bretk Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Your limit on the white $6 contrrollers is 5 amps total but the more important question is why not make each strip separate to give you more flexibility in the future? You can get a seasonal entertainment 4 way splitter/power injector for $45, run power and dmx together in a 4 wire waterproof cable to a $6 controller at the start of each ribbon. The wiring is simple, you could run all your strips separate, while still only using the equivalent of 3 dmx devices out of your universe. You would then have centralized power distribution, only need 1 or 2 power supplies depending on your locations. It is really not difficult to do.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Let's start at the top....From my experience, the Enttec DMX dongles do not like the hubs...at all. I have two different powered hubs and they would always disconnect. I just took them off and put them directly into my computer's ports. The LOR adapters had no issues with the hub so I ran my 3 LOR adapters off my hub...it worked great.As far as the modules, you are going to be very limited with the $6 units. They don't handle much current. I will say that we will have the a 3 channel DMX controller, of our own design, that will be out this summer. It will be able to handle 10 amps per channel (30 amps total), but we will not recommend you pushing it past 6 amps per channel. You will be able to connect any sort of DC device you can think of to it including the 5050 strips or any of the basic Rainbow lights. It also has address switches which allow you easily set the address without a computer and has a bunch of different connections for power/DMX and output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMaris Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Ponddude wrote:Let's start at the top....From my experience, the Enttec DMX dongles do not like the hubs...at all. I have two different powered hubs and they would always disconnect. I just took them off and put them directly into my computer's ports. The LOR adapters had no issues with the hub so I ran my 3 LOR adapters off my hub...it worked great.As far as the modules, you are going to be very limited with the $6 units. They don't handle much current. I will say that we will have the a 3 channel DMX controller, of our own design, that will be out this summer. It will be able to handle 10 amps per channel (30 amps total), but we will not recommend you pushing it past 6 amps per channel. You will be able to connect any sort of DC device you can think of to it including the 5050 strips or any of the basic Rainbow lights. It also has address switches which allow you easily set the address without a computer and has a bunch of different connections for power/DMX and output.Good deal, look forward to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bretk Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 As far as enttecs and hubs, I have both the pro and open running on a $12 dollar eBay hub without problems.As far as strips go, I wouldn't push 6 amps per channel thru the strips alone, you would have to run parallel or run a couple sets of jumpers to inject power down along your strip junctions, and if you are running that much extra cabling anyway, why not add the versatility of controlling each step independently. It would allow you to do fades across the roofline/fence line. Take a look at crackers viral Halloween video. That's how he does those fades. Only two of his strips are ccr's the rest are what you are planning on using. IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bretk Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 As far as soldering the strips and dmx modules per univers, you aren't going to have any problems. As I have found from David moore, he runs upward of 80 of those dmx modules on ONE universe. No splitters,hubs or fancy footwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Slonka Jr Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Ponddude, a couple questions about your controllers.1) Any guessestimate on price?2) Will they be in a case or will they need to installed in a case of our choice?Thanks, Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Constantino Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Ponddude wrote:Let's start at the top....From my experience, the Enttec DMX dongles do not like the hubs...at all. I have two different powered hubs and they would always disconnect. I just took them off and put them directly into my computer's ports.It mite be the hubs that you are using. I have used the D-link ones and no problems with the Enttec dongles. I used two hubs and 8 Enttec pro dongles 4 on each for a job. They work grate!http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=149Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Ed Slonka Jr wrote: Ponddude, a couple questions about your controllers.1) Any guessestimate on price?2) Will they be in a case or will they need to installed in a case of our choice?Thanks, EdEd,I never speculate on the prices for our stuff until we have a finalized design and I can guarantee the prices I am speaking about. I can, however, guarnatee that the controller will be more expensive than $6.00...lol We will have an option for a case, but it isn't necessary to use. If you have other plans for the controllers you do not need the case.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdeditch Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Ponddude wrote:Let's start at the top....From my experience, the Enttec DMX dongles do not like the hubs...at all. I have two different powered hubs and they would always disconnect. I just took them off and put them directly into my computer's ports. The LOR adapters had no issues with the hub so I ran my 3 LOR adapters off my hub...it worked great.As far as the modules, you are going to be very limited with the $6 units. They don't handle much current. I will say that we will have the a 3 channel DMX controller, of our own design, that will be out this summer. It will be able to handle 10 amps per channel (30 amps total), but we will not recommend you pushing it past 6 amps per channel. You will be able to connect any sort of DC device you can think of to it including the 5050 strips or any of the basic Rainbow lights. It also has address switches which allow you easily set the address without a computer and has a bunch of different connections for power/DMX and output.That will be nice to be able to address them like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Benedict Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Ponddude wrote:Ed Slonka Jr wrote: Ponddude, a couple questions about your controllers.1) Any guessestimate on price?2) Will they be in a case or will they need to installed in a case of our choice?Thanks, EdEd,I never speculate on the prices for our stuff until we have a finalized design and I can guarantee the prices I am speaking about. I can, however, guarnatee that the controller will be more expensive than $6.00...lol We will have an option for a case, but it isn't necessary to use. If you have other plans for the controllers you do not need the case.GregWill they be similar to:http://www.ebay.com/itm/DMX-512-Common-Controller-Dimmer-RGB-LED-Light-Lamp-/280815988123?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4161efed9borhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/DMX512-PX-Decoder-Driver-9A-Amplifier-12V-24V-RGB-LED-Hot-selling-/250965305800?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6eb2a9c8orhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/270867562737?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heystew Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 As to the use of the Enttec Pro with USB hubs. I used 12 total this year on two 7 port hubs. They were USB 2.0 hubs by Cables To Go.. nothing special.http://forums.lightorama.com/view_topic.php?id=29031&forum_id=76&highlight=usb+hub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Slonka Jr Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Thanks Greg, $7 sounds good, that's more expensive!...LOL Look forward to the new controllers.Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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