Anyone else trying out the new Firefly units?

[thebaronn]

lonewolvie wrote:

I can get yellow, orange, sky blue, turquoise, chartruse, varying purples. Basically I play around with three channels and varying intensities to get the colors I want then replicate them through the string.

http://cloford.com/resources/colours/500col.htm

Above is one of the main sites i used for color values (i had to really search for values of vermillion and marigold, finally found some site in australia with actual numbers for me).

They give a 0-255 value for RGB and what I did was divided the number by 255 to get the % intensity. Then I think doctor jones explained that I could just use dmx intensities (i have never used dmx so I had no clue). The only one I didnt agree with was aquamarine (but I guess what I think it is, is wrong since most sites agreed on the numbers) The only thing that really does suck is that places have magenta, then you scroll down and it gives you magenta(web)??? and it is a little different.

I tried playing around at first but then me and my wife could never agree on what color was what, lol! Even when it was white I said it was white and she said she had a blueish tint, so I decided on leaving the values to any color professionals I could find even if they were self proclaimed!

This is a song i did for my son, it tells what color is being used, yada yada yada:

Here is a copy of the colors i used for the song:



Attached files

[Paul Roberson]

thebaronn,

I like that the link you listed has the actual color name. This is a page I have looked at a few times.

[thebaronn]

Paul Roberson wrote:

thebaronn,

I like that the link you listed has the actual color name. This is a page I have looked at a few times.

cool, i like that you can pick the color. I see the arguement now, thats pink, no thats pink!

[thebaronn]

I was thinking that there were several pros and cons to seting up the channels all one color grouped or grouped by channel. Then I had an epiphany, I will use the track option (just learned about that after 98% of my sequencing was done) a track for each setup. While I do like the closeness for mixing colors I do feel that ramps of only green or red (it is christmas) is more difficult with the channel grouping, just my 2 cents not worth a penny.

[thebaronn]

I was thinking that there were several pros and cons to seting up the channels all one color grouped or grouped by channel. Then I had an epiphany, I will use the track option (just learned about that after 98% of my sequencing was done) a track for each setup. While I do like the closeness for mixing colors I do feel that ramps of only green or red (it is christmas) is more difficult with the channel grouping, just my 2 cents not worth a penny.

[Paul Roberson]

thebaronn wrote:

I was thinking that there were several pros and cons to seting up the channels all one color grouped or grouped by channel. Then I had an epiphany, I will use the track option (just learned about that after 98% of my sequencing was done) a track for each setup. While I do like the closeness for mixing colors I do feel that ramps of only green or red (it is christmas) is more difficult with the channel grouping, just my 2 cents not worth a penny.

I have several post on tracks here and PC lately. I love tracks and use them extensively. I had 20 or so in my 08 setup. The most important thing I think to do, when using tracks is keep one track (track 1) that has ALL your channels in the same order thru out all your sequences.

[tboerjan]

Baron, you may be on to something. I have got to get this tracks thing wrapped around my brain.

Have thought alot about this also. Maybe we should wait long enough for Dan & LOR to come out with something as Paul has said. Hopefully, it will make this all obsolete...

my 2 sense;hopefully, not nonsense.

[NWSanta]

Duke wrote:

To be honest, I'm WAY beyond frustrated with CDI. The really sad thing is that now they are having an end of season sale and it's the same $hit that we have problems with. THAT tells me they got screwed by their chinese manufacturer and are stuck with junk to push on unsuspecting buyers. Why else would they still be trying to sell it? That's a damned shame on CDI's part. I WILL return my defective CDI junk just to try and recover some of my losses but I will not buy any new lights from them. They have lost me as a customer because I have to pay to ship them back? I will use the replacements in ground items that are easy to fix if need be and not any custom built features or I may sell them all on the bay. I'm WAY beyond mad as hell that I have to rebuild all this stuff. There was absolutely NO pre season savings on that deal whatsoever. Now I understand that CDI is going to go back to their 2007 supplier that had the really good quality lights and it was all the ranting and raving about THOSE lights that I chose CDI in the first place only to be duped by a sub standard manufacturer and CDI supported them? WTF? I would much rather get a 100% refund and have them send a UPS truck to come get this junk off my roof and front yard. Then I could spend the money with someone else. Do they have "Lemon Laws" for Christmas Lights? D-Light still has a good chance with me. It's a new product and I really think they will get these issues fixed. How many times have we bought buggy software that needs to be patched or updated on a regular basis? I'm not saying it's acceptable at all, I'm just dealing with it as best I can for the time being. If they don't get these fixed then someone else may get on the bandwagon and steal their thunder. FireFlys are a great concept. I hope their resolved before the season ends so I can plan for next year. And WHY do we do this? We are an elite few of Christmas crazed idiots that do it for fun and to spread the holiday spirit to others at our expense. It's worth it to me when I hear children and adults alike shout out their Ohhhhs and Awwwws and Wowwwwws. It makes them happy which in turn makes me happy. It's my way of putting the candles on the birthday cake for Jesus. I hope all this makes Him smile too!

So This is a great thread. I said to myself last night that I was going to sit down and read all 20 + pages of this thread to get all the information on these FF's Being that I don't have a big Budget they will most likely end up in my 2010 show. Hopefully by then they'll have all the bugs worked out. I do like the Rod Megatree, I think that's a cool idea and adding them to Leaping arches along with standard lights does appeal to me as well.

However, I have to absolutely agree with Duke on his above post here. CDI - Pissed me off with their shipping. My Mega Tree and Arches are all C6 Leds that I purchased from them and it looks like I missed the boat on the SH*%ty Leds thank god cause dewrapping my Arches is just not something I would look foward to doing. This year I had one section of them go flaky but, I think it's something to do with one of the rectifiers as it works fine when it's warm but, not when it's cold.
Back to Issues at CDI, UPS SUCKS! There is now way around it. I hate them, they screw over Canadians like there is no tomorrow and the fact that YOU have to pay shipping back to CDI When one of their products fails really gives me the red ass. That's why this year I went with Travis at LEDLIGHTING as I've purchased other stuff from him without any problems and he ships via USPS which is wayyyyyyyy cheaper than UPS. Sorry Paul but, when you live in Canada and you won't ship via any other carrier you lose a customer.

Anyways, now that I've had my Rant I want to thank everybody for this great thread on FF's and I'll continue to read more and hopefully one day be able to say yeah I purchased some of these!!!

-Evan

[Paul Roberson]

Just so you know.

LSP claims they will have a RGB color picker in March or April when they incorporate DMX support.

[NWSanta]

Why would you want to use something other than the LOR Software? Just a curiosity question more than anything.
-Evan

[Paul Roberson]

NWSanta wrote:

Why would you want to use something other than the LOR Software? Just a curiosity question more than anything.
-Evan

I don't, but someone else might.

Why would you want to use D-lights FF with LOR?

Personally I would rather my software and all my hardware come from the same company. That way if there are problems I don't have to call multiple companies hearing "its not our equipment its theirs". :shock: No, this has not happen with these two companies!

I think help programming multi color capable hardware is not far off with LOR S2.

[NWSanta]

Paul Roberson wrote:

NWSanta wrote:

Why would you want to use something other than the LOR Software? Just a curiosity question more than anything.
-Evan

I don't, but someone else might.

Why would you want to use D-lights FF with LOR?

Personally I would rather my software and all my hardware come from the same company. That way if there are problems I don't have to call multiple companies hearing "its not our equipment its theirs". :shock: No, this has not happen with these two companies!

I think help programming multi color capable hardware is not far off with LOR S2.

Good Point...maybe in time LOR will come out with something like this but, who knows...

[Paul Roberson]

NWSanta wrote:

Paul Roberson wrote:

NWSanta wrote:

Why would you want to use something other than the LOR Software? Just a curiosity question more than anything.
-Evan

I don't, but someone else might.

Why would you want to use D-lights FF with LOR?

Personally I would rather my software and all my hardware come from the same company. That way if there are problems I don't have to call multiple companies hearing "its not our equipment its theirs". :shock: No, this has not happen with these two companies!

I think help programming multi color capable hardware is not far off with LOR S2.

Good Point...maybe in time LOR will come out with something like this but, who knows...

We can only hope.

If they do I'll be all over it.

[thebaronn]

NWSanta wrote:

Duke wrote:

To be honest, I'm WAY beyond frustrated with CDI. The really sad thing is that now they are having an end of season sale and it's the same $hit that we have problems with. THAT tells me they got screwed by their chinese manufacturer and are stuck with junk to push on unsuspecting buyers. Why else would they still be trying to sell it? That's a damned shame on CDI's part. I WILL return my defective CDI junk just to try and recover some of my losses but I will not buy any new lights from them. They have lost me as a customer because I have to pay to ship them back? I will use the replacements in ground items that are easy to fix if need be and not any custom built features or I may sell them all on the bay. I'm WAY beyond mad as hell that I have to rebuild all this stuff. There was absolutely NO pre season savings on that deal whatsoever. Now I understand that CDI is going to go back to their 2007 supplier that had the really good quality lights and it was all the ranting and raving about THOSE lights that I chose CDI in the first place only to be duped by a sub standard manufacturer and CDI supported them? WTF? I would much rather get a 100% refund and have them send a UPS truck to come get this junk off my roof and front yard. Then I could spend the money with someone else. Do they have "Lemon Laws" for Christmas Lights? D-Light still has a good chance with me. It's a new product and I really think they will get these issues fixed. How many times have we bought buggy software that needs to be patched or updated on a regular basis? I'm not saying it's acceptable at all, I'm just dealing with it as best I can for the time being. If they don't get these fixed then someone else may get on the bandwagon and steal their thunder. FireFlys are a great concept. I hope their resolved before the season ends so I can plan for next year. And WHY do we do this? We are an elite few of Christmas crazed idiots that do it for fun and to spread the holiday spirit to others at our expense. It's worth it to me when I hear children and adults alike shout out their Ohhhhs and Awwwws and Wowwwwws. It makes them happy which in turn makes me happy. It's my way of putting the candles on the birthday cake for Jesus. I hope all this makes Him smile too!

So This is a great thread. I said to myself last night that I was going to sit down and read all 20 + pages of this thread to get all the information on these FF's Being that I don't have a big Budget they will most likely end up in my 2010 show. Hopefully by then they'll have all the bugs worked out. I do like the Rod Megatree, I think that's a cool idea and adding them to Leaping arches along with standard lights does appeal to me as well.

However, I have to absolutely agree with Duke on his above post here. CDI - Pissed me off with their shipping. My Mega Tree and Arches are all C6 Leds that I purchased from them and it looks like I missed the boat on the SH*%ty Leds thank god cause dewrapping my Arches is just not something I would look foward to doing. This year I had one section of them go flaky but, I think it's something to do with one of the rectifiers as it works fine when it's warm but, not when it's cold.
Back to Issues at CDI, UPS SUCKS! There is now way around it. I hate them, they screw over Canadians like there is no tomorrow and the fact that YOU have to pay shipping back to CDI When one of their products fails really gives me the red ass. That's why this year I went with Travis at LEDLIGHTING as I've purchased other stuff from him without any problems and he ships via USPS which is wayyyyyyyy cheaper than UPS. Sorry Paul but, when you live in Canada and you won't ship via any other carrier you lose a customer.

Anyways, now that I've had my Rant I want to thank everybody for this great thread on FF's and I'll continue to read more and hopefully one day be able to say yeah I purchased some of these!!!

-Evan

Dude, thx for the heads up on ledlighting. I never gave them much thought (i just went with CDI because im lazy I guess) and they have a great preorder sale on full wave LEDs!

[Paul Roberson]

thebaronn wrote:

Dude, thx for the heads up on ledlighting. I never gave them much thought (i just went with CDI because im lazy I guess) and they have a great preorder sale on full wave LEDs!





It's kind of funny out of all the prices I looked at between CDI and LEDHoliayLighting they were exactly the same.

[thebaronn]

Paul Roberson wrote:

thebaronn wrote:

Dude, thx for the heads up on ledlighting.  I never gave them much thought (i just went with CDI because im lazy I guess) and they have a great preorder sale on full wave LEDs!

 



It's kind of funny out of all the prices I looked at between CDI and LEDHoliayLighting they were exactly the same.

But Paul doesn't have M5leds......I wonder why, LOL.

[thebaronn]

So im working on this thing and i need some help. I took a firefly unit and slid it through 1 1/2" thick clear PVC pipe. I was looking for a look that was more of a diffused lights as opposed to a round pixel (like a leaping arch look) And while I like the look (i will be using it this year) it does not diffuse the light enough.

So Im looking for any ideas, my wife said maybe painting it?? Which at this point is probably what I will try to do.

I was also thinking of sanding it so it was scored??

I dont know right now.

I am hesitant to do anything to the pipe that is irreversible as it is $5/ft. Comes sealed in its own bag, LOL!!!!

Thank you in advance.

Eric

[Paul Roberson]

thebaronn wrote:

So im working on this thing and i need some help. I took a firefly unit and slid it through 1 1/2" thick clear PVC pipe. I was looking for a look that was more of a diffused lights as opposed to a round pixel (like a leaping arch look) And while I like the look (i will be using it this year) it does not diffuse the light enough.

So Im looking for any ideas, my wife said maybe painting it?? Which at this point is probably what I will try to do.

I was also thinking of sanding it so it was scored??

I dont know right now.

I am hesitant to do anything to the pipe that is irreversible as it is $5/ft. Comes sealed in its own bag, LOL!!!!

Thank you in advance.

Eric

I don't think clear pipe is going to get you what you are wanting. I also think it would need to be in a larger pipe.

Try something like the white dryer vent hose. With FF pixel back, up against the inside of the hose making the face/dome as far away from the inside of the hose.

I would think the closer the face/dome is to the hose/pipe the less dispersed the light will be.


Maybe for a test you could take some printer paper and put it over your clear pipe and see it that diffuses the light more.

[thebaronn]

Paul Roberson wrote:

thebaronn wrote:

So im working on this thing and i need some help. I took a firefly unit and slid it through 1 1/2" thick clear PVC pipe. I was looking for a look that was more of a diffused lights as opposed to a round pixel (like a leaping arch look) And while I like the look (i will be using it this year) it does not diffuse the light enough.

So Im looking for any ideas, my wife said maybe painting it?? Which at this point is probably what I will try to do.

I was also thinking of sanding it so it was scored??

I dont know right now.

I am hesitant to do anything to the pipe that is irreversible as it is $5/ft. Comes sealed in its own bag, LOL!!!!

Thank you in advance.

Eric

I don't think clear pipe is going to get you what you are wanting. I also think it would need to be in a larger pipe.

Try something like the white dryer vent hose. With FF pixel back, up against the inside of the hose making the face/dome as far away from the inside of the hose.

I would think the closer the face/dome is to the hose/pipe the less dispersed the light will be.


Maybe for a test you could take some printer paper and put it over your clear pipe and see it that diffuses the light more.

Oh , it diffuses the light a little, just not enough! It also fits nice and snug in 1 1/2 in pipe. And it looks nice and clean. Guess I will buy some paint tomorrow and see what I can muster.

Here is a video so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkFcjyNfjbk


Eric

[Dennis Cherry]

The Barron:

Have you tried taking your clear tube with the FF's and insert it inside a dryer tube just to see if the diffusion works? Place the FF tube in the back inside of the tube with the FF's facing forward.

Just curious.