Power to transmitter and receiver

[callmemike]

How do you control the power to your transmitter and receiver?  I connected them to an unused channel and made them into an animation.  I put the animation into the background of my show.  Short of running those devices off of a separate timer, this is all I could think of.

[George Simmons]

I just leave the transmitter powered. So much simpler than any other method I've ever heard of. The receiver I turn on manually.

Edited November 22, 2015 by George Simmons

[dgrant]

I have a digital timer on the transmitter. For the receiver, I ran into issues with it losing its frequency after power was disconnected from the wall so I went with a timer capable RF remote which just sends the on/off command to the receiver at the specified time. This way, I can set up the show to run and it will, even if I can't be here.

[Steven]

I use X10 modules (switches), controlled by the show player. One reason I do it that way is that the transmitter is not near a LOR controller, which are all outside near the lights. Instead of an FM receiver, I split the audio from the computer and also send it through an amplifier, which is controlled by another X10 switch.

 

Many of use use FM transmitters that transmit at a power level that is technically higher than the FCC regulations permit. Turning your transmitter off during daylight hours (when your show is not running) reduces the chances of someone complaining and getting you in trouble.

[Orville]

Been running mine for 5 years now during the day, 7am-5:25pm playing assortment of Christmas carols or Halloween songs, depending on what time of year it is that I'm doing.   Haven't had any complaints to date.    Did have to change my freq this year though, new radio station showed up, even though it's not that close to me, on occasion it comes in crystal clear, so instead of challenging fate and keep using it this year, changed to another freq. not in use and is clear of several freq's above and below it.    So I think I'm good.  **knock on wood**

 

BTW: Also use it in the off season to broadcast music when I'm working out in the yard!

[k6ccc]

2014 was the first year I did a musical show (2 years of animation only with LOR before that).  I left the FM transmitter on from the time I installed in a few days before show started until I took it all down in January (except for two days when it and everything in the cabinet it was in got drenched).  except during the show, it played silence.

 

This year, I powered it up about 2 weeks before show start and have been using playing Christmas music using Zara Radio.  My show starts tonight, and if I've got everything working right, Zara will play up to a few minutes before the show starts and then stop for the show.  After the show it will automatically restart within a few minutes.  Therefore, the transmitter on all the time.  And no, I don;t plan on it getting drenched this year!

[k6ccc]

I am going to follow that last post with one other thing.  I do control power to the amplifiers that drive the speakers in my front yard.  I run the show later than I run the speakers, and this year I'm running Zara Radio for all non-show hours so there is a strong need to be able to turn off the speakers.  I have a LOR channel that controls a relay which supplies power to the amplifiers.  At 9:00 PM, the evening show shuts down with a short shutdown sequence that tells that the speakers are being turned off and you will need to listen too Newburgh Lights Radio on 101.5 MHz on your FM radio.  After that, the night show starts - which is exactly the same as the evening show, except the yard amps on sequence is not in the background section.

 

The other reason I need to turn off the amps, is that the amps are on a shelf in the master bedroom closet.  The amps have VERY BRIGHT blue power level LEDs and the result is that the master bedroom blinks blue to the music.  It's cute for about a minute and then it's annoying.  My wife goes to bed about 9:00 and I need to keep her happy!

[Orville]

I am going to follow that last post with one other thing.  I do control power to the amplifiers that drive the speakers in my front yard.  I run the show later than I run the speakers, and this year I'm running Zara Radio for all non-show hours so there is a strong need to be able to turn off the speakers.  I have a LOR channel that controls a relay which supplies power to the amplifiers.  At 9:00 PM, the evening show shuts down with a short shutdown sequence that tells that the speakers are being turned off and you will need to listen too Newburgh Lights Radio on 101.5 MHz on your FM radio.  After that, the night show starts - which is exactly the same as the evening show, except the yard amps on sequence is not in the background section.

 

The other reason I need to turn off the amps, is that the amps are on a shelf in the master bedroom closet.  The amps have VERY BRIGHT blue power level LEDs and the result is that the master bedroom blinks blue to the music.  It's cute for about a minute and then it's annoying.  My wife goes to bed about 9:00 and I need to keep her happy!

Why not just put some black electrical tape over those blue L.E.D.'s?     I've done that to a few things I've acquired that have those annoying and far too dadburn bright blue L.E.D.'s in them.   Give me a nice diffused and subdued RED L.E.D. for an on/power indicator anytime, the blue I could sure do without.   Sure seems everyone is using those bright blue L.E.D.'s for just about everything now and I think they are the most annoying color for such use.  But that's just my opinion..

[k6ccc]

Cause I want to be able to look at them when I want to see what's going on.

[greenie95125]

I am going to follow that last post with one other thing.  I do control power to the amplifiers that drive the speakers in my front yard.  I run the show later than I run the speakers, and this year I'm running Zara Radio for all non-show hours so there is a strong need to be able to turn off the speakers.  I have a LOR channel that controls a relay which supplies power to the amplifiers.  At 9:00 PM, the evening show shuts down with a short shutdown sequence that tells that the speakers are being turned off and you will need to listen too Newburgh Lights Radio on 101.5 MHz on your FM radio.  After that, the night show starts - which is exactly the same as the evening show, except the yard amps on sequence is not in the background section.

 

The other reason I need to turn off the amps, is that the amps are on a shelf in the master bedroom closet.  The amps have VERY BRIGHT blue power level LEDs and the result is that the master bedroom blinks blue to the music.  It's cute for about a minute and then it's annoying.  My wife goes to bed about 9:00 and I need to keep her happy!

Hi Jim,

 

I'm trying to do something similar to you. The difference being, I'm controlling a pair of powered speakers directly from a LOR controller. I used to just have the speaker channel on whenever the show was running, but my wife suggested that I shut the speakers off an hour or so before the show shuts down. The transmitter broadcasts the show the whole time.

 

What I've done is make an animation sequence that just loops with the speaker channel on the whole time. Then I use that sequence as a background sequence for my show. However, the speakers do not come on when the show starts, but come on at some point during the 2nd sequence i the show. When that sequence finishes, the speakers turn off and don't turn on again for a minute or 2 into the next song. This seems to repeat, and it doesn't seem to repeat exactly each time. I thought that maybe the sequences (musical) had that channel coming on and off, but I checked each one, and they are all OFF. I tried the same thing on a different channel on another controller, with the same result. The animation sequence itself is 10 minutes long, so it should easily stay on from the first song to the next. I must be missing something, but I just can't figure it out.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Mike

 

P.S. Maybe I should have started a new thread here. Sorry to the admins if I messed up.

[greenie95125]

Hi Jim,

 

I'm trying to do something similar to you. The difference being, I'm controlling a pair of powered speakers directly from a LOR controller. I used to just have the speaker channel on whenever the show was running, but my wife suggested that I shut the speakers off an hour or so before the show shuts down. The transmitter broadcasts the show the whole time.

 

What I've done is make an animation sequence that just loops with the speaker channel on the whole time. Then I use that sequence as a background sequence for my show. However, the speakers do not come on when the show starts, but come on at some point during the 2nd sequence i the show. When that sequence finishes, the speakers turn off and don't turn on again for a minute or 2 into the next song. This seems to repeat, and it doesn't seem to repeat exactly each time. I thought that maybe the sequences (musical) had that channel coming on and off, but I checked each one, and they are all OFF. I tried the same thing on a different channel on another controller, with the same result. The animation sequence itself is 10 minutes long, so it should easily stay on from the first song to the next. I must be missing something, but I just can't figure it out.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Mike

 

P.S. Maybe I should have started a new thread here. Sorry to the admins if I messed up.

I think I figured it out, thanks to you Jim. In another thread, you told someone that to have a background sequence work (to keep a channel on), you needed to delete that channel from the musical sequences. I've done that, and it seems to be working. Thanks for your previous post, and imparting your knowledge to the group.

 

Mike

[k6ccc]

You figured out what I was going to tell you.  Make sure the speaker control channel is ONLY in the sequence that controls it.