CCP Questions

[gorichgo]

I'm thinking about getting a couple CCP sets and I have a couple questions.

1) are the 2 50-pixel strands attached end to end or are they separately connected to the controller?

2) what is the minimum level software needed?  i currently have basic plus and run 2 16-ch controllers.

3) i have a single story house.  does the CCP's look good hung on hooks on the roof line? better and brighter than the old fashioned C-9 lights? or are they mainly used for something else (mega tree, arches, etc.)?

4) can I continue to use the mini-director with the CCP's?

Thanks for the help

 

[ebrown1972]

The ccp's are sseparately connected to the controller. You should upgrade your level of software. If running the ccp in duel normal mode it will require two unit id's per controller. Ccp's look good hung on anything in my opinion and they are super bright. Some people diffuse them because of their brightness. I do not. As far as the mini director I believe you can use it with the ccp's but I am not 100% sure on that.

[k6ccc]

7 hours ago, gorichgo said:

I'm thinking about getting a couple CCP sets and I have a couple questions.

1) are the 2 50-pixel strands attached end to end or are they separately connected to the controller?

Each CCP controller is a plastic box about 5 x 7 x 2 inches with two cable pigtails coming out the top.  Each of the two strings of 50 CCPs connectos to one of those pigtails (which have waterproof connectors)..

7 hours ago, gorichgo said:

2) what is the minimum level software needed?  i currently have basic plus and run 2 16-ch controllers.

Your Basic Plus license will allow 4 controllers.  You said you are using two 16 channel controllers now and want a couple of CCP sets.  The CCP controller can be setup in two different modes.  In "Normal" mode, the controller only has one ID, and the first string is channels 1 - 150 for the lights on the first string, then channels 151 - 157 for the macro control channels on the first string, then channels 161 - 310 for the lights of the second string, and lastly channels 311 - 317 for the macro control channels on the second string.  In "Dual Normal" mode, each string is a separate controller ID, so for example if you set the ID in the Hardware Utility to 03, they the controller would respond to ID 03 for the first string and ID 04 for the second string.  Each string would have channels 1 - 150 for the lights themselves and an additional 7 channels for the macro control channels.  I have three CCP controllers and use the dual normal mode, so the first controller is IDs 21 & 22, the second one is IDs 23 & 24, and the third one is IDs 25 & 26.  However I had an advanced license from my first day with LOR (now a Pro) so controller count was never an issue for me.  If you used "Normal" mode you could add two CCP controllers and still use your Basic Plus license level.  If you used "Dual Normal" mode, you could only add one CCP controller and still use your Basic Plus license.  BTW, there actually is a third mode called "Legacy" where each you only have 16 channels for each controller (from a sequencing standpoint), so each CCP string would require 10 IDs.  This is a legacy setting back from some really early LOR software that would not support more than 16 channels per controller.  I doubt anyone would have a reason to use the legacy mode any more, but it is still supported.

7 hours ago, gorichgo said:

3) i have a single story house.  does the CCP's look good hung on hooks on the roof line? better and brighter than the old fashioned C-9 lights? or are they mainly used for something else (mega tree, arches, etc.)?

The CCPs are quite bright and would look fine hanging on your roofline - even though the majority of the light would end up pointing at the ground.  I am using my CCPs in PEX pipe based arches where the pixels are illuminating the inside of the pipe and it looks great.  There are some photos on my webpage that will give an idea of how much light they put out.  Look at the bottom two photos at:  http://newburghlights.org/CCP_Arches.html

7 hours ago, gorichgo said:

4) can I continue to use the mini-director with the CCP's?

You should be able to just fine (although I've never used any director product, so this is only based on what I've heard and understand).

Good luck in the sale tomorrow!

 

[gorichgo]

I appreciate your detailed input!!!  Thank you!!

Tough decision to make either another controller or go with the CCP.

Edited April 8, 2016 by gorichgo

[George Simmons]

1 hour ago, gorichgo said:

Tough decision to make either another controller or go with the CCP.

If this is a vote, I say go with the CCPs.

[gorichgo]

On 4/7/2016 at 7:48 AM, k6ccc said:

Your Basic Plus license will allow 4 controllers.  You said you are using two 16 channel controllers now and want a couple of CCP sets.  The CCP controller can be setup in two different modes.  In "Normal" mode, the controller only has one ID, and the first string is channels 1 - 150 for the lights on the first string, then channels 151 - 157 for the macro control channels on the first string, then channels 161 - 310 for the lights of the second string, and lastly channels 311 - 317 for the macro control channels on the second string.  In "Dual Normal" mode, each string is a separate controller ID, so for example if you set the ID in the Hardware Utility to 03, they the controller would respond to ID 03 for the first string and ID 04 for the second string.  Each string would have channels 1 - 150 for the lights themselves and an additional 7 channels for the macro control channels.  I have three CCP controllers and use the dual normal mode, so the first controller is IDs 21 & 22, the second one is IDs 23 & 24, and the third one is IDs 25 & 26.  However I had an advanced license from my first day with LOR (now a Pro) so controller count was never an issue for me.  If you used "Normal" mode you could add two CCP controllers and still use your Basic Plus license level.  If you used "Dual Normal" mode, you could only add one CCP controller and still use your Basic Plus license.  BTW, there actually is a third mode called "Legacy" where each you only have 16 channels for each controller (from a sequencing standpoint), so each CCP string would require 10 IDs.  This is a legacy setting back from some really early LOR software that would not support more than 16 channels per controller.  I doubt anyone would have a reason to use the legacy mode any more, but it is still supported.

OK, I purchased 2 CCP's and just received my shipping confirmation so now I need to get working.  So what's the difference (any benefits) between normal or dual mode?  I currently have a lot of Halloween and Xmas sequences so do you have any tips on how i can add the CCP's to those sequences faster?  I plan to use them around my garage door and roof line.

Thanks for the advice.

Rich