Maine Lights Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I was wondering how everyone sequences their strobe lights. When they are on are they: on, twinkling, shimmering, fading, etc. Any help would be great.Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORi P Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 See this thread.... http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/17617-howwhat-to-do-for-strobes/#entry165266Based on recommendations in this and other threads, I only program mine at 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 100% or nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) The guys are right... your typical strobe should be either 100% on, or off. No fades, no twinkles or shimmers. DMX strobes are a different story, but I don't think you're asking about those.D.T. Edited July 25, 2012 by DownTown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 100% or nothing.+1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 LED strobes can be pre-charged at 15% to 20% for a few milliseconds to make them appear more random when you need them. Just make sure you are only doing that to LED strobes since incandescent strobes don't care for that type of treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batzdorf Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 LED strobes can be pre-charged at 15% to 20% for a few milliseconds to make them appear more random when you need them. Just make sure you are only doing that to LED strobes since incandescent strobes don't care for that type of treatment.Agreed. Precharge the LEDs. You may want to dig them out now and hook them up to the controller to determine the precharge time. I do about .1 seconds at 10%. That usually works pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdeepfundraising Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 just to be clear if i have my strobes set for example 1.35 min i should have the strobe set on 10% at 1.34 to get a random flash from them i have 25 on 2 different strings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) Agreed. Precharge the LEDs. You may want to dig them out now and hook them up to the controller to determine the precharge time. I do about .1 seconds at 10%. That usually works pretty good.The flip side is you can have all(or almost all) of them flash on demand... which is kinda cool imho. I've done it with our mega tree star that has 23 strobes on it. Edited July 25, 2012 by Jeffrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shan-Man Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 So, I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I've just got my 10 pack of Xenon strobes, and not sure how to get them fire randomly. I am planning to put them on my "mega" tree and was hoping to only have to dedicate a single channel for them. But when I trigger them, they all flash in unison for at least the first 2 seconds and then begin to randomize. Is there any way to precharge them to get a more random effect? Or is my only option to dedicate 4 or 5 channels to them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Your stuck with what you have unless you split them up on two different channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I know people have somewhat successfully accomplished randomizing LED strobes by giving them 16% intensity for half a second or so prior to full on, but I don't recall seeing a report from anyone trying the same with xenon tube models. Maybe someone who's tried it will chime in with their results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitusCarnathan Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) So, I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I've just got my 10 pack of Xenon strobes, and not sure how to get them fire randomly. I am planning to put them on my "mega" tree and was hoping to only have to dedicate a single channel for them. But when I trigger them, they all flash in unison for at least the first 2 seconds and then begin to randomize. Is there any way to precharge them to get a more random effect? Or is my only option to dedicate 4 or 5 channels to them?You could get them to be semi random. On the sequence editor for about .1-.2 of a second have it on a 100% power then off for .2 of a second then on for as long as you need it to be on.You will have to play around with it to determine the proper amount of time. Just remember that you can not fade or shimmer or twinkle. Edited January 4, 2013 by TitusCarnathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 I use LED strobes (not the popular choice) but they work great and are very bright. Anyhow, I have 2 types. About a 50/50 split. Some are 1 flash per second and the others are 3/4 flash per second. That gives me the random effect that I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spomalley Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 So, I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I've just got my 10 pack of Xenon strobes, and not sure how to get them fire randomly. I am planning to put them on my "mega" tree and was hoping to only have to dedicate a single channel for them. But when I trigger them, they all flash in unison for at least the first 2 seconds and then begin to randomize. Is there any way to precharge them to get a more random effect? Or is my only option to dedicate 4 or 5 channels to them?Usually this is only used for LED strobes, but you can try precharging them. Basically this means turning them on at an intensity of 10% to 20% for a few seconds before you want them to go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 So, I know this is a bit of an old thread, but I've just got my 10 pack of Xenon strobes, and not sure how to get them fire randomly. I am planning to put them on my "mega" tree and was hoping to only have to dedicate a single channel for them. But when I trigger them, they all flash in unison for at least the first 2 seconds and then begin to randomize. Is there any way to precharge them to get a more random effect? Or is my only option to dedicate 4 or 5 channels to them?I had that problem last year so this year I ordered some faster ones and mixed the two on the same string randomly. Worked very well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitusCarnathan Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Usually this is only used for LED strobes, but you can try precharging them. Basically this means turning them on at an intensity of 10% to 20% for a few seconds before you want them to go off.That might damage the xenon ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceMedic Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 That might damage the xenon ones.I just turned mine on at 100% for 0.1 sec about 0.5 sec before I wanted them to fire.The odd one would fire but for the most part it did help some what !Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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