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Replacing STD LED with RGB's


BCBjorklund

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HI All,

I am in the process of mapping out my roof Ridges and Gutters for RGB's. I need help with Hardware and the layout

I plan on having RGB Icycles on the Edges and RGB on the Ridges See pic below

I plan on using Bullets 12mm for the Icycles with the boscoyo  icycle strips, and some type of light like the C9.

I want to stick with the LOR if possible..Any help with the layout would be greatly appreciated

 

Roofline2.jpg

Edited by BCBjorklund
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If you are aiming to stay with LOR, I would recommend Cosmic Color Bulbs.  Looks more like a traditional light and gives you RGB.  Personally I am not overly fond of the near continuous light of a ribbon.  I am using GE Color Effects bulbs (no longer sold as far as I know) which are similar to the CCBs and in my opinion, look great.

http://store.lightorama.com/12vgrrgbbu50.html

Your drawing is showing lights on all sides.  Generally mot much point in putting lights on the back side (unless you want the show to be visible from the back yard).  Look from the audience perspective to see where lights can be excluded.

 

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Thank you for commenting,

My roof is visible 360 degrees, so it looks bare without it all done(though I currently do not have it all in LEDs 25% blank)

Yes a friend recommended the GE lights and he is transitioning as they are no longer available.

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That is going to be a ton of channels and if you stay strictly on RS485 then you will need several networks. I mean icicles alone all the way around will be tens of thousands of channels and then you still have the roof itself. Personally I would go E1.31 and since LOR is very limited on its E1.31 controllers there are others out there that can do the job better.

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That's a lot of Pixies to run that size stage.

25-26' is 100 nodes (3" centers), and while you might run more per controller PORT, that needs Power injection (more wire complexity)

I also noted you have a short run in a Valley near the front door. Those guys will drown in heavy rain.

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Hopefully you measured this yourself or you have the blueprints. Don't trust those satellite measurements. I was given satellite measurements for my roofline and just from looking at ground level I could see the lengths were off, grossly. They were all off between 4' and 8'. that's a huge discrepancy. Luckily I have great friends that climbed a ladder to measure most of them. The contractor that installed the high ones measured the rest.

JR

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TheDucks: I only drew the ridges and edges, no valleys drawn on this particular one. We getots of rain so I need to make everything as water tight as possible. This year I struggled with accumulative grounds. I plan on adding a sub panel and 8 separate circuits . I plan on 4" spacing on the ridges.

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MrP, it is around  757 C-9 for the ridge lines , and about 2200 bullet pixels for the gutter/edge lines.

Now how do I calculate that to power supplies and controllers to Run off LOR is the question

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Each Pixel uses .6 watts or 50ma @ 12Vdc. 100 pixel's would be 5amps or 60 watts. Use a rule of thumb. I always oversize the power supply a little as to not risk overloading power supplies.

HVACR

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3 hours ago, BCBjorklund said:

How do I figure the channel requirements

Channels?  Are these Smart or dumb RGB? 

Smart uses PORTS with up to 300 channels per PORT (12V, no power inject)

This is really a balance game of LIMITS you need to work with:.

Max Amps per BOARD BANK,  Per Port  (applies to Dumb as well), PSU capacity PER BANK (I chose the HC Weather resistant because it was 33A, and I could run it all night at the Banks full 30A if needed. 4 dumb strings (of 100)*6A = 24A)

Smart: Max distance to first NODE per PORT (older Pixies were 15-25'. target at 15) This really applies to dumb as well. Voltage drop is your enemy.  Power injection requires taking care of additional DETAILS: Grounds (really the Minus) of all PSU's per bank/board must be interconnected. All FEEDS must be fused  Plus leads that END at the inject point must be DISCONNECTED to prevent multiple ampacity issues.

There is another thread where I offered ideas on controller placement, but I could not find it). Bottom line was BIG (port count) controllers are not always the answer. determine where the limit boundaries intersect. 15' circles from possible feed points 💡 feeds could be in the middle of long runs (you don't have any straight ones),feed R and Feed reverse. Your ridge intersections look good.

can you create any string SET-GROUPS of close to 100 nodes with the combinations of runs  (don't get to crazy-wild, you need to code their usage).💡 Label each of those lengths with NODES (##) per run, then make lots of large copies and grab some colored markers and try combinations, marking FEED points, controller locations. Spin, repeat until you come up with things that work (on paper 😜)

And while you are THINKING, Windows that might be close to a controller???? 100% port fill might not be a good thing. If a port dies...what is your recovery plan?  (a Pixie 2 that you sneak up there? (needs a weather shelter for the PSU ☹️ )

 

 

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I covered using smaller controllers for the roofline in your other thread. Much easier that’s why mine are picie4’s.

TheDucks is correct on that.

However with a pixie2 you can use the smaller waterproof psu’s. But you can get the pixie2’s in those waterproof cases but you may have to buy the kit with 2 strings. But the new pixie4’s Have a much further reach than LOR advertises because they err on the side of caution. I tested 120’ from controller to first pixel and ran 100 pixels or more without any problems.

after snaking cables to get them where I need I have 1 at 120 using extensions and 3 at 100’ from controller to 1st pixel.

JR

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8 hours ago, BCBjorklund said:

How do I figure the channel requirements

First of all you will need to decide what lights you are going to use. Example: my C9 RGB bulbs on my roof ridges are spaced 12" apart so I know a string of 50 spans 49'. So if I have 500' of roof line to cover then that is ten strings and 1500 channels. If I use lights spaced 6" apart then those numbers are doubled, 4" apart and they are tripled.

Same goes for the icicles, if you have 150' of eaves and each icicle string is 15' long with 300 channels per string then that would be ten strings at 3,000 channels.

It all comes down to the bulb spacing and amount of space you need to cover. Determine what lights you want to use, their specs, then determine what you need to cover that space.

Once that is completed you can determine your channels and the number of controllers you will need and type of controllers.

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Most people who start this business actually do their calculations backwards. They buy a controller then the lights and then figure how to put it on the house.

Actually you should start with the house, then the lights and then the controllers to handle the lights.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi  All,

slow planning progress. I modified the roof line to show:

  • Ridge rgb bulbs(blue)
  • Icycles edge(green)
  • 4 Zones dashed lines
  • power outlets
  • possible Controller locations
  • Light string counts
  • bulb counts
  • pixal counts

Now to figure out what I need to control and power them .

Your comments and help is greatly appreciated

Roof light count.pdf

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14 minutes ago, BCBjorklund said:

Hi  All,

slow planning progress. I modified the roof line to show:

  • Ridge rgb bulbs(blue)
  • Icycles edge(green)
  • 4 Zones dashed lines
  • power outlets
  • possible Controller locations
  • Light string counts
  • bulb counts
  • pixal counts

Now to figure out what I need to control and power them .

Your comments and help is greatly appreciated

Roof light count.pdf

Are the Icicles Dumb or smart?

Why 'zones"? Do these require that the controllers (for those strings) not cross boundaries.?

12V or 5V  (personally I would stick to 12V and avoid power inject)

 

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