Big venue question

[marty h]

Its my understanding that the rgb pixels or strip props need to 75’ or less to director. 
 

How do bigger venues do it with lots of separation between props. 
 

i have a large display and as i add rgbs im trying to plan correctly. 

thanks 

 

marty H

th

[TheDucks]

The director is the Computer. The 75' number is because it gets power from the first controller.

You can use a wall wort (12VDC center +) to power the director, then normal RS485 rules apply

Smart  RGB has data drive limits to first node. Depending on the vintage, that should be less than 25' (gen2 can do more).

Old man, voltage drop also comes into play. 12V nodes, shorter strings (not pushing to the Max # of nodes)

These 2 are totally different rules

Covering a lot of area... use more, smaller controllers, close to the props. The LOR (rs485) can total 4000' (do terminate the last controller with 120 ohms)

[Orville]

32 minutes ago, TheDucks said:

The director is the Computer. The 75' number is because it gets power from the first controller.

Belive it or not, I have gotten away with 100' and 200' of cat5 cable from my old Gen 1 CTB16PC controller to my Old, original DC-MP3 Gen 1 Director, and have used these same lengths with that same older Gen 1 CTB16PC and my newer N4-G4 Director with no problems at all.

  I even have 12V light extensions that range from 100'-180' feet from a Pixie16D or Pixie2D controller to the 1st RGB node, again, never had any issues, and no power injection either.  And I am adding 2 Pixie4D's this year to drop the longer cat5 cables, and the longer extension runs, mainly for easier setup and convenience.

 

[TheDucks]

YMMV 😉 , but when asked, I stick to best practices answers. (I also clearly warn when suggesting risky solutions)

Why? Because they ASKED (or were just unsure).

You and I know how/when to push limits and recover when things go sideways electronically.

+1 on giving ease of setup priority over compact. It is a lot easier running an extension cord and CAT5 to a controller, that dealing with lots of long RGB cables.