RGB Newbie Help

[MacDaddyEug]

I need some help, as a newbie jumping into the RGB world. (sorry about the big pics too)

 

I have watched a lot of the videos....and I get it...but just not confident that I get it!

 

I have connector pig tails ,

the 27 channel circuit boards ,

RGB LED strip CCR ,

RGB flood lights,

15 DMX modules

and RGB CCB (I think) 

 

I don't yet have the power supplies, because I don't know how many I need.  I have 100 of the CCB, 5x 15m of the CCR, 15 RGB floods.

 

I have one USB connector (RS232?).  Do I need another adapter for the RGB set up?  I am running 6 x 16 LOR controllers.  I guess what I am asking is how do these things go together?  Do I need 1 DMX module per flood?  1 DMX module per strand of RGB?  I am a little lost as to the actual set up.............

 

Any assistance or pointing in the right direction is most appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

 

Garreth MacDonald

Eugene OR

[Dennis Laff]

In order to use the 27 channel controller you need a dmx dongle that will give you 1 dmx universe 512 dmx channels that controller use 27 channels you also connect you 3 channel controller to this universe if your rgb strip is a smart strip you need a pixel controller if it a dumb strip you can connect to either the 27 channel controller or you 3 channel controller

[sax]

So the floods go to the 27 channel dmx controller.

You need a dmx dongle or a controller that will control dumb dmx and pixels. I use the holidaycoro entec pro compatible dongle.

The CCR type strip and the round pixels need to go to a pixel controller.

I use sansdevices e682 for my pixel control. It will also work in something called balanced mode that will allow you to control the 27 channel dmx controller without a dongle. It will take away 4 pixel ports however. It is also an e1.31 device so you would have to learn about that.

For power supply, you didn't mention what voltage your pixels are. The floods are usually 12v but you can get some 24v and AC versions.

Also, depending on where you want to place the pixels will determine how far away you can place the controller. You might need controllers, more power supplies that are weatherproof or spend more cash on heavy duty cables for the pixels.

[k6ccc]

Hey MacDaddyEug,

Please understand that I'm not trying to be a smartass here.  You need to be sure what pieces and parts you have. 

 

Looking at your pictures, what you list as "RGB LED Strip CCR", I suspect is not correct.  It is obviously a RGB LED strip, but based on the connections and wire colors, I assume it's actually a dumb strip.  I don't have any CCRs, but I don't believe that is the connectors that a CCR uses.  The RGBW wire colors tells me that most likely that is Red, Green, Blue, and Common.  This works to your advantage as it is fairly easy to hook up to either your DMX modules or the 27 channel board.  Look at the connections on one end of the strip and see if there are labels that tell what each wire is.

 

The flood lights I assume you intend to hack them to make them dumb RGB devices and then they will also hook to your DMX modules or the 27 channel board.

 

The RGB modules you list as CCBs is definitely not correct.  Based on the arrow on the PC board and that it's only 3 wires tells me that those are smart pixel modules.  Those will need a smart pixel controller to drive them.  Like sax, I am using SanDevices E682 and E6804 boards for controlling my pixels.  That is connected via a LAN connection, whereas the DMX modules and board use an RS485 DMX signal which would normally use a USB dongle - although you can drive that with a port off a E682 if you configure it to do that.  That way your only connection to your computer is via a LAN connection.  If that does not make sense, ASK FIRST because plugging in the wrong port can damage you controllers or LAN.

 

As sax said, make sure you know what voltage your devices need.  Feeding the wrong voltage can kill them.  That is something I have to be very careful about as I have both 5V and 12 devices.  Fortunately for me, my Pixel tree and star are 5V and everything else is 12V, so it's not too hard to keep is straight, but it is something I have to be positive about.  I would be really pissed at myself if I hooked up a 12V supply to my pixel tree and killed 960 pixels!  I have large labels on each power supply.