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Get in touch with Marcus Ledet. He is the king of fountains. He is on this page.

Agree with mount controller as close to prop as possible

The reason for close to prop is 2 fold: 1 Voltage drop (low voltage types) 2 Signal degrades over distance (smart nodes) to first node. Each later nod regenerates the data stream (it might no be 100%, but good enough)

Thank you Mr P and thanks for your service. I'll do this

Controllers should be placed as close to the props as possible. It is much easier and cost effective to run one cat5 from controller to controller then 10 miles of wire because all the controllers are centrally located.

Does anyone have a good way to setup my system? I want to create a light set that is similar to LOR standard light (see attached) with the same equipment. I would like to have all of the controllers and computer in one location. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this and where to locate the equipment? 1. Mount the controllers on a board in a "footlocker" type box 2. Where to locate the box or whatever final equipment set up is

You would be far better off asking him what pumps and servos he is using. As far as controlling them, LOR has a board called a ServoDog that is specifically made for controlling servos. I've used servos so can't help on setting them up, but there are others here who have. For the pumps, LOR has a couple low voltage DC controllers. Depending on the pumps, you may need to use the controller to drive a relay and have the relay control power to the pumps. That would limit each pump to on / off as opposed to variable. And TheDucks beat me to some of this...

I don't think the version matters. Servos are controlled with. https://store.lightorama.com/products/servodog You can download the manuals from the LOR site for reference. Lights could be controlled by dumb: CMB 24 (there is a flood package, but they are only rain proof (you can control up to 24 relays, ungroup the RGB port setting) Smart: Pixies, and a whole bunch more

First, thank you for letting me join this forum. I am looking to build a small musical fountain in my backyard which would consist of 8 servo operated nozzles (controlling the direction of the spray) and 32 fixed jets (shooters). I came across this idea and LOR by watching videos produced by Grant’s Fountain Channel on YouTube. His latest “version 6” fountain project utilizes DC motor water pumps, previous versions utilized AC fountain pumps. my questions: What DC pumps is he using for Version 6? What hardware is he using to control them? many thanks! Tony

Thanks Jim you are and are always a great help

If you look at the item on the site you will see the Genius name right there on the board. https://store.lightorama.com/collections/aurora-core-controller/products/aurora-core-e1-31-controller-board-only So yes, there was some collaboration on the product.

Correct on wiring the input ports on the CTB. I have never used an input on a CTB, but at least on the InputPup, you can set it to be Normally Open or Normally Closed in the settings in the Hardware Utility. The CTB may be the same. As far as what devices to trigger the input. I currently have six inputs that are used every night during the year round landscape lighting. They are: 1) A light sensor that detect that it is dark in order to start the show - more on that later. 2) A magnetic door switch that is on my front door. 3 - 5) IR light beams (similar to what a store might have to detect that someone can in our out the door) in different places to detect a person walking up my walkway or approaching the front porch. 6) A light sensor that detects that the sun is coming up in order to stop the show - more on that later. The IR light beams I bought on Amazon. There are many similar products available. The ones that I used have a form C relay contact output so I can hook them up to be either NO or NC. The light sensors are a CdS cell that drives an OpAmp circuit that detects the change in resistance of the CdS cell to provide a solid voltage change to drive the InputPup . One of the things I did in the OpAmp circuit is to include time damping so a momentary change would not trigger the InputPup. That is particularly important for the Sun up detector since I don't want a random light to turn off the show.

This board seems to be a rebranded genius 16 or genius pro16 controller board. https://experiencelights.com/16-output-pixel-genius-controller.

Hi Jim, I took a look at the CTB manual, if I understand correctly, I have to use the GND and one of the 3 inputs (1 - 2 - 3) as a normal NO. Examples for using the 3 inputs please, just to give me an idea of the usage, do you all have much more sharing and ideas???? Always thanks to you and everyone.

Some controllers allow splitting a RGB channel group between universes and some will not. LOR S6 software can handle either of those situations. If you are dealing with a controller that can not handle a RGB channel group split between two universes, then you need to set the max channel setting in the Preview Editor to 170 as Don mentioned above. In that case, the 171st pixel will all get moved to the beginning of the next universe. However if your controller can handle a RGB channel group that is spit between two universes, you can set the max channel in the Preview Editor to 512 channels and in that case, the red and green of the 171st pixel will be in the first universe and the blue will be the first channel of the second universe. The image below shows part of the Prop Definition page for my P5 matrix. The matrix is 64 rows of 192 pixels for a total of 72 universes with all 512 channels in use for each universe. If you look at the first row (and do a little math), you will see that the 192 pixels (576 channels) uses 512 channels from Universe 201 and 64 channels from Universe 202. If your browser does not imbed the image, there is a direct link to it below. As I recall, the falcon controllers can handle an RGB channel group that is split between two universes. http://newburghlights.org/images/Preview-Editor_P5-extract.png

@steve synek - Nothing can handle more than 170 RGB Pixels per Universe. Port, yes, Universe No. The software is doing what it's supposed to do, based on the DMX standard. 170 Pixels times 3 = 510 channels in the Universe. (The DMX standard only allowed 512 channels in a universe.) So the 171st pixel is then placed on the next available universe. Configure a prop to use the pixels it is going to use. If it uses 200 pixels, then you'd configure it so that it spans over 2 DMS universes. You'd then configure your Falcon so that the Universes for the Prop are on the right port.

I am just starting my upgrade from s4 to s6 . I know my falcon controller can handle more than 170 pixels per port/ universe for some props I am creating with seed pixels. I am struggling with how to put these in the new preview. Does anyone have a direction to help me figure out the channel assignments as soon as I get to 170 it changes the last channels to the next universe when I choose DMX as the controller type.

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I understand and have watched the videos, thanks. S6 would not, in my case, sort by prop, it sorted a-z, 1-9 and mixtures of the two line by line. It would sort a space then number differently than a 01 or 1 space or no space. Trust me I've been working on this for months every combination you can think of. I would try to load an S4 sequence and S6 would flag an error, I would write it down go back to S4 and correct it but that took forever. So I wrote an S6 "preview" that was palatable, line by line. I went back to S4 using the S6 "preview" and line by line remote an S4 "template". Now with the new S4 "template" I am coping and pasting all my old sequences into the new template and S6 is accepting it with no errors but I can't tell if it will control the lights or run a show. It is a very time consuming process taking 3 to 4 hours per sequence.

The CTB or InputPup or ServoDog sends the trigger to the Show Player, and it starts the show.

Ok jim, but does only the CTB and CMB start or does the trigger start the sequence in CP and then, little by little, the show scheduled on CP scrolls away??????

For your initial purpose, MIIP is overkill. Setting up a start trigger for a show is very easy in S6. On the Edit Show, there is a section for Options. On the Options page, under Start of Show Options, select "Start on trigger". Then set the LOR Network, Unit ID and Input Number for the trigger. On the Dates & Times page, the start time becomes the time when the trigger becomes enabled, but the show does not start until the trigger happens. So for example, my year round landscaping show starts at 1600, but the show does not actually start until the trigger is received. I happen to be using an InputPup because I have a bunch of different triggers for different things. You can also use an AC controller. The DC controllers have input pins, but last I was aware of, it was not actually supported.

Hi Jim, well reviewed. I wanted to know if it was possible to get the show started on CP somehow. Just for the inauguration day, I wanted to simulate, that is, create something like a mega button, a mega electric plug for the children present to use to start the show, then obviously in the following days, send them on with the show scheduled in CP. The duks gave me a good tip with MIIP, which could also help me because, in future years, I wanted to create a button panel for selecting sequences, throughout the period that the display is mounted. But if you give me some advice, for better or worse I can choose, in case something goes wrong. I had seen the pop input cards, thinking they started the sequence from the show on CP. It's right?? Thank you too for your continued presence.

I use Interactive triggers every night of the year that the year round landscaping show is running. What do you need help on?

Had the issue of lights freaking out when I first started with LOR and did not understand why. I think Phil M. suggested putting a 120 ohm terminating resistor at the end of each network. Problem solved after installing them at the end of a run in the network that year. Now, it is common practice with each network and have had no issues since then. John