Light-O-Rama Forums > LOR Hardware > LOR Hardware - General > How fast can LOR controllers switch the lights on and off |
Light-O-Rama Forums > LOR Hardware > LOR Hardware - General > How fast can LOR controllers switch the lights on and off |
| Moderated by: LightORamaDan |
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| How fast can LOR controllers switch the lights on and off | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Tuesday February 21st, 2012 07:13 pm |
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1st Post |
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Torqumada286 Member
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Can they activate ordinary lights fast enough to simulate strobe lights, at least relatively slow ones? Torqumada
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| Posted: Tuesday February 21st, 2012 07:39 pm |
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2nd Post |
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k6ccc Member 
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My recollection is that the DC controllers PWM at 400 Hz so that would make a minimum on pulse of 2.5 mSec - which is an eternity for a strobe. I don't know the details of the AC controllers (since everything I am doing is DC so far), but knowing how a triac works, once it turns on, it stays on until the next AC power line zero crossing which could be up to just over 8 mSec. The next part of the situation is how fast the light you are using can turn on and back off. LEDs should have no problem coming on and off that fast, but I would not think that incans could do much with a few mSec pulse. You certainly could try it and see what happens. Then let us all know.
____________________ After completing the landscaping project: Year-round: 56 LOR channels controlling about 2800 LEDs Next Christmas: Still to be determined. Current guess: About 100 LOR channels controlling about 10,000 LEDs + 300 pixels of CCPs. Jim |
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| Posted: Tuesday February 21st, 2012 07:43 pm |
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3rd Post |
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LightORamaDan One of your administrators
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Regular incandescent lights cannot faithfully replicate strobe lights. This is due to the speed at which the filament in the bulb heats and cools. Some LED bulbs can provide a strobe effect but other LEDs have capacitors in their supply circuits that add persistence much as a filament in an incandescent bulb. The LOR software provides for timing down to 1/100 sec but because PCs do not operate in real-time and because communications traffic you will see that 0.05 seconds is closer to the true resolution available. Thus the best you can hope for is a 0.05 sec pulse which is considerably slower than the flash of a strobe light. Dan
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| Posted: Tuesday February 21st, 2012 11:02 pm |
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4th Post |
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George Simmons Member 
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LightORamaDan wrote: Some LED bulbs can provide a strobe effect but other LEDs have capacitors in their supply circuits that add persistence much as a filament in an incandescent bulb. My grandmother would be proud of those lights. She always preached persistence and told me good things came to people who persisted in their goals.
____________________ Just say NO to people who lack a sense of humor. http://www.clearwaterlights.org 2012 Custom Sequencing is SOLD OUT!. Waiting list now being populated... |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 22nd, 2012 06:01 am |
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5th Post |
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Ken Benedict Member 
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In my earlier days of lighting, I found better "strobing" results with several small incandescent lights, rather than one or two big ones. That's why some concerts have "audience blinders" composed of a dozen or so of the smaller lights. While not as fast as a real strobe, a five second burst is reasonably effective. I have some 2000 watt incandescent bulbs that have a persistence of 7 seconds for the filament to finally go off. In theatre, trying to get a quick on with bigger lights you have to pre-heat 7-12 percent several seconds before you need it at full. Some of the newer LED lights have built in strobing, usually as a seperate DMX channel.
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