DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Zeus => Topic started by: RJ on March 12, 2013,
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The Zeus is a 16 string Smart String controller that includes a built in hub and standard fuses. It will be demoed and cooped at the upcoming Academy.
It is the part of the smart String system that handles larger string count items like mega trees ect. It is very cost effective and should run in the $45 range not including shipping, paypal fees ect.
RJ
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Will the coop for this run past the academy and be open to those of us who unfortunately cannot attend?
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WOW!!! You amaze us all the time RJ.
When you state it has a built in hub, will it be a active hub that will also pass out DMX??
Thank you for all you do.
Steve (from Edmonton)
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The Zeus is a 16 channel Smart String controller that includes a built in hub and standard fuses.
Is that a 16 STRING controller, not channel?
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The Zeus is a 16 channel Smart String controller that includes a built in hub and standard fuses.
Is that a 16 STRING controller, not channel?
Yes thanks its fixed now.
RJ
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Will the coop for this run past the academy and be open to those of us who unfortunately cannot attend?
+1 Academy is not in the cards for me either :'(
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I cannot wait to see it RJ! <;d This is going to be AWESOME! <res.
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Would Zeus still require an Active Hub or Passive Hub? Or does this combine the hub and SSCs together?
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Would Zeus still require an Active Hub or Passive Hub? Or does this combine the hub and SSCs together?
From RJ's description its a combine hub/SSCs
Rick R.
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At that price point, it sounds like a Pixel Net input rather than E1.31. If so, would it have a Pixel Net output for daisy-chaining?
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RJ, knowing that you are getting pounded with a million questions ::) AND I am sure that you are way ahead of this, but do you have a specific enclosure in mind with Zeus or will it be up to the user?
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Gotta love the tease.... >.d9
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At that price point, it sounds like a Pixel Net input rather than E1.31. If so, would it have a Pixel Net output for daisy-chaining?
Yup SSC and Hubs are Pixelnet which are being combined for the Zeus controller and I would say no reason why there won't be a Pixelnet output or two of them.
Note: I haven't seen the board either at this point.
Rick R.
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Hmm. Color me VERY interested, although I don't even know what the Academy is.
:)
M
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Hmm. Color me VERY interested, although I don't even know what the Academy is.
:)
M
On the titles tabs you can see the academy, in pretty basic terms it is a convention for animated lights for Halloween and Christmas.
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I'm very excited about the Zeus, as I have been planning a RGB 1/2 megatree which will require 48 SSC(s) so this could be a be a cost saver for me.
Will these also be powered by an ATX power supplies as the SS Hubs are? I'm sure hoping so.
The downside, of course is having to wait till July for a COOP. But that said, I'm very thankful to have such options period.
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Count me in.... I may have to go to the academy just to get this part.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I put in the initial guess of $45 for the zeus board (versus the $62 for an active hub), no smart string controllers and used the cheaper ws2811 12v flex strip
$32 for 5m ws2811 vs $42 for 4m 1809.
My 20 string megatree
was $1669 using active hubs and SSC's and 1809's
it was $1234 using Zeus, no SSC's and ws2811's.
It looks to me as Zeus has now dropped just below the j1sys p12r and e682 . All 3 are basically very close to the same price. Good job RJ, it brings the pixelnet equipment right back to the leading edge of the hardware. I have noticed the 2811 stuff has had the steepest drop in prices over the last 6 months, not sure why.
again, thanks
sean
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Maybe I am losing it but I could swear rdebolt posted a response about whether the 2811 will be supported... ;D
IIRC the 2811 will be likely supported by the the SSCv4 but have not seen a confirmation about the whether Zeus will.
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I did Sam, but forgot that RJ is working on firmware for the 2811 so I deleted quickly. Just assuming that he may with Zeus as well. Your are fast man!!!! <fp.
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Fast? You posted yesterday ;D
I am just trying hard to follow the new stuff since I think there will many changes ahead.
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Fast? You posted yesterday ;D
I am just trying hard to follow the new stuff since I think there will many changes ahead.
Me too!
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For case I am planning round the battery cases everyone is using. It is cheap and effective. It can hold the Power supply.
The Zeus is just like a hub you plug the power supply into the pcb and you are done for power.
It has a pixelnet input and output so you can daisy chain.
No it is not e1.31 none of the SS stuff is.
RJ
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I put in the initial guess of $45 for the zeus board (versus the $62 for an active hub), no smart string controllers and used the cheaper ws2811 12v flex strip
$32 for 5m ws2811 vs $42 for 4m 1809.
My 20 string megatree
was $1669 using active hubs and SSC's and 1809's
it was $1234 using Zeus, no SSC's and ws2811's.
It looks to me as Zeus has now dropped just below the j1sys p12r and e682 . All 3 are basically very close to the same price. Good job RJ, it brings the pixelnet equipment right back to the leading edge of the hardware. I have noticed the 2811 stuff has had the steepest drop in prices over the last 6 months, not sure why.
again, thanks
sean
Sean thanks but I do not like to play the yours against their's game.
This is not really address to you Sean so please read it as a broadcast to everyone about my thoughts on the pricing game I have seen over the last 6 months.
The fact is the price done this way as the others have done in the past is so far off of the mark it is not funny. It is not that you or anyone is doing anything wrong. But it is like picking the cheapest car based on what the wheels cost.
The reason the megatree started being the thing they priced (and has become the standard) is simple because t is an expensive part of ot the show and what everone begins dreaming of on RGB. Done this way and no other parts of the show they would come in cheaper. Since I create complete systems and it takes me time to complete a system it was a good way to make people believe they would save lots of money using their equipment.
When you do a single megatree and add the cost of the ETD. It is going to inflate the cost. You do not buy a ETD for each megatree or controller.
Then when the hub is added it ignores the fact that you have to buy connectors to run power to their equipment and strings. The hub is just my way of injecting power cleanly and easier than having to run seperate runs and gives us the cheap hub at the same time. Most of the cost of a passive hub is the connectors.
Then on the SSC the cost used always includes the pigtail ect. Their equipment does not come with the connectors so thats over $1.50 a string benifit to the other systems. We also have a even cheaper SSC coming that cuts the cost even more.
There is no free lunch and the ETD gives me a way to take a one time hit on a costly ethernet interface so I can use cheap interfaces on the many controllers needed to build out your show in the future. It allows me to daisy chain contollers and use cheaper splitters ect. The other way of using E1.31 is great but each controller is hit with a costly ethernet interface and so it becomes cost ineffective to build small string count controllers.
Now move to the real problem. When you have all your controllers having 16 string outputs on them and you are done doing your megatrees ect you move to the rest of the show and find you have a hard time filling them without buy extended transcievers or something to extend the distance from the controller to the strings. These cost more than a SSC itself.
When a whole show is looked at and the cost of the ETD is spread out over the show the cost are not even close.
So what if we use my choice to do pricing?
I have 16 mini trees spaced at 16 feet apart in my show. how many 16 string controllers would I need? well it sounds good as you only need one right? But since you are talking a distance of 256 feet it is easy to see it would require a number of them using some of the outputs. There is nothing else near them to use those outputs on. So maybe 4 of them at $110 and some transmitters/recievers to extend the range ???? or one of them and 14 transmitters/recievers which cost more than the SSCs to start with? Gets expensive.
SSC cost about $7 with no pigtail to compare fairly. so 16 x 7 = $112 I can only afford one 16 channel controller for that. add the passive hub and I have about $150 plus I can put my controller permantly attached to the tree and simply unplug it and put it away at the end of the season.
If costs is the big driving force then only way to fairly look at cost is design your whole show and look at the costs over all of everything. I try to create simple cheap DIY solutions for people to use. I am not a business where I have to compete and this is why I have said little about all of this as I have seen it. In the end it all has its place and users should us what works best for them.
RJ
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Thank you RJ!!
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Wow, I can't believe how excited I am about this. This is going to be a perfect addition for my new SS tree. I assume there is going to be a whole group of folks like me who have enhanced their shows where so much else is already converted to SS, except their mega trees. >.d9
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If the Zeus controller combines an active hub with ssc's wouldn't that make the current active hub obsolete? Or are there shorter limitations on cat5 runs to the smartstrings or some other reason to keep selling separate active hub/ssc combos? Especially given the lower cost estimate of the Zeus controller. Also if the ssc is incorporated into the Zeus controller does that mean each port would be assigned a certain channel range so if something happens to a port you just can't move the smartstring to another empty port without reconfiguring the board?
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I think 10' ? Limit makes the Zeus only well suited for high density rgb like a megatree or matrix where all strings are in close proximity.
Overall the active hub and sscs are much more flexible / versatile and have something like 100' range. You also have the ability to swap out easily if needed If you had a few Zeus boards and then eliminated your rgb megatree you'd have more limited uses for them, IMHO .
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I was thinking about that length also assuming it would be closer to the v4 ssc's than the v1-v3 versions. I just hadn't seen any mention of the cat5 length. It would free up 12 ssc's and a hub for me to be used elsewhere.
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What will the board Zeus dimensions be?
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If the Zeus controller combines an active hub with ssc's wouldn't that make the current active hub obsolete? Or are there shorter limitations on cat5 runs to the smartstrings or some other reason to keep selling separate active hub/ssc combos? Especially given the lower cost estimate of the Zeus controller. Also if the ssc is incorporated into the Zeus controller does that mean each port would be assigned a certain channel range so if something happens to a port you just can't move the smartstring to another empty port without reconfiguring the board?
I have the same question - I'm in on the active hub coop to do a mega tree in my show this year. I'm thinking this Zeus controller is the better, more cost effective way to go. Will this also pass DMX through it? My show will be a combo of pixelnet for the mega tree and DMX for the rest of the house this year. I'm a bit unsure what to do now...
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The Zeus will have the same limitation as other multi string controllers. The lights can not be a long distance away from it unless you are going to run lights all the way ever do far and use the nul node feature to repeat the system. Keep your plans to say 15 feet or less. so for mega trees and few places this will work well. Other places that have distances between them the SSC's will work better. As I said Smart Strings is a complete system not a controller. At the academy this year I will be showing something that will even make it more interesting as we continue to add pieces to the system.
It is not going to replace the Hub, I think people misunderstand that the Smart Strings system is just that, A System. I did not come up with a controller and then try to figure ways out to do other things. I standed with a design that included single string SSC devices and higher channel count controller for Mega Trees etc. I can only create and put out so much at a time so we add new parts as time goes along.
The Zeus does not output DMX, we have a member finishing a small pcb that will take in pixelnet and output DMX. So I did not see a reason to add cost to every Zeus when some people will not need the output. those that do can get it from a active hub or one of the boards coming out that just do this and are cheap.
The hubs are not really controllers. They are a clean way to do power injection. one of the ways the pricing you see posted on the different systems get skewed is that they include the hub on SS but do not include the cost to inject power on the other systems. the hub does this for you in one wire.
It replaces the switches that they do not include in their cost to build, and it includes the connections ect you will need to inject the power into there systems. The SS system does this with a hub and then you only deal with the one cat5 wires. build a complete show and the real cost will show. Every time you add a controller the price goes more in favor of the SS system.
RJ
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the pole of my mega tree is pvc pipe,
i was thinking of using a reducer to make a section at the top of the tree wider to fit some electronics inside.
If i added a zues, then the outputs for all the strings in the mega tree would start at the top, and each string would be close to the controller. (to eliminate the 16 or so wires from the bottom of the strings to the center where my hub was.
this would make a much cleaner loo, as i can also run my power, and data line into the side of the pole at the bottom, then run up inside the pole to where the electronics are.
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I'm interested to hear what is currently happening with the Zeus project. I'm a 5 year LOR user and disappointed in their cost to add RGB to my show. I was referred by a fellow decorator and am curious if this could an alternative to the Showtime / Nutcracker software? If so, when is it expected to be released (for those of us who can not go to the Academy).
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Hi cydel,
Not sure what you mean but Showtime / Nutcracker software. Zeus is hardware only.
RJ won't give out details of Zeus until the Academy. I don't even know much about it besides what RJ has posted on the forums.
Besides that Zeus is just another part of RJ's Smart String system. It starts with the Etherdongle (Ethernet to Pixelnet) then Pixelnet devices like the Zeus or Hubs then Hubs to SSC or DSC (two different types of RGB nodes (smart nodes that have a pic in each node for individual colors or Nodes without pics that the whole string is the same color but can be almost any color). There are a few other things like a PC power supply, cat5 etc But that gives you a general overview.
Rick R.
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I'm interested to hear what is currently happening with the Zeus project. I'm a 5 year LOR user and disappointed in their cost to add RGB to my show. I was referred by a fellow decorator and am curious if this could an alternative to the Showtime / Nutcracker software? If so, when is it expected to be released (for those of us who can not go to the Academy).
Welcome to DLA clydel. No Zeus is not a replacement for showtime or nutcracker. Nutcracker is a nice addition to all of the softwares available. If you are looking for Sequencing software then you can purchase Lightshow Pro, or use some other free softwares like Vixen or LHS. Nutcracker does an awesome job with RGB as that is it's design, but most use it as an add on.
clydel you might want to move this question to the Porch area for further discussion as this thread is for the Zeus.
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My bad fellas! I meant to say if Zues can be controlled by Light O Rama (showtime) or Nutcracker software. If so, does it communicate thru E1.31. The posts in this thread do not address that. But as you can tell I am new. I will take your suggestions and begin learning about the Smart String system. I do not have an Etherdongle but I do have the E1.31 Bridge (found on DIY LED express dot com).
Off to Drill! Long day ahead and I'll be busy till 1800 or so!
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LOR s3 advanced works fine with the e1.31 ether dongle which then uses pixelnet to either a smart string hub or a Zeus. On the LOR side it appears as a bunch of DMX universes . You can generAte rgb stuff in nutcracker and paste into LOR or other if you want.
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Question about Zeus.
I assume the controllers built in are all separately addressable for start channel and number of nodes, is that correct?
Thanks,
Craig
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Question about Zeus.
I assume the controllers built in are all separately addressable for start channel and number of nodes, is that correct?
Thanks,
Craig
Yes that is correct. You will be able to set each string individually with all color combinations.
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So if I get one of these? What else do i need for pixel net? New dongle?
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What dongle are you using? If Lynx you can just reflash for pixelnet, but you will need an active hub to convert back to DMX for your DMX channels....Making assumptions here.
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I have a question concerning the numbers of channels the Zeus will be able to handle and I really have seen this point addressed yet.
If the hubs can only handle a universe and a universe is 4096 channels it would make sense to me that the Zeus would have this same restriction (judging by the pics I see the same type jumpers).
So I'm planning a Megatree with 16 strings of 100 LEDs. That puts me at a node count of 4800 which exceeds a universe. So in a case like this would I have to plan on a the Zeus handling only 4096 channels and using something else like a second Zeus to handle the additional channels?
Thanks
Joe
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I have a question concerning the numbers of channels the Zeus will be able to handle and I really have seen this point addressed yet.
If the hubs can only handle a universe and a universe is 4096 channels it would make sense to me that the Zeus would have this same restriction (judging by the pics I see the same type jumpers).
So I'm planning a Megatree with 16 strings of 100 LEDs. That puts me at a node count of 4800 which exceeds a universe. So in a case like this would I have to plan on a the Zeus handling only 4096 channels and using something else like a second Zeus to handle the additional channels?
Thanks
Joe
Joe,
You are correct; Zeus will only handle 4,096 channels total. Each string can be independently configured from 1 to 128 nodes. For the Zeus 16 you could have 85 nodes for each of the strings, i.e. 85 nodes * 3 channels per node * 16 strings = 4,080 channels of the 4,096 possible.
In your case of 100 nodes/string the Zeus 16 could handle 13 string of 100 nodes (100*3*13 = 3,900 channels) and a Zeus 8 could handle the last 3 strings or 3 SSC's could handle the last 3 strings.
Denny
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The Zeus does not output DMX, we have a member finishing a small pcb that will take in pixelnet and output DMX. So I did not see a reason to add cost to every Zeus when some people will not need the output. those that do can get it from a active hub or one of the boards coming out that just do this and are cheap.
Did this board ever come out to convert pixelnet to DMX?
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Not yet
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The Zeus does not output DMX, we have a member finishing a small pcb that will take in pixelnet and output DMX. So I did not see a reason to add cost to every Zeus when some people will not need the output. those that do can get it from a active hub or one of the boards coming out that just do this and are cheap.
Did this board ever come out to convert pixelnet to DMX?
You talking about this little guy...
http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=12412.0 (http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=12412.0)