frames / second.

There are DMX to Pixel controllers, but they are not going to get you any density and that results in a higher per port cost.

I have a really bad cold so I suspect I am rambling a bit here.