LED light that use tranformers

[Bustluvr]

Hi i have a question  I have led lights that use a transformer. what changes & were do i make the changes for the lag for when the light are first powered up & the lights actually come on. .I have 3 CTB16 PCg3 controllers,i have the full version software, my sequences can be modified. first time user

[dgrant]

All LED lights are DC therefore all require some sort of conversion from AC to DC as well as transforming the voltage down from 120 to 12 and etc... If your lights are something that have a built in controller, such as "LightShow" types and so on, that's a different matter. Normally for those, just on/off commands because of the lag and their own controllers probably won't appreciate fades, twinkles and so on. Not saying they won't work just don't know how long they'll last. I bought some large Christmas Bulbs/props from LightShow stuff that turned out to have their own slow twinkles. They went into a location that does receive fade commands but so far, they are still working.

[Bustluvr]

Thank you

[Orville]

For those type lights with their own controllers, only 100% OFF and ON commands ONLY!   Otherwise you could possibly damage your LOR Controller and/or the light strand/prop controller.   Also if there is a small delay in them coming on because of the use of a transformer or own controller built onto the lights/prop, try and turn them on a few seconds BEFORE you need them on, this will give them time to come up and be on at the right time.

 

I use .05 timings and I usually turn items on like this about .15 before they need to be on, this way they are on and operating when I need them, remember though this works BOTH ways, you will also need to possibly shut them off in the sequence .15 BEFORE your other controllable lights on the controller, this way, the "bleed off" from their built in controller or adapter power, will have them turn off about the same time your controllable lights do.

 

It take time, trial and error and patience to make adapter powered and lights with their own built in controllers perform as close to the on and off times as your other lights in the sequence.   But it can be done.

[Bustluvr]

Thank you Orville . I have a dedicated laptop for my shows. Obviously it has to be on 24/7 . But what about when it goes to screen savor mode or any other mode that I need to change so it doesn't interrupt the shows

[Orville]

Knew there was still something I wasn't recalling, "Screen Savers", yes, you also want to disable ANYTHING that will or possibly interupt your show or cause it to start lagging.  That includes disabling all Automatic Updates, Anti-Virus Software, Sounds in Windows {should be "No Sounds", you don't wat to disable the speakers/audio out jacks!}, Hibernation, Sleep or Standby modes, as well as making sure that when you close the lid, it doesn't do any of these things either.  As auto-updates could cause a reboot in the middle of a show, those things you never know what they're going to do, so disabling the auto-updates in ALL software IS A MUST!

 

When my ;laptop was operational I had everything I could think of disabled on it so not to disrupt anything, especially if I was going to try and use it to run the show.

[Orville]

That is, hibernation, standby and sleep modes should all be disabled as well.   It didn't quite come out the way I intended in that sentence, so wanted to clarify that statement.

[dgrant]

On my show computer, I disable those extra things and include disconnecting the internet, disabling screen savers, antivirus and system sounds. On the internet disconnect, I don't disable it, I literally disconnect it completely as this not only stops the AV updates and possible system attacks, but it also prevents the system from trying to see MS updates and so on. Now each day when I fire up that computer again, those things are enabled and connected. I allow it to do the updates, if any, security scans as needed and etc...then re-disconnect and disable the same things again. I do it this way on purpose therefore should a new virus be found, I want the security updates in place, in order to prevent problems. Once long ago, before the days of MS Firewalls, I heard about them and bought Norton's Firewall and installed it on a machine. Sure enough, I instantly found out that it was being hacked from someone in mainland China, right that second! It stopped them cold but I never forgot. No clue what they were looking for either.

[Bustluvr]

thank you for the GREAT advice and help. Im off to plug everything in today..............

[Orville]

On my show computer, I disable those extra things and include disconnecting the internet, disabling screen savers, antivirus and system sounds. On the internet disconnect, I don't disable it, I literally disconnect it completely as this not only stops the AV updates and possible system attacks, but it also prevents the system from trying to see MS updates and so on. Now each day when I fire up that computer again, those things are enabled and connected. I allow it to do the updates, if any, security scans as needed and etc...then re-disconnect and disable the same things again. I do it this way on purpose therefore should a new virus be found, I want the security updates in place, in order to prevent problems. Once long ago, before the days of MS Firewalls, I heard about them and bought Norton's Firewall and installed it on a machine. Sure enough, I instantly found out that it was being hacked from someone in mainland China, right that second! It stopped them cold but I never forgot. No clue what they were looking for either.

The problem with doing it this way is that if the power glitches and your computer resets, well if the auto-updaes haven't, they will do so during your show and noone I know wants their show disrupted.    This is why the show computer is on a "secured wireless internet connection" that is "disconnected" and has to be manually reconnected, so even if th sytem reboots, there is no way someone can "hack" into my show computer. 

 

And I have everything disabled until AFTER the season, during Halloween and Chrkistmas {month of October through January 1st or 2nd of the new year} the show computer is doing nothing but running my off hours music during the day 6:30am-5:28pm, actual show from 5:30pm-11pm Sun-Thur, midnight Fri/Sat, and then the overnight lighting after show ends until 6:30am.

 

I have yet to get infected, have any issues or problems and no show shut down or slow/lag times because the computer happened to get rebooted due to a power failure or loading all the other stuff that could disrupt or slow a show down.

 

So even though you're doing it the way you're doing it, it's actually too much work and it could disrupt and affect your show, especially if you don't happen to be home when it occurs.

 

Remember Murphy would alway make his laws to say things like, "If it can happen, IT WILL HAPPEN!"     maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later, something always happens in a way you don't want it too.

 

So I stand by all I stated and these are the very reasons why I have EVERYTHING DISABLED on the show computer EXCEPT the LOR Software and hardware!

[dgrant]

We're on the same page there. I disable everything and disconnect from the internet and so on, all in making sure nothing interupts the show computer when it's doing it's job. I'm a sort of "go-to" person when computers totally die, whether it be from hardware failures, screwups or worms/viruses/malware. I've seen where a bug will go undetected for weeks before an update catches it and stops it. I want my computers totally clean all the time but I dare not let things update, scan or whatever, while a show is running which is why I take the extra time and effort to insure those things are disabled during the shows.

[Bustluvr]

As far as the LED lights with transformer and 7different light settings . I ended up removing the lights from the show be cause the lights were changing channels on there own and not performing correctly

[Orville]

As far as the LED lights with transformer and 7different light settings . I ended up removing the lights from the show be cause the lights were changing channels on there own and not performing correctly

Therein IS the main problem with using any type of lighting that has its own built in controller.   If I'm going to use them with LOR, I usually lock the setting on STEADY {most can be locked on one setting and remember it every time the lights are powered}.  

 

This way I'm not having "runaway" lights stealing the thunder from the ones that are actually "sequenced" using the controllers.   Or if they are connected to a controller, only 100% off and 100% ON commands are sent to those particular strands of lights/LED's on that controllers channel usning them.

 

It's the only way to use any style light that has built in controllers that make the lights do various things.

 

Unfortunately if it's an older set of incan's, the controllers on many of them could not be set on Steady and remain there, they would cycle to whatever they felt like doing when powered up.   Some of the early LED strands are this way as well.

 

To see if your strand will retain the last setting used on its built in controller, set it to steady, unplug and leave it off for about 10 to 15 minutes, plug back in, if the lights are on steady where you put them, it retains the last setting on the controller, if not, the lights will come on at one of the other settings, rarely do they come back on steady if they don't have the "remember last used setting" built in to their controller.