RGB Lighting

[csf]

The more I try to plan my next light displays, the more it looks like RGB lighting is the path my ideas are going down.

My original idea was to use traditional spot lights 1 red 1 green 1 blue and maybe one white in sets. But this gets big, bulky, use allot of power.

So I started to look at LED solutions.
The DMX solutions do not seam to be what I am looking for.
The CCR does not seam to be what I am looking for.
I know there may be a LOR led flood but I figure its not worth gambling on an unannounced product, but I am sure it will be awesome when it comes out.

So I am looking in to the DIY root

Basically only thing I believe I know for sure is I will be needing this board to control the LED lights
http://store.lightorama.com/cmdedcca.html

But I am unsure as to the rest. How may watts should the LED be. Do I use separate RGB or use a three in one. Is a separate white really needed. What board is best to use?

So I was wondering has any one used RGB LED lighting with LOR and have any suggestions on how to go about doing so?

[djr]

Try here, as I recall you must become a member before viewing.

http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7799&highlight=mighty+mini

[Frank A.]

Good morning

csf

The attached pic shows led par 38 bulbs used in my display

great wash effect ---- the tree on the left turns the color that is on at the time

I use RAB fixtures with sealing ring ---- this keeps bulb and socket dry

and eliminates the halo that appears around a par 38 bulb. Not cheap but

they effectively do the job.

http://www.progearsupply.com/proddetail.php?prod=72_EcoLEDPar38Lamp&prodname=Eco-LED+Par38-120+LED+lamp

Frank a.


Attached files

[Ponddude]

Double post...sorry

[Ponddude]

You may want to check out my Rainbow Wall Runner. There is a post about my lights here...

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum84/19381.html

I also will have a few new RGB lights this year as well. You can very easily control them via the LOR DC board. You can check out the manual and assembly guides on my site at:

http://www.christmasonmanor.com/support/support.htm

[paulcav151]

Minions Web has PAR38, 120LED weatherproof bulbs for a little less than ProGear, and they are "Designed to work with the features of holiday lighting controllers
from Light-O-Rama ( LOR ), DLight, Animated Lighting ( AL & HHIB ), FireFly, LightningFX and EFX-Tek." I think they may be going on sale in the next few weeks to coincide with the Chicago Haunt Show Feb 26-Mar 1. At least that's what I am holding out for.

[csf]

Thank's guy's for all the information.

Ponddude were you ever able to find out how many watts each Wall Runner draws? Also do you have an approximation as to how many Watts of a traditional light bulb each Wall Runner could replace?

I know its not an exact science to compare LED watts to regular watts. Unfortunately do to light sources beyond my control, the area these lights would go in have allot of ambient light already on them. I used up to 400 watts of light for Halloween and the color is stile not all that strong. So just trying to get an idea of how many LED lights I would need to get a decent effect.

[Ponddude]

csf,

When they are at their maximum intensity, which produces white, they draw .08amps.

[csf]

So if I by the LOR DC board and use this power supply http://www.virtualvillage.com/12v-dc-5a-110-220v-regulated-switching-power-supply-008030-015.html?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shcomp

That should have no problem running 10 of these.

If I link them in a chain do they have to be with in 4 feet of each other or can the distance be longer?

[Ponddude]

Yes, that will work fine.

You can put any sort of distance you want inbetween the wall runners. For a consistant color washing, I recommend putting one every 24", but that certainly instant required.

[huskernut]

While on the subject of power, it seems like converting an old PC power supply to run something like this would work, anyone have experience with this?

Any cons to it?

[csf]

I have wondered the same since PC power supplies output allot of watts of power, well at least the good ones.. The question is how many volts are they? Guess if you have an old one and a volt meter you cold measure it.

[huskernut]

several voltages including 12V. i have an old one sitting around 12 V at 6 amps. There are several sites with instructions on how to wire one to be a bench power supply.

http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply

http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/powersupply.htm

[Ponddude]

Converting PC power supplies work great. The beauty of them is each wire has a different voltage, usually ranging from 3-24 volts. Someone over on DIYC created a board to adapt the power supply to have the different voltages easily accessible.

But to answer your original question, yes you certain can use an old power PC power supply.

[RickWIlliams]

Ponddude wrote:

You may want to check out my Rainbow Wall Runner. There is a post about my lights here...

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum84/19381.html

I also will have a few new RGB lights this year as well. You can very easily control them via the LOR DC board. You can check out the manual and assembly guides on my site at:

http://www.christmasonmanor.com/support/support.htm

Greg's Rainbow wash floods (Christmas Manor - above) are pretty cool lites, very Bright. I bought one to test out, and I am very satisfied with it, and will be adding several more to my collection. They beat the heck out of 150 Watt colored flood lights. One rainbow color wash will make 600 watts (6.25 Amps) available back to the display, we run over 40-150 Watt flood lights, it's simple math and major amperage benefits to me.

Also, Greg's customer service is of the best caliber.

[huskernut]

RickWIlliams wrote:

Greg's Rainbow wash floods (Christmas Manor - above) are pretty cool lites, very Bright. I bought one to test out, and I am very satisfied with it, and will be adding several more to my collection. They beat the heck out of 150 Watt colored flood lights. One rainbow color wash will make 600 watts (6.25 Amps) available back to the display, we run over 40-150 Watt flood lights, it's simple math and major amperage benefits to me.

Also, Greg's customer service is of the best caliber.

I am almost giddy waiting for the green "add to cart" button to work so i can get 4 of them. I bought the DC controller at the sale just for these. I plan to use them to wash my garage doors this year. My house is medium gray, I will shine them on the house to try it out but I dont expect the color to be great against a gray background.

Rick

[Ponddude]

Thanks Rick for the extremely kind words. I am glad you like the lights. The newer version of the RWR actually has 10 red LEDs to help with a major complaint I got last year, which is the red color wasn't bright enough. PROBLEM SOLVED!

I am looking to most likely start the "COOP" for these lights, as well as the rest of the lights, on March 15th. If you signed up for the email newsletter or if I already have your email you will be getting notified. Of course I will also post here and every other forum I can get my hands on, including my own.


Good things are still to come this year...so stay tuned!!......

[huskernut]

Ponddude wrote:

I am looking to most likely start the "COOP"

Stupid question but what is a COOP? Well I know what a coop is but how does it apply in this sense?

[Ponddude]

Well I do things a little differently than most of the DIY sites and the way they do their COOPs. I am not making a profit on these lights, I do this for fun. Most people run a COOP by getting as many orders as they can, than order the parts and ship them out. That limits people to only getting things at that particular time. I don't think that is fair. For example, I had people ordering things on Christmas day 2009. They didn't have to wait for a COOP to start, they just went online, ordered and I shipped.

What I do is calculate what the price of the lights will be to order them in quantities of 100. Than I add on 3%. This fee is to cover the ridiculous fees that Paypal has. That is the price you see in the store. Basically I front the money initially for lights and just recoup it all when people purchase them. I could get screwed over by buying too many lights, but it hasn't happened yet and that would just be more lights for my house.

I do the first COOP as a "buy now and I ship in a few weeks," simply because the order is too big for all the stuff I order. It would cost a couple of thousand dollars to purchase everything at once so I get a little head start. Things worked out great this way last year and I will be doing it again this year.

Was that answer long enough? haha

[huskernut]

Perfect..... Thanks