Dave H1 Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 JBullard wrote: Dave H1 wrote: JBullard wrote: It was tested, but not approved because of its behaviorJohn,Is there an alternative programer that is recommended with the 3 channel DMX units or is the one on Ray Wu's site the preferred one, which I believe is around $45The Holiday Coro DMX dongle will program the units. You have to use a LOR tested and approved dongle to control the units with LOR softwareOK, so if I understand correctly to set the addresses and program these $7 DMX controllers, the Holiday Coro USB programer works as intended and I don't need one of the $45 DMX programmers from Ray Wu??Am I on board with this ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBullard Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Dave H1 wrote: JBullard wrote: Dave H1 wrote: JBullard wrote: It was tested, but not approved because of its behaviorJohn,Is there an alternative programer that is recommended with the 3 channel DMX units or is the one on Ray Wu's site the preferred one, which I believe is around $45The Holiday Coro DMX dongle will program the units. You have to use a LOR tested and approved dongle to control the units with LOR softwareOK, so if I understand correctly to set the addresses and program these $7 DMX controllers, the Holiday Coro USB programer works as intended and I don't need one of the $45 DMX programmers from Ray Wu??Am I on board with this ???Correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoore Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 ydeardorff wrote:I know the 512 controllers have the Ethernet through point connections making them chain-able, whereas the little white 3 channel controllers that can be found for 3 bucks don't. So they would have to be on the end of said chain as the last element.This of course does not make the white controllers chain-able. However, this could make them like I had mentioned the last item in your daisy chain of DMX controllers, like a flood lamp, or last RGB LED string.They are completely chainable, just like any other RS485 controller (such as LORs, Lynx, etc). Here is a video showing 90 controllers (corostars) all one a SINGLE CAT5 signal cable:You can chain they using just standard 3 way CAT5 splitters - less than $1 each. For an idea on the way to make these daisy chain, see our megaball instructions:http://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?cat=7The white controllers have been argued as not being addressable. Well I have found this making the claim it can make them addressable.http://www.holidaycoro.com/docs/DMXProgrammer.pdfYes, we had an application written that allows you to use a cheap RS485 cable to program the controllers. It also allows you to use the same $20 cable as a 'dongle' for testing with xLights and LOR S3. We are currently working with the mfg to make a hand-held programmer, reader, tester (red, green blue type tests) for the great little controllers. We should have some information when we return from china in March.If you just want to play around with this and want to get pretty much everything you need, including the dongle, we sell a sample pack for about $50:http://www.holidaycoro.com/product-p/35.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoore Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 bdeditch wrote:geronc wrote: I had to change the pins in my holiday coro programmer. Every time I would set the DMX #, it would set it to 0. Changed the pins and it works like a champ.If you set the DMX # to 110, red should be on 110, not 111. Something is wrong.I also have been told that the Holiday Coro Program uses pins 4 & 5 on the Cat5 and LOR used 1 & 2HolidayCoro here...Our DMX module programmer/dongle is setup for use with pins 1/2 - the standard E1.11 standard. LOR uses 4/5 (this is based way back in the day when LOR controllers used RJ11 phone wire for connections).On the off-set of the address in LOR S3 - we are aware that the address is offset, as is LOR. We have sent the person who writes S3 a programmer so if they elect to, they can adjust LOR S3 as was done for the Lynx/Enttec Pro dongles.http://www.holidaycoro.com/product-p/54.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoore Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 JBullard wrote:geronc wrote: If you set the DMX # to 110, red should be on 110, not 111. Something is wrong.This is a well reported problem since last October. The Holiday Coro adapter will do that when used with LOR software. The adapter is NOT on the LOR tested and approved list.It was tested, but not approved because of its behaviorThat is completely correct. We've sent over a dongle to LOR hoping they would add it. It does work fine with xLights and for building and testing display elements, that is a better choice since there are so many built in test functions. There is no off-set problem in xLights. Also be aware that as I recall, the Lynx/Enttec dongles also suffered off-set addresses, so this is somewhat common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoore Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Dave H1 wrote:OK, so if I understand correctly to set the addresses and program these $7 DMX controllers, the Holiday Coro USB programer works as intended and I don't need one of the $45 DMX programmers from Ray Wu??Am I on board with this ???Yes but you CAN, for testing (I don't recommend using the HC programmer/dongle for "production" displays) also use xLights (free) which has a ton of test tools built into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdeditch Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 ydeardorff wrote:There is an abundant level of information on how to sequence christmas lights in the sequencer. However there seems to be a serious tech black hole when it comes to DMX. Lots of terms, like lynx, and dongles, dip switches etc. Yet no definitive information about setting up the DMX system in ones Christmas display.My hope in this post is that knowledgeable ppl with chime in, and help decode this bit of information.I personally have gone this into this train of thought due to making the setup on the roof a lot easier. One RGB LED rope light can represent, up to four individual light string strands. This helps in simplifying the setup of lights on the house.I know the 512 controllers have the Ethernet through point connections making them chain-able, whereas the little white 3 channel controllers that can be found for 3 bucks don't. So they would have to be on the end of said chain as the last element.The white controllers have been argued as not being addressable. Well I have found this making the claim it can make them addressable.http://www.holidaycoro.com/docs/DMXProgrammer.pdfThis of course does not make the white controllers chain-able. However, this could make them like I had mentioned the last item in your daisy chain of DMX controllers, like a flood lamp, or last RGB LED string.How does the DMX system get setup? I know the sequencer has to know what items is what to properly issue commands to them. Im sure there are things that must be taken into consideration when using DMX and LOR boards.Here is a video on setting up a simple RGB flood lamp that helped me a lot. Perhaps it might help others too.What are the dip switches for? How are they configured? What do they do?It would be nice if the LOR boards were able to communicate natively to the DMX system, and you didn't need a dongle (whatever that is) to control them.This way we could just continue the daisy chain from the controller boards, directly into the DMX stuff. It would make life a lot easier.What does the DMX control look like in the sequencer?How do you sequence the RGB effects in it?How do you address the controller?What is a DMX universe, and how does that work in the sequencer?My personal hope is to be able to use DMX, and RGB LED light strips to outline my roof on the house and detached garage, as well as outline the 7 windows across the front of my home. While still using normal controller boards to control all the rest of the 80 to 96 channels in my yard.Here is a picture I have of the daisy chain on the 512 controllers. Again these are only for the RGB LED strips, not the 24 million color ones with a thousand effects.What size of Power supply are you running from each module if you are running 20 M of strip lights? Are there the 30 LED's per meter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoore Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 bdeditch wrote: What size of Power supply are you running from each module if you are running 20 M of strip lights? Are there the 30 LED's per meter?I can't find where he was indicating he was controlling 20 meters of RGB strip. I can offer up some generic advice:* NEVER trust any spec as it relates to power consumption on this strip lighting - do your own measurements prior to use* I question the need to 60 leds per meter, usually 30 is sufficient for what we are doing* It is possible to fry the lead strip(s) if too many are hooked end-to-end, just like there are limits on the number of incandescent strings you can hook end to end. When in doubt, reinject power at each strip (pixels, where possible) or put in a seperate controller/power supply.These articles may help those trying to determine how to measure power consumption when calculating how many DC powered items you can hook to a controller:http://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?cat=23* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts