CMB-24D vs. CMB-16D

[WeissWelsh]

I have the CMB-16D board that I use with my single color MR-16 LED spotlights (from WireKat.)

 

The CMB-24D board has more channels and more amps. But it says it's made for RGB lights. Does this mean I can't use it for my MR-16 single color spotlights?

 

Can I just ignore the fact that the channels on the CMB-24D are in groups of 3 for RGB and use each individual channel like I would on the CMB-16D?

 

EDIT: Adding in this additional question: Since all my MR-16 single color lights all point to the same location on the house. Can I put the RED MR-16's on channel #1, Green MR-16's on channel #2 and the Blue MR-16's on channel #3............ and then somehow setup those 3 channels as an RGB channel?

 

Thanks

 

Bob

Edited October 2, 2013 by WeissWelsh

[bob_moody]

I would like to bump this topic as I was fixing to post a very similar question.

I have CMD-16D board and was looking at buying 5 of the new LOR 10W LED RGB Floods ...

 

Basically the same question as Bob ... Is the CMB-24D just a 16D on steroids (ie. 8 extra channels) or is it fundamentally different?

 

Bob

 

I read over the docs to both again .. I "THINK" I know the answer but wouldnt mind a confirmation..

Edited October 3, 2013 by bob_moody

[Don]

Without looking at the docs (but based on a few short conversations with others) I would go with Bob's description. The CMB24D is a 16D on steroids.

 

(Though if someone knows for *sure* speak up. I will ask someone tomorrow, though.)

[CLD Kevin]

The CMB24 is design for dumb RGB hence it's setup is 1 positive (+) and 3 neg (-) per "group". The CMB16 is setup completely different. It has 1 positive (+) and 1 negative (-) per "channel", however all the positives (+) on each side of the board are connected. I'm thinking the CMB16 was original design for a single channel purpose but DC power. Using it for RGB is possible (and my only reason) as long as you connect your output wires correctly. There are other differences between the two like power load and obvious the number of channels. CMB16 is rated at 40A and CMB24 is 60A.

For Bob...the CMB16 would work perfect with 5 RGB floods. The CMB16 will do 5 RGB "groups" with a single channel left over. The way you would setup is connect the Red, Green and Blue wire from the flood to channel 1, 2 and 3 of the negative (-) on the CMB16. The positive wire from the flood would go to one of the positive (+) 3 channels. Doesn't matter which one but lets say channel 1. So channel 2 and 3 will be not be used. Do the extract same setup for the next set of 3 and the next set of 3 and so on.

Before the CMB24 was a available, the CMB16 was what many of us used for dumb RGB. I carried a "RGB controller" in my store using this board that was plug-n-play. Here are some pics of how I set mine up. Should give you ideas on how to set yours up.

http://www.store.creativelightingdisplays.com/CMB16D-RGB-DC-Controller-ReadyToGO-No-Assembly-CMB16D-RGB-RTG.htm

[Steven]

Since all my MR-16 single color lights all point to the same location on the house. Can I put the RED MR-16's on channel #1, Green MR-16's on channel #2 and the Blue MR-16's on channel #3............ and then somehow setup those 3 channels as an RGB channel?

 

The answer is "yes", although you may need to tweak some of your colors to account for the color of the paint on your house.

[Jay Czerwinski]

I have the CMB-16D board that I use with my single color MR-16 LED spotlights (from WireKat.)

 

The CMB-24D board has more channels and more amps. But it says it's made for RGB lights. Does this mean I can't use it for my MR-16 single color spotlights?

 

Can I just ignore the fact that the channels on the CMB-24D are in groups of 3 for RGB and use each individual channel like I would on the CMB-16D?

 

EDIT: Adding in this additional question: Since all my MR-16 single color lights all point to the same location on the house. Can I put the RED MR-16's on channel #1, Green MR-16's on channel #2 and the Blue MR-16's on channel #3............ and then somehow setup those 3 channels as an RGB channel?

 

Thanks

 

Bob

 

 

The answer is "yes", although you may need to tweak some of your colors to account for the color of the paint on your house.

 

I agree. Try that first.

 

The only concern I would have with the idea of having all of the Rs, Gs, and Bs on just three channels would be the voltage drop. They may begin to fade if there are too many and at long distances on one channel. And they fade at different rates.

 

Example : White is all three on at the same time. But with the drop in voltage over a long distance or with many lights, the three colors will fade - unfortunately at different rates. In an example I had, red did not fade as quickly as green and blue. So, as the distance became longer, my white lights looked more and more pink. (red showed through more) To solve this, you might put half of your lights on the first three channels, and then half on the next three. And so on, depending on your situation. You may find you need all fifteen channels by breaking down your setup in to 5 different segments.

 

I'm not saying this will happen to you, but if you start to see something similar when you setup as you originally suggested, you might want to explore this option.

[steve synek]

I am no expert, but as far as differences go- I also think the 24D card can run the high speed network and the 16 channel version can not.

Steve

[LightORamaJohn]

The CMB24D is an updated version of the CMB16D-QC. Since we were doing the update and RGB is popular now we wanted it to have a channel count divisible by 3; but this is just for convenience, it's still just a 24 channel DC board. People complained about the quick-connects so we went back to screw terminals. It's jumperable for LOR network or DMX wiring on the RJ45 jacks and it can run at the 500K LOR network speed.

 

The processor is faster, a more efficient MOSFET is used to switch the DC, it drives the MOSFET gates with more current to minimize heat and the total current capacity was upped to 60 amps. The PWM frequency is currently 400Hz, but a version of the firmware will be released soon that allows this to be set for the board to any value between 1 and 400.

[WeissWelsh]

The CMB24D is an updated version of the CMB16D-QC. Since we were doing the update and RGB is popular now we wanted it to have a channel count divisible by 3; but this is just for convenience, it's still just a 24 channel DC board. People complained about the quick-connects so we went back to screw terminals. It's jumperable for LOR network or DMX wiring on the RJ45 jacks and it can run at the 500K LOR network speed.

 

The processor is faster, a more efficient MOSFET is used to switch the DC, it drives the MOSFET gates with more current to minimize heat and the total current capacity was upped to 60 amps. The PWM frequency is currently 400Hz, but a version of the firmware will be released soon that allows this to be set for the board to any value between 1 and 400.

Hi John,

 

It's good to hear that the CMB24D is just a 24 channel DC board. However, I do have one question. As "CLD Kevin" pointed out above, unlike the CMB16D which has a "positive" and "negative" for each channel, the CMB24D has one "positive" and 3 "negatives" for the 3 channels. 

 

So, let's say on my current CMB16D I have 3 NON-RGB single color spotlights on my first 3 channels with each individual spotlight using the "positive" and "negative" on it's particular channel. If I wanted to move these spotlights to the new CMB24D, how do I hook them up to work in the same way? Do I put the "negative" of each spotlight on it's particular channel with all three of the "positives" hooked up to the same "positive" screw terminal?

 

Bob

[scubado]

Hi John,

 

It's good to hear that the CMB24D is just a 24 channel DC board. However, I do have one question. As "CLD Kevin" pointed out above, unlike the CMB16D which has a "positive" and "negative" for each channel, the CMB24D has one "positive" and 3 "negatives" for the 3 channels. 

 

So, let's say on my current CMB16D I have 3 NON-RGB single color spotlights on my first 3 channels with each individual spotlight using the "positive" and "negative" on it's particular channel. If I wanted to move these spotlights to the new CMB24D, how do I hook them up to work in the same way? Do I put the "negative" of each spotlight on it's particular channel with all three of the "positives" hooked up to the same "positive" screw terminal?

 

Bob

Yes

[WeissWelsh]

Thank you everyone for all your help. The information is exactly what I needed. I appreciate you all taking the time to help others out.

 

 

Bob