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Reading and trying to take it all in...LOR TSO Starter package


51phiveoh

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Hello all...

Loving the topics and wondering if I should have gotten that engineering degree to get started with LOR.

Looking at purchasing the TSO Signature Series, with extra controllers.  Also looking at getting the optional 16x25 pixel tree kit and the 10 watt flood package (with 8 flood lights).

This is what the package comes with:

Package Includes:

  • ShowTime Central with miniDirector and FM Transmitter
  • ShowTime Designer PRO level License
  • USB Adapter and USB filtered cable
  • 30 Amp ReadyToGo 16 channel light controller
  • 50' Cat5 cable to connect Director and light controller
  • TSO Signature Series SD Show Card

Is this a good place to start?
How difficult in the future to add different songs/sequences?
Do I need to have an electrician come in and set me up with a sub panel with half dozen or more extra circuit breakers for each outlet that controls a controller?
Where do you all buy your lights?  If I but regular solid color LED lights, will those work with this system?  What about LED RGB tapes/strips?

Looking to light up the house with the spots...running lights under the eaves...some arches in the walk way and maybe the two columns at the front of the porch.

 

So many questions and can see that this will easily take away from my flying lessons and other activities with the cost.

 

Thanks for the help...
 

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I presume this is a plan for next year. I think it is too late to get the stuff and learn it for this year. You can download the demo of the software and it is fully functional except it cant control lights until you buy the license, so you can learn your way around. S5 is fairly new and some of the docs have not quite caught up yet, but there as a help file and some tutorials, and of course, the Forums.

The 30 amp 16 channel box is for ac strands. LED or Incandescent, but you should start with LED. MUCH lower power consumption.

One 15 amp outlet will drive a lot of LED's. Keep the max load of each channel and the whole controller in mind.

Having a lot of outlets is nice, but for your proposed setup, one or two extension cords will get you started.

LED strips are RGB lights and can produce any color. With Dumb strips or pixels all the lights are the the same color. They can be driven from the same controller as the RGB 10W floods, but you have to keep the total load under the boards limits. It has eight ports so it will be full up with the floods but you cold add some dumb pixels or strips to the same ports, of course they will do the same effects.Again keep max loads in mind.

Smart pixels means any light any color. and yet another type of controller. The LOR pixel tree comes with the pixels and the controller. More time consuming to program. 

Your AC controller and the 10 W floods will be only 40 channels. Add the pixel tree and that count increases by 1200.

You will need AC extension cords for that 16 channel  box. Most use SPT  bulk wire and quick fit vampire plugs and sockets to make our custom extensions.

Many of us make our own pixel props which calls for, among other things, soldering skills.

By far the most time consuming job is sequencing and even if you buy ready to go stuff you will still need to assemble it in Sequencer to fit your display layout. I have never purchased or used shared sequences, but I spend a LOT of time sequencing. After the season ends I am usually starting to make changes and add to  my playlist for next year.

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33 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:
  • Thank you for the information...

I presume this is a plan for next year. I think it is too late to get the stuff and learn it for this year. You can download the demo of the software and it is fully functional except it cant control lights until you buy the license, so you can learn your way around. S5 is fairly new and some of the docs have not quite caught up yet, but there as a help file and some tutorials, and of course, the Forums.

  • Correct.  Was thinking of making the purchase in the next month or two and start drawing up ideas for what I want so that I can start the decoration process for Halloween then transition into Christmas.

The 30 amp 16 channel box is for ac strands. LED or Incandescent, but you should start with LED. MUCH lower power consumption.

One 15 amp outlet will drive a lot of LED's. Keep the max load of each channel and the whole controller in mind.

  • Ok...I have a 15 amp outlet on the outside of my house the builders call (Holiday light) package.  How far away or close to the control boxes/computer does the outlet need to be?

Having a lot of outlets is nice, but for your proposed setup, one or two extension cords will get you started.

LED strips are RGB lights and can produce any color. With Dumb strips or pixels all the lights are the the same color. They can be driven from the same controller as the RGB 10W floods, but you have to keep the total load under the boards limits. It has eight ports so it will be full up with the floods but you cold add some dumb pixels or strips to the same ports, of course they will do the same effects.Again keep max loads in mind.

  • Should I get another controller that runs the RGB just to be on the safe side?

Smart pixels means any light any color. and yet another type of controller. The LOR pixel tree comes with the pixels and the controller. More time consuming to program. 

Your AC controller and the 10 W floods will be only 40 channels. Add the pixel tree and that count increases by 1200.

  • The pixel tree is 1200 channels?  Holy crap.

You will need AC extension cords for that 16 channel  box. Most use SPT  bulk wire and quick fit vampire plugs and sockets to make our custom extensions.

  • Ok...I was also looking at the SPT wire with the vampire plugs.  I had never used them before and just found them.  Looks like a great thing even if I wasn't running a LOR system.

Many of us make our own pixel props which calls for, among other things, soldering skills.

  • What to you mean props?  Soldering circuit boards I am slowly learning to do. 

By far the most time consuming job is sequencing and even if you buy ready to go stuff you will still need to assemble it in Sequencer to fit your display layout. I have never purchased or used shared sequences, but I spend a LOT of time sequencing. After the season ends I am usually starting to make changes and add to  my playlist for next year.

  • Yes...I was thinking I can start off with the sequences they provide for the first year and keep growing off of those.  Thank you.

 

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21 minutes ago, 51phiveoh said:

Ok...I have a 15 amp outlet on the outside of my house the builders call (Holiday light) package.  How far away or close to the control boxes/computer does the outlet need to be?

The AC controller can be any distance you want to run extension cords , well within reason. Some people like to keep the controller in the garage and run many extension cords to the props. I prefer to have one long cord powering the box near the props  and short cords from the pigtails to the light props.

The RS 485 comm line which is carried over CAT 5 cable can reach several thousand feet.

The dumb flood controller is also pretty forgiving on distance to the prop, but the pixel controller MUST be close by. Voltage drop with pixels means wires should be short. There are a number of factors which affect voltage drop,.

Pixel voltage, 12v or 5v, and wire gauge.

31 minutes ago, 51phiveoh said:

Should I get another controller that runs the RGB just to be on the safe side?

You should buy Smart pixel controllers as you identify a need. I prefer to put small controllers near the pixel prop

For example, I have four port controllers at 4 different places close to the props they control. 

I have  a 16 port controller near my pixel tree, a much bigger prop

Remember, a smart pixel  controller port can control hundreds of channels.

Personally I would skip the Dumb RGB and start with smart pixels. The cost  is not much greater and you might well find yourself quickly abandoning the dumb for smart pretty quickly. I did.

Start small with a few smart pixel strings and experiment.

41 minutes ago, 51phiveoh said:

What to you mean props?  Soldering circuit boards I am slowly learning to do

Some boards are available as kits which is a saving.

By prop I mean a light fixture of some kind like mini trees or pixel trees.

Do it yourself means adding plugs an wires to fit the purpose. 

Some controllers come ready to go with pigtales and enclosure.

Some come as a bare board, requiring pigtails, power supply and an enclosure which you build. 

Not too complicated but needs thought and planning.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought this same kit, it will arrive tomorrow.  I’m expecting to set the pixie tree up, hook everything up and I expect this tso sd card to just run it... including the pixel tree.  If not I’ll be reading and watching videos and regretting this I’m afraid. 

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I bought the exact kit and running this year for the first time. It is literally plug and play. Make sure that if you bought the enhanced card, all of your controllers are gen3 or newer. The gen1 and gen2 controllers won't work with the enhanced LOR. The only bad thing is that there's a minute filler sequence in between songs with no music. I'm currently trying to find a way to edit that out. I'm running 4 controllers, but plan to duplicate a couple to add more next year along with the pixel tree. 

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