counting leds...

[angus40]

If you are sequencing 3 channels for your show of 500 pixel count smart strings  , then you have a very ez and little effort sequence to do also the show will be limited in its potential , however you could broadcast that you are using a whopping 3 whole channels with a very large #3

Counting a RGB node as 3 LED's is just silly and using the channel count is even more lame.  Lets say I had 5 100 node smart strings.  Because of my layout I have all of the strings in string mode and because I want them all to do the same thing, I have all of the controller set to the same address.  So how many lights do I have.  By node count, I have 500, by LED count I have 1500, and by channel count I now have 3.  Which one is correct?  If someone wants me to show them 500 points of light, I can do that by turning any combination of channels on.  If that same person wants to see 1500 points of light, I can't do it.  If that same person only wants to see 3 points of light, I can't do that either without shutting down 497 nodes.  It seem pretty clear which is the correct way to do it. 

[chrisatpsu]

wow, none of the guys that post their led counts had replied...   i was hoping to get them to chime in.

i'm basically talking about when you see a website, and they say 900,000 leds this year!    or    5,000 lights in this show....   

i'm basically asking them how they count the show... 

i personally would count each bulb-like device, so a smart string would be up to 128 leds...   a flex stip would be 120.   beacuse there's that many seperate sources of light and i think i consider the r,g and b  and the combination of those as one led.

[tbone321]

You can call it limited potential but I would call it a Christmas light show, not a rock concert.  The reality is that I could have 2 large trees and each one could be carrying thousands of nodes.  If all I want to do with those trees is change their color and intensity then I would have the SSC's in string mode and all would be on the same starting channel per tree.  Now I could have other strings of nodes in pixel mode doing other things but these thousands of nodes in the trees are still only using 6 channels.  The point is that channel count is not light count, and neither is LED count with RGB nodes.  Now if you feel the need or want the bragging rights to claim that you are encoding 30,000 channels then go for it but that doesn't mean that you have 30,000 points of light, especially if you are using RGB nodes and claiming that you do is just not true. 

[caretaker]

Great, now I gotta go and pull out all my lights and count 'em....  How about an estimate?

[Steve Gase]

since I plan to have LE-controlled LEDs in my display, I will probably have both counts.
xxxx channels
yyyy leds  (I'll treat each 3-channel'd led, as a count of 1)

[tbone321]

Now that makes sence and shows both the amount of light and the complexity in controlling them

[angus40]

my last post was ment as a joke towards count period , as i thought you were indicating the same .

did not think any 1 would use digital in place of rgb , my bad if i quoted you as makin a haha .

[meman]

If I do happen to mention "stats",  I try to refer to x number of lights controlled by x number of channels to give an indication of show size and complexity.

Since the numbers game originated long before animated lighting or LEDs, the impact for "number of lights"  has been diluted a bit. In the old days if someone was running 10,000 C7 incandescent lights in a static show, there was a direct correlation to the amount of power being used. A damn powerful show indeed.

RGB LEDs throw a whole new curve into the count, and its all personal on how you want to spin YOUR show. Personally, I choose to estimate (who actually counts them) the points of light I'm capable of turning on at one time. I cannot display pure red, green and blue at the same time out of an RGB node, so it counts as 1 point of light in my book.

[chrisatpsu]

If I do happen to mention "stats",  I try to refer to x number of lights controlled by x number of channels to give an indication of show size and complexity.

Since the numbers game originated long before animated lighting or LEDs, the impact for "number of lights"  has been diluted a bit. In the old days if someone was running 10,000 C7 incandescent lights in a static show, there was a direct correlation to the amount of power being used. A damn powerful show indeed.

RGB LEDs throw a whole new curve into the count, and its all personal on how you want to spin YOUR show. Personally, I choose to estimate (who actually counts them) the points of light I'm capable of turning on at one time. I cannot display pure red, green and blue at the same time out of an RGB node, so it counts as 1 point of light in my book.

i agree with this.   The average viewer may not even know what a channel is, but by giving them the approx number of led's is like telling them the number of "different light bulbs" they're looking at.

[pipersmall]

I personally think that led and channel counts are 2 completely separate items but go hand in hand with each other. Any RGB led should only count as one led as it can only show one color at any one time.