Incondencent light upgrade, but confused on what to purchase. Help!

[NV1985]

Hi.  

     We currently have 4 LOR boxes (64 channels) that primarily is using incondencents still.  We have been slowly upgrading to LED but it was brought to our attention to look into pixel lights instead if we are going to be spending the money...but I guess we are still quite a bit  behind technologically.  

 

Well let's just say I am now super confused on RGB vs color ribbons vs color bulbs AND would we have to purchase all new controllers as well?  I did read the information on LOR but I may need some help from you all to kind of dumb it down for me.  ie x connects to y connects to z.  

Right now we have a 16 ch. 22 ft mega tree.  We do 8 ch. Red. And 8 ch. Green.  With looking at the pixel/rgb we were thinking we could get enough for 16 strands (the bulbs) and then just use the LOR to program the colors.  But I'm unclear If we would need a whole new box, program etc. 

 

Thank you for all your help!! 

Edited October 9, 2019 by NV1985

[Dennis Laff]

If you upgrade to rgb dumb or smart pixels you will need all new controllers, Lor controllers you have are only for ac lights

[TheDucks]

Lets talk Dumb RGB for now. (CMB 24 controller)

Assumes each separate string you currently have is a single color (Red or Green or white). and they are woven/tied  together to appear as a strand

1 RGB string (and Port) would replace each group of those.

You might reorganize(move)  those sequence channels to be alongside each other (if not already) , adjust the ID and channel (1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22 would be the Red, 2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23 would be the PAIRED Green and 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24 would be Blues (you will need all 3 colors to make the White even if you didn't have Blue in your show. This would be the only actual SEQUENCE pattern change )

You are working up to now on individual (monochrome) channels. After you make the moves and 'white' change, You would group the 3 channels into a RGB group. (now you can do shades of color with the color )

BTW Strips are fragile (smart or dumb) and need lots of care. I would avoid those when possible.

[Mr. P]

Pixels - These are smart, each pixel and color controlled individually. Can be in pixel strings, bulbs or strips. Found in 5v and/or 12v and three and four wire. Can use hundreds or thousands of channels. Controllers would include the Pixcon16 and Pixie2, 4, 8, 16. Usually requires higher speed networks.

Dumb RGB - The color and string length are controlled as entire unit. Can be found in strings, bulbs and strips. The entire length uses three channels. Found in 5v and/or 12v and all are four wire. Controllers would include the CMB24D. Can be used on lower speed networks.

Voltages - 5v pixels have shorter runs but are more efficient. Fewer pixels per port due to voltage drop generally 50. 12v pixels have longer runs, more forgiving with voltage drop. More pixels per port usually 100.

More detailed info on pixels here:

http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Different_Styles_of_Pixels

Edited October 9, 2019 by Mr. P