Which RGB System?

[beeiilll]

Nice job Andy.  Every little bit helps others to figure this stuff out.

[dqhall]

dqhall,

Did you have any problems with overheating on the power supplies. The ones I have on order are almost like yours and I've been trying to figure a way to mount them in the same box. Yours looks like a viable solution.

 

@Ron Boyd

Since this will be my first year at using RGB, I can't say if overheating is a problem. But in my preliminary testing, I have not noticed any great overheating problems. The controller will be outside in the much colder temperature and my testing has all been indoors. The power supplies do get warm but no overheating.

 

 

What model of power supply did you use? How do you connect both to a single 120v input line? Are you able to run a jumper from one to the other?

 

@TonyD

Here is the link to the power supply I use. I connected each to one 14GA wire. So yes, I run a jumper from one to the other.

 

 

DG

Do those power supplies have the internal fans or are they just convection?

 

@Dave H1

Yes, the power supplies do have internal fans. They are mounted back to back so the fans have space to blow air.

 

 

Also, for dqhall, how did your display end up using the RGB? I am trying to choose which system that I want, and if the J1SYS is simpler and easier to use along with being in the price range, then I'd choose that. So roughly, how much would it cost to run a J1SYS with all 12 ports full? (You don't have to give numbers if you don't want to) And was it easy to wire? From the looks of it, it looked pretty simple.

 

@jem5136

The J1SYS ECG-P12R was very simple to configure and setup. I used FastEddys "Using Pixels with the J1SYS ECG-P12R" Controller Guide. It is located at the ACL forum here You will need to login to download it.

I bought 12 Ray Wu 2811 strips here, plus 2 spares.

I bought 1 J1SYS ECG-P12R controller. It is $175 with a $10 shipping fee.

I bought 2 Ray Wu 350W power supply here, plus 2 spares.

Then I bought these to attach to the 12 ports of the ECG-P12R board. I cutoff the end and attached it to the connector that connects to the controller.

[Gary Blair]

Off topic, but looking at at Ray Wu's 12mm pixels he has both a WS2811 and a WS2811IC.  What is the difference and is there a preference?

Thanks - Gary

[edvas69]

Off topic, but looking at at Ray Wu's 12mm pixels he has both a WS2811 and a WS2811IC.  What is the difference and is there a preference?

Thanks - Gary

 

Without actually seeing the links then its hard to actually say. But a 2811 is the name designation of the intergrated circuit chip used, so a 2811 is a 2811, where there are some differences is that there are the 2811 that is now integrated with in the actual LED, Ray still calls these 2811 but in fact their name designation is 2812, So in reality anything that is 2811 will be a 2811 or a 2812 chip which are all the same as far as connecting and running from the controller..

 

Now if your talking pixel strings then the preference is the ip68 resin filled 2811 strings as these dont suffer from water ingress issues like the silicon ip66 type suffer from

[jem5136]

I am starting to think that the SanDevice would be good for what I'm doing, so does anyone have pictures of their SanDevice? I'm looking at the E620, which looks like it will be plenty for my design. Although I do have a couple questions about it.

1) The site says it can control up to 6 universes, but how many channels is in a single universe?

2) For future preference, is it possible to plug two of these on the same network, or would they have to be on different universes?

3) Is it possible to get these on regular pixels instead of the strip pixels, that's what I wanted to do with most of my display?

4) What all should I know about this controller, because it doesn't seem to be too much for me.

[WilliamS]

I am starting to think that the SanDevice would be good for what I'm doing, so does anyone have pictures of their SanDevice? I'm looking at the E620, which looks like it will be plenty for my design. Although I do have a couple questions about it.

1) The site says it can control up to 6 universes, but how many channels is in a single universe?

2) For future preference, is it possible to plug two of these on the same network, or would they have to be on different universes?

3) Is it possible to get these on regular pixels instead of the strip pixels, that's what I wanted to do with most of my display?

4) What all should I know about this controller, because it doesn't seem to be too much for me.

E680

 

1) Actually it can control 12 now, and its 512 channels of DMX per universe although only 510 are usable.

2) You can hook as many as you need up to your network, they attach like computers or any other device to a switch,router,hub

3)You can use these with almost any pixel type, nodes, strips, strings, individual node, the list goes forever

4) The first time setting one up takes some patience.  I have 2 and as Andy will tell ya its an old school setup.  The J1 boards have an easier setup but each one has it traits that make it appealing.  Dont let the setup scare you, you do it once and never again.

[jem5136]

E680

 

1) Actually it can control 12 now, and its 512 channels of DMX per universe although only 510 are usable.

2) You can hook as many as you need up to your network, they attach like computers or any other device to a switch,router,hub

3)You can use these with almost any pixel type, nodes, strips, strings, individual node, the list goes forever

4) The first time setting one up takes some patience.  I have 2 and as Andy will tell ya its an old school setup.  The J1 boards have an easier setup but each one has it traits that make it appealing.  Dont let the setup scare you, you do it once and never again.

I just realized I typed the wrong controller, I mean to say the E682. But either way, I am still looking at controlling up to 36 strings at Christmas, and then 18 for Halloween and I was wondering if it's possible to control multiple things using one string. For example, I can control 9 trees at christmas on the same string, but with extensions between the pixels? This way I wouldn't have to get a bunch of controllers to do the same thing because I have different items. 

[WilliamS]

I just realized I typed the wrong controller, I mean to say the E682. But either way, I am still looking at controlling up to 36 strings at Christmas, and then 18 for Halloween and I was wondering if it's possible to control multiple things using one string. For example, I can control 9 trees at christmas on the same string, but with extensions between the pixels? This way I wouldn't have to get a bunch of controllers to do the same thing because I have different items. 

Depending on the pixel type you have 10m between them.  I did this on my house.  You can make any string upto 170 pixels in length.  So if each of your trees are say 10, you can have 17 trees on it.  Or 5 mini strees and 120 pixel mega prop.  You get the idea.

[Santas Helper]

I love this thread.

 

I'm learning more and more with each post.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Santas Helper

[Ken Benedict]

When you search Ray Wu's website, and looking for the 2811 type of smart string lights, these searches produce DIFFERENT results:

 

"WS2811"

"WS2811IC"

"2811"

"2811IC"

 

Their search engine isn't great, as you can see.

 

 

If you want to Google the LOR Forum website try using this search string: site: forums.lightorama.com "2811"

 

FYI

Edited February 13, 2013 by Ken Benedict

[SteveMaris]

I'm dumb as rock so take this with a grain of salt.

I Have a E680 and it took me a lot reading and re-reading of the instructions for programming it.

Looking at the programming page for the Jsys above, made me WOL. "wow out loud". (I think I may have just made that up)

 

Having said all that, It did finally sink in, and I am currently playing with it, and a bunch of GE color effect pixels that I bought 2 yrs ago on closeout. 

 

It is working great, assembly was real easy, and I am really liking it. 

 

My decision on buying it was it is the only board that controls GE's. (that I know of)

 

Jim at SanDevices is an AWESOME guy to deal with also.

 

He responded to every stupid question I threw at him, and called me at home to help as well.

 

my 2 cents...

[Bob VandenBoom]

Jesse,

 

Just down the road from you in the Markle area.  I recently purchased the E682 controller to control twelve 50 pixel strips.  I decided on the E682 because it has 16 connections.  This allows for 12 connections for pixel strips and still had four connectors for balanced DMX outputs to control a few other DMX fixtures.  I liked the idea of more connectors over more pixel count because that is what fit my needs.  If I were controlling a larger pixel matrix or longer strings of pixels then the ECG-P12R would have been my choice.  It all depends on what fits your needs the best.  I can see advantages in using both in a larger display. 

 

One feature of the E682 that may help you is the REVERSE and ZIGS settings which allows you to configure a single string to behave as several different strings by dividing the pixels up and defining the order the in which the pixels accept commands.  This would be used when running a pixel string up one side of a tree and down the other multiple times.  This might be helpful if you want to use one connection to control several trees.  I am not familiar enough with the ECG-P12R to know if it has these capabilities.  Maybe somebody with more experience with the P12R can comment.

[edvas69]

One feature of the E682 that may help you is the REVERSE and ZIGS settings which allows you to configure a single string to behave as several different strings by dividing the pixels up and defining the order the in which the pixels accept commands.  This would be used when running a pixel string up one side of a tree and down the other multiple times.  This might be helpful if you want to use one connection to control several trees.  I am not familiar enough with the ECG-P12R to know if it has these capabilities.  Maybe somebody with more experience with the P12R can comment.

 

 

The J1SYS has a similar feature called reverse, but its implemented differently and can actually allow you to specify up to 4 different sized zig zags with in the same string, so great for odd shaped matrices.

[jim st john]

Old thread, I realize.  Just wanted to make everyone aware that the new version 4 firmware for the E68X controller series is out.  It adds a much nicer user interface using drop-down lists, check boxes, and buttons  (no more command line), increases Multicast E1.31 capacity to 7 universes, adds support for 12 universes of E1.31 Unicast, also adds support for Art-Net, 12 universes.  This firmware will run on the E682s, also on the new E6804 (small low-cost 4-output board), and can run on the older boards as well (E680 and E681) if they are upgraded to the new ethernet module.

[John (oldandslow)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeJWV9npke8

Thank You for this great video. This is my first try at RGB and ran into a couple of problems. I posted a help question and while awaiting a reply found your video and it walked me right through my problem.

Thank you

John

[bphynes]

 

GE (General Electric) Color Effects

 

My understanding is that they are a consumer product (think Home Depot or Lowes) that do use an IC for control and can therefore be hacked into a controlled system...

 

*Very* DIY. (And therefore potentially cool.)

 

See:

http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Different_Styles_of_Pixels

http://sandevices.com/documents/GE_Pixel_Wiring.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Effects-Changing-Remote-Control/dp/B004A354B8

http://www.deepdarc.com/2010/11/27/hacking-christmas-lights/

[kiplorenzo]

I have a multi setup here. I use Lor- 80 channels, DMXKiing USB to DMX adapter (for year round accent lighting -Floods, Star Globes and driveway lights.) and just purchased a prebuilt and tested Sandevices E682 board to create a RGB Lawn lights (www.lawnlights.com for Pics) effect.  My Channel count last year was 20 channels, this year I am currently at 1600 channels.