Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 This post has been a long time coming and I know a lot of you have been waiting. I am pleased to announce that this Friday, July 24th, two products that have been discussed a lot will finally be up for sale.This first product, Rainbow Wall Runner, was designed purely by me. It is a great way to wash a wall with a large amount of light, when you only have a small area. The circuit board only measures 1.5" by 12" long. There has been a lot of discussion about these but I will sum it all up. These boards are RGB and are designed to be used with either the LOR or the d-Light DC controller. With 3 channels, you can create and HUGE amount of colors to wash the front of your house with. All the information, as well as a video and several pictures about these can be found in this topic:http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum79/19187-1.htmlHowever, in the event that you don't want all those colors and are just looking for a white light to wash the walls, a 12volt transformer can be used for one single color.Now for the moment of truth. Everyone has seen the LED Snow tubes. They are expensive, not very user friendly and don't really allow for much interaction with computer control hardware and software. I came up with the idea of creating a DIY version of these tubes, with user selectable patterns and a much cheaper cost to you, the Christmas enthusiast. The problem was that I didn't have the electronic knowledge to create these. I hooked up with one of the most talented forums buddies I could find and the final product is more then I could have hoped for! What else is great about these is you are not limited to just one color. If you want these to be red, go for it. Do you want these purple? Not a problem! Picture you huge oak tree in the front of the house will 20 tubes will falling lights in a bunch of different colors. However, having these tubes fall at the same speed is just plan boring. With the simple control of two buttons, you can slow these down to a crawl or speed them up to a very fast paced fall. User selectability and control is what these are about.This unit is a two sided board. LED's go on one side, the components on the other. Here are a few pictures of the lights.When you purchase the whole kit, you will get all the components, circuit board, LED's and the clear tubes.Now I know you want to see them in action, so here you go...By the end of the week I will have a bunch of these assembled and hanging up. At that time I will post a new video with them doing things in a group.What is even nicer about these is you could put one light on a single LOR DC channel, or put 20 on 3 different channels. User controllability is where it is at.Please just be aware that both of these products are not assembled. I could probably help you out if you wanted, but for the most part, these are DIY items.So what do you think? Do you have questions? Let me know! I am hear to help you out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 price?Do they go in reverse or just one direction?What controller is recommend for use with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Stupid me...I forgot the prices in the post:?Blizzard will be sold in the following kits:Circuit Board, Parts and NO LEDs: $14.50Circuit Board, Parts w/ LEDs and no tube: $18.50Complete Kit: $21.50Rainbow Wall Runner will be sold in the following kits:Circuit Board, Parts and NO LED's: $15.50Circuit Board, Parts with LED's: $22.00Please realize that allow these will be sold via my website, I am not making a profit on these. It is just easier for me to keep track of this when Paypal does it all for you. Think of this as an different type of COOP.Howard that is actually a great idea. I will talk to "The Guy" and see if we can add that to the firmware. I'll keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Oh great Greg. Just what I need to do now, spend more money! Do you have any future plan for the Blizzard to allow remote speed control of the falling action?I definitely want to try out the Rainbow Wall Runner units to start with though.I'll be sending you and order.Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Currently there is no plans to have these controlled remotely. You will need to set the speed, which, trust me, there are A LOT of speeds to choose from.Howard, to your point. The chip is pretty full, but you could always just put the board in upside down in the tube. That will be a pretty neat effect actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Regarding the buttons that control the speed. They look like momentary contact switches.Could there be an option to wire a relay to them so there could be the potential of controlling a DIO Relay Circuit that opens/closes the switch to control speed during sequencing? Allow for dynamic change of speed during sequencing.Does the unit remember last settings after power off or do they reset to original speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Ponddude wrote: Currently there is no plans to have these controlled remotely. You will need to set the speed, which, trust me, there are A LOT of speeds to choose from.Howard, to your point. The chip is pretty full, but you could always just put the board in upside down in the tube. That will be a pretty neat effect actually.I could see fireworks shooting up from the base! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 I will have to look into the relay. I could see there being a problem because there is a combination of buttons needed to change the pattern. I will get back to you on that...Yes, the units remember their speed and pattern every time you turn them on and off. They also just come one, meaning there is no start up pattern that is flashed when they are powered up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Aww comeon Greg, you know we are tinkers like you. :shock:I can't wait to get my hands on one of each and see how they tick personally.Even if it requires a combination of button pushes, there may be a way to hook up something like an RJ 45 jack to the unit and then to master controller. If you had the ability to address each unit then you could stobe commands through the line and change on the fly.Something to think about for future maybe.BillWell think of it as version 1.1 for the next batch then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 And remember, you asked for suggestions. :dude: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Greg,First of all I think that is a great alternative to the snow tubes and want to congrate you and say thank you for offering these to the rest of us.A few questions:I assume these are ment to run with the LOR DC boards, is that correct?how long are they?do you fore see having a combition of RGB LED's on the PCB board in the future?thanksgreg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Greg,The snowtubes can run off of the DC board, either from LOR or d-Light, or these can be wired together and wired to a wall wart. Even if you don't have anything computer controlled, these will work. Just plug them in and these will be fine. The Wall Runner however, once plugged in with a wall wart will ONLY be white.The boards, inside the tube, will be 14" long. The lighted board itself is 12" long. The whole thing is lite. The tubes that come with these are 1 1/4" across. There is a flat bottom cap and a cap at the top with a hook, to allow you to hang these. Please realize that you will have to supply the wire leads. You can see in the picture there is a red and black wire soldered directly into these. So, in theory, if you wanted on in one tree and another 40ft away, you could do that. The leads can be any length you want to fit your needs.The current board design does not have any RGB capability. However, there are some plans on the table for other RGB lights. Think the Gemmy light show...except cheap. Those, again, are in the thought process right now.If, however, you want make these different colors, just change the LED colors. I plan on doing so for my one main tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Bill, to answer your question, I was informed this...Relays could work wired to where the switches are. They are normally open SPST and a closure could be done by a relay. To change patterns close one relay and while it's closed, momentarily close the other one and the unit will change patterns.Remember that there are 250 different delays and 300 different speeds and that they are circular (each push ramps up till maximum value then each push ramps down till minimum value and repeats) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim P Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Greg,What level of DIY is this project? Any soldering? Whats the average assemble time?? tools needed? etcThanksTim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 The Rainbow Wall Runner I would say is beginner. There is really just LEDs, big resistors and the toughest parts to solder are the modular jacks. I could get them solder in about 5 minutes...very beginner.Blizzard is a little more advanced. I would say its somewhere in between beginner and advanced. There are 48 LED's in there, times 2 leads, plus the two 28 pin DIP's and a few other parts. If you have never soldered before, you most likely would be able to handle these, with a practice piece or two. If your interested in these, PM and I will see what I can do for you. Someone who has soldered before should be able to get these done in 10 to 15 minutes. The LED's take the longest, the components are a walk in the park.I have the assemble manual pretty much set. I will post it tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Greg, did I go to the wrong place or am I blind? I would like to get one of your snow fall tubes to check it out. Could you repost either the link or point me to the right place?ThanksMax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 You didn't do anything wrong Max. These will be for pre-order sale on my new website no later then Saturday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponddude Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 One more video for the night...How about using a few of these, set to their highest speed with no delay under the eaves of your house as a strobe light? Bet the other snow tubes don't let you do that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Greg,Woo Hoo, awesome job. I will be getting a few of these for sure. So I know they run from a DC board. Did I miss something on how LOR will control them? They have muliple colors, patterns and times. Is this done with one channel, muliple channels? Fun, fun!Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim P Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Ponddude wrote: One more video for the night...How about using a few of these, set to their highest speed with no delay under the eaves of your house as a strobe light? Bet the other snow tubes don't let you do that...uuhh , YES!! I can picture it just fine at my house. Very cool. I'm in on a few of each when your ready to take my money.ThanksTim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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