What is the fastest flashing you can do?

[Softball Shawn]

I am programming a song and I need a few seconds of very fast flashing. What is the quickest flashing you can program to? I started with a timing grid of 0.01 (repeating on/off) but when I play it within the Sequence Editor the light does not seem to be able to handle the speed. I increased it to 0.02 and was getting the same non-flash. 

[Shubb]

Have you tried the Seizure, I mean Shimmer?  It flashes pretty fast.

[edvas69]

If not using a LOR macro like twinkle or shimmer then you will be bound by the data rate between your computer and the controllers. I know with DMX its around 25ms as thats how fast the data goes so i would say LOR is similar. Anything below that will not show any differences

[Klayfish]

Also, keep in mind .01 seconds off then .01 on is incredibly fast. That would be 50 cycles per second. Probably faster than the naked eye could see, it would probably look mostly like full on. Flashing a light even 5 times in one second looks really quick. Try slowing it down a lot.

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Wouldn't flashing too fast conflict with the nature of alternating power... If I remember right residential power cycles at 60 hertz. Come to think of it, there is a theoretical speed at which flashing  actually appears to be steady.  The frame rate of regular TV is only what 25 cycles per second?  Think of it this way, standard AC LED's that have flicker only appear to flicker if they or you move, otherwise they appear to be steady.  Yet they turn on and off sixty times per second.

 

Also, I would think that the rate of flashing also depends on the type of light.  You should be able to flash LED's faster than incans.  As incans need time to cool off and thus dim so that they acually appear to flash. 

[magish01]

Used to be able to flash pretty quickly in college in the 70's, without getting caught. Can't flash quickly now (nor would I want to) at my age.

Or was that streaking?

Edited June 13, 2013 by magish01

[caniac]

Used to be able to flash pretty quickly in college in the 70's, without getting caught. Can't flash quickly now (nor would I want to) at my age.

Or was that streaking?

same here, can only move but so fast with a walker unless I use the prune juice booster pack!! lol

[rwertz]

If you are watching the effect in the visualizer, there used to be a throttle that would prevent screen updates from happening too fast. If so, the lights can blink faster in reality. If you are blinking incandescent lights they will probably tend to average out very short blinks. LED strings respond much faster.

[Mr Sir]

I've been in the physical security CCTV business as a technican for 30+ years. The human eye can detect changes of image up to 30 cycles per second, after that it's a smooth always on view. divide 1 second into 20 blocks and alternate on off on off ... ect    with the Sequence Editor, wirks will with "the "saftest flash you can do".

[shtonkalot]

I'm having the same problem as the OP. Need faster flashing!

 

 

If not using a LOR macro like twinkle or shimmer then you will be bound by the data rate between your computer and the controllers. I know with DMX its around 25ms as thats how fast the data goes so i would say LOR is similar. Anything below that will not show any differences

There is a hot tip. I'll have to look into the macros to see if they can overcome the limitation.

Interestingly I have found that it is not ONLY the network that causes the speed problems. If i upload a sequence to my CMB24D that has .01 timing and have an on/off per cell repeating pattern (I use a few on different lights, one cell on/one off, two on/two off etc..) I can see that running from the onboard memory it cannot flash the lights as fast as it can over the network! I expected it to run faster from the onboard memory.

I've been in the physical security CCTV business as a technican for 30+ years. The human eye can detect changes of image up to 30 cycles per second, after that it's a smooth always on view. divide 1 second into 20 blocks and alternate on off on off ... ect    with the Sequence Editor, wirks will with "the "saftest flash you can do".

The human eye can detect 24 frames per second and above as smooth movement. It is for this reason that video signals often run at 25 or 30 frames per second. 25 is half the 50hz timing used in many countries AC power, 30 frames for American NTSC to match the 60hz AC. The 25 and 30 frames are just (at least were back in analog tv time) the easiest numbers to get working that are higher than 24 frames per second.

 

The thing is that only holds true for a still frame. If the observer shifts their view or the light source is moving then you are changing the frame and changes in movement much faster than 24 frames per second can be noticed even though still only seen at 24 frames per second.

 

The easiest way to observe this with lights is to have an RGB light source flashing its individual lights one after the other real fast. Look at the light and it will appear white when you and it are still. Now jump about, you should notice some red,green and blue shimmers around the light. Now stop moving and start moving the light, pick it up and quickly move your hand about waving it back and forth. You should now see some trails of red,green and blue flashes.

 

You can manipulate this effect to have full colour smooth fading trails coming from a moving light, there are many effects that can be achieved and only noticed when the patterns are moving fast enough.