Ron Amedee Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I want to run three ribbons off of one controller end to end.I do understand I will drop intensity's from 128 down to 32.I understand that each ribbon draws 3 amps at around 41 watts each.Looking for diagram on how and where to add the new power supply..IE..At the start of the first ribbon or at the start of each ribbon? I will use one 12 amp 12vdc commercial grade power supply to inject power to all the ribbons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Hi RonThe additional power supplies need to be added at the start of each ribbon. The thro ribbon conductors are sized to handle the current for 1 ribbon only.For more detail see http://forums.lightorama.com/forum89/22431.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 GeoffWhat route did you take? After reading the post adding ribbons without controllers might be a bit sketchy.30% savings not using extra controllers or head aches from doing this the wrong way!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 RonI used 6 ribbons as 3 pairs (each pair had 2 ribbons end to end) to outline my eaves. I used 1 controller for each pair so have 3 spare controllers, but I used all 6 of the power supplies that came with the ribbons - 3 power supplies were connected to the 3 controllers, and the other 3 were used to inject the additional power at the ribbom junctions.I set all 3 controllers to the same address as I wanted each ribbon to do the same patterns. All worked well for 2010. Because my ribbons are in a protected location on the house just under the eaves and are not exposed to sunlight. I have left these permanently installed with the controllers and power supplies located in the ceiling space.I used both macros and some individual pixel programming last year and was happy with the results. You can best see the ribbons in and .Last year I used some LED strings (blue, green. red and white) to attempt to fill the gaps between ribbons, but this year I have obtained some RGB strips which will be controlled by a DC board. I will program these as an extra element at the end of the ribbons. (see http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/701799/209843764-329544925/5m-one-roll-5050-SMD-30LEDs-m-led-strip-waterproof-by-silicon-tubing-and-coating-RGB.html)Hope this helps Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Thanks for your reply Geoff..I was thinking of addressing the controllers to the same address but was worried about conflics. Your display is a thing of beauty !! I have watched all four videos a bunch of times and am still in awww!!!So far have been copy and past to three controllers to acheive the same result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Geoff,I'm sure this has been asked before, how did you make the splash at the end of your arches? Do you have any close up pics?MikeH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Hi MikeFor each splash pool, I found a pair of flat plant trainers, zip tied these together to give a flat fan shaped structure. I then had a number of blue and white LED stakes which I zip tied to the fan frame to provide the rays. I also had some white snowflake shaped LEDs which I added.These were all low voltage Aussie lights and these can be cut every 10 (approx) bulbs. Checked the required voltages and added resistors as required so each of the different lights in the splash had the correct brightness for the voltage I was using. Each splash runs from a single channel on a DC controller.Note that on some splash's I ran out of the LED tubes and just zip tied a bulb string to a straight piece of wire. The effect was the same and at night you would never notice the differences. Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Splash pool from the inside of the fence - zip tied to the arches Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 Thank you Geoff. I would like to incorporate this into my arches, mind if I borrow your technique?MikeH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Harvey Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 MikeH wrote: Thank you Geoff. I would like to incorporate this into my arches, mind if I borrow your technique?MikeHOnly too happy for you to do so Mike. We all learn from each other and I've certainly used ideas from many others.Regards Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Amedee Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 I can feel the love !!! Everything I do this year will be from others experiences !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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