recieved my controllers

[aesl1982]

so I just received my showtime series 48 channel starter pack. Question is, when I talked to Dan he mentioned the boxes do not need to be assigned through hardware utility, supposedly everything is ready to go out of the box. Is there anything I need to do to prepare to install these in yard and start hooking the lights up?

[Mr. P]

When I first got my controllers I laid them out on the living room floor hooked everything up and added a few light strings to them just to make sure everything was ID'd properly and worked properly. Run them through the HWU and make sure everything works the way it is supposed to. There is nothing more disheartening then thinking everything works, taking all that time to set everything up outside and then finding out that you have a problem somewhere.

[aesl1982]

When I first got my controllers I laid them out on the living room floor hooked everything up and added a few light strings to them just to make sure everything was ID'd properly and worked properly. Run them through the HWU and make sure everything works the way it is supposed to. There is nothing more disheartening then thinking everything works, taking all that time to set everything up outside and then finding out that you have a problem somewhere.

was this with the showtime series. I'm assuming I would use the adapter to hook up conputer to bypass the mini director to test it all?

[aesl1982]

Or just connect the adapter to controller one then daisy chane two and three. Then open hwu n play around

[Mr. P]

was this with the showtime series. I'm assuming I would use the adapter to hook up conputer to bypass the mini director to test it all?

 

Correct, use the adapter, connect the controllers and run them through the HWU. When you open the HWU you can autoconfig the comm port or manually assign it. Then at the top hit the refresh and it will search for your controllers. You can hook up a few strings of lights and control them through the HWU.

[aesl1982]

In the xintroller boxes. Two are labeled as unit 01 and unit 02 but the third isn't labeled. Do I assume that's 3 or so I have to configure that one?

[Don]

If you have a Showtime Pro (metal enclosure) the ID is set there on the controller.

If you have a Showtime Residential (plastic enclosure) the ID is set with the hardware utility.

 

Controllers usually come from LOR as UnitID 01. You will want to connect them to the Hardware Utility (HWU) one at a time to check the address. If one needs to be changed, then do so based on the parameters above.

[aesl1982]

Everything worked perfectly. Played around awhile got a few errors wrong com ports and stuff figued my way through it played a couple sequences in the game room with then hooked up. Help desk got back quick everything with the showtime series starter pack is already configured for me that was nice. So excited. The kids went crazy over it

[Mr. P]

Perfect, now start laying out your design what lights are going where, where you are going to put the controllers to meet the power requirements, and start tweaking the sequences you got to fit your display. Most of all have fun, the kids will love it.

 

Remember, LED's use way less power then incan and you can connect way more lights on a controller with less power requirements.

 

If you get one of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-Kill-A-Watt-Electricity-Monitor-P4400/202196386

You can keep track of how much power each circuit pulls and keep a running chart of the power requirement.