JeffF Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Is the CTB-08D a good board to start fooling around with? And will it be useful later, even after adding multiple CTB-16D boards to a home display?I think this is a silly question, but I'm a complete noob so I'd just like a little reassurance.Also, I have been involved in the telco business for a while and I've also been into restoring old arcade/pinball games for the past 10 or so years so I'm pretty familiar with electronics and soldering(not surface mount though, only through-hole). Would purchasing an unassembled kit be a good idea to save some cash or are they more trouble than they are worth? I have soldered many, many hobby kits over the years and never had a problem.Again, probably pretty silly in the questions department but as with any new hobby... a little reassurance from the pros helps. Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas all,Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 80 of our 144 channels are on CTB-08's. They work very well.Pros: Decent cost/channel. Able to put channels very close to the lights they control, especially for spread out things like mini-trees. Less tangle of wires going to a single box. Function as well as any board when controlling lights from a PC or other 'master'.Cons: Very little standalone "master" capability -- not really an issue since you can use a single CTB-16D (or 8D) to drive as many 08's as you like, or a PC or MP3 director if you sync to music. The only real con is the lack of downloadable firmware update. If you need an update, you need to physically get a new chip from LOR and swap them out.-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 Tim Fischer wrote: 80 of our 144 channels are on CTB-08's. They work very well.Pros: Decent cost/channel. Able to put channels very close to the lights they control, especially for spread out things like mini-trees. Less tangle of wires going to a single box. Function as well as any board when controlling lights from a PC or other 'master'.Cons: Very little standalone "master" capability -- not really an issue since you can use a single CTB-16D (or 8D) to drive as many 08's as you like, or a PC or MP3 director if you sync to music. The only real con is the lack of downloadable firmware update. If you need an update, you need to physically get a new chip from LOR and swap them out.-TimExcellent reply, thank you. :cool:As far as your Pros, I was thinking about the "being able to put channels very close to the lights" already and that is a very good selling point for me since we will be spreading out our lights. I also think the units size is a bit nicer since it is so small. I have access to some water-proof housings that my work throws away from time to time and these should fit very nicely, even with all the cord ends.I plan on connecting all controllers to a PC so I don't think the lack of being useful as a stand alone will be a problem.Any idea what chip the firmware is on? I have an EPROM burner from the video game hobby that can handle loads of different type chips so I'm curious if that would do the trick? Then again, I'm WAY ahead of myself here considering I haven't even fooled around with anything yet.Thank you very much for the reply. Makes pressing the "BUY" button that much easier. :] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Jeffrey wrote: Any idea what chip the firmware is on? I have an EPROM burner from the video game hobby that can handle loads of different type chips so I'm curious if that would do the trick? Then again, I'm WAY ahead of myself here considering I haven't even fooled around with anything yet.It's on the main micro, which is only available from LOR since you need the locked & copyrighted main firmware on it.-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 Thanks again for the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Jeff,To help answer your questions about the kits.I purchase the 16D kit and find the kits very easy to assemble. There is no surface stuff, all is through board. Based on the experience you mentioned. You should have no problem.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Just purchased the 16D kit with software. Can't say it enough, thanks for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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