DiyLightAnimation

Forum Info => Getting started with Light Animation => Topic started by: woodzracer on December 20, 2011,

Title: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: woodzracer on December 20, 2011,
Ive been hanging around here for a couple days reading everything i can find. I have seen the LOR stuff and am a little familiar with the animation process but not really experianced. So Im getting ready to do next years Christmas display. Hopefully that will give me enough time but probably not. My question is could someone please explain the differences between the controllers? I have read alot about what they do and how they do it but what I cant find is the advantages and disadvantages with each setup. Please keep in mind that Im real new to tish, Im starting on the ground floor but would probably end up expanding as things go. So which controller is best and for what reason? Thanks in advance for everyones help..Have a great day...Shawn
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: z327 on December 20, 2011,
If you don't mind building your own I don't think you can do better than a Lynx Express. I like my LOR controllers as well (bought fully assembled) but prefer the Lynx for three reasons.
Cost
Wireless option w/ daughter card
Extras- LED one every Channel for trouble shooting, switches for easy programming and testing.

Ive tried one other DIY board but like RJs designs the best.
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: woodzracer on December 20, 2011,
Ok re reading my origional post i realize I may have been confusing. I meant to say the differences between the lynx controllers. I dont understand what would make the freestyle a better choice over the express or vice a versa. I know one has more channels and others have the ssr's on board or separate. trying to decide what would work better or maybe one has different applications that it works better for. Hope that clears up what im trying to figure out. Thanks again
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: holland lights on December 20, 2011,
To me the express is better. The express is a stand alone 16 channel controller;where as, the freestyle you have to run a cat5 cable from the freestyle to a ssr4 for every 4 channels you want to run.
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: ksbcay on December 20, 2011,
I'm in th same boat as you - tring to understand what can go with what and why one would be better to do what.
 
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: keitha43 on December 20, 2011,
The WIKI has a comparison table in the dmx section.
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: rm357 on December 20, 2011,
The express is slef contained 16 channels and has light curves so that the dimming of different types of strings can be matched for a more consistent look.

The Freestyle requires SSR4 or other types of slave modules to do the actual load switching and is locked in on a single linear ramp for the dimming.

A lot depends on what you want to do... An SSR4 is convienient if you have a small tree with 4 colored strings of lights (i.e. RGBW). You can for go the plugs and wire the strings directly into the SSR4 and permanenetly attach it to the small tree making setup and teardown easy.

Even though the smart strings are still an immature technology, I would seriously consider looking at that route. By the time you do 4 strings + 4 channels of control, you are pretty close to the cost of a single string and SSC.

The SSR4 is rated for 1A per channel, 2A with a heatsink. The Express is more like 4A per channel, but even with split power, you are limited to 20A per half. If you want a ton of lights with a smaller number of channels, the express is always a very good choice.

OK, it looks like all my thoughts are random...

One other thought on the freestyle, there are some DC controllers that can be controlled by the freeestyle, just none with the Lynx branding. We tend to steer folks to the MR16 for DC loads as it has a much better control system...
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: rrowan on December 20, 2011,
Just my 2 cents for whats its worth.

The display layout can affect which controller works better for you. My yard for example uses a freestyle, lynx express, ssr4-dmx. Here is why I did that.

The Freestyle allows me to controller many elements in my display that are far apart and don't need a high channel count in one small area (example Blow Molds, 2 channel mini trees, candy canes).

The Express is great for a small area that needs many channels (example mega tree, leaping arches or items that need higher current per channel).

The SSR4-dmx (example: snowflakes attached to the gutters) is great for smaller areas needs 1 to 4 channels and its not feasible for me to use a port off of the freestyle.

So what works best, sorry to say it depends on your needs and layout. A lot of folks will use the express (LE) only or combine it with the SSR4-dmx.

Of course the RGB lights adds a totally different set of controllers and software issues but the benefit is tremendous flexibility in color choice and patterns.

Hope that helps

Rick R.
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: shaunkad on December 20, 2011,
there is one more factor there has not been  a coop for the freestyle in over a year. I think it is closer totwo years
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: Ron on December 20, 2011,
My thoughts...

I have Lynx Express from v2 to v5 in my show, I have FreeStyles and I have SSR4s.  My favorite is the v5 LE.  It is a self contained unit, meaning no external SSRs required.  That is not why I prefer it though.  The FreeStyle is a great piece of equipment and I use 2, but it does not have some of the built in "niceties" of the LE. 

The LE has the following that are really nice that the FreeStyle does not have:

I find that when I replace a connection to the FreeStyle now I either replace it with a connection on a LE or I put a SSR4 in it's place.  There are just a bunch of cables running into the FreeStyle and it gets to be difficult to manage.

So, if I were starting over I would us Lynx Express and Lynx SSR4s where I needed them.

Ron
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: woodzracer on December 20, 2011,
Great, that is exactly the type of info I am looking for. Techno information is wonderfull but real world "whats best in this application" is what I was after. I figured a mixture of controllers would be the ticket but which one was gonna do what is a big help. Now for another question...I havent seen (or more likely havent looked in the right spot) alot of pictures of anyones set ups. Is there a gallery or do you all put pictures up of what you use, how you use it etc? that would be the next helpfull step...
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: ksbcay on December 20, 2011,
The same here - Great - I have something to think about for next year.  Now the fun - to build and plan it all.
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: janneman on December 21, 2011,
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Great, that is exactly the type of info I am looking for. Techno information is wonderfull but real world "whats best in this application" is what I was after. I figured a mixture of controllers would be the ticket but which one was gonna do what is a big help. Now for another question...I havent seen (or more likely havent looked in the right spot) alot of pictures of anyones set ups. Is there a gallery or do you all put pictures up of what you use, how you use it etc? that would be the next helpfull step...

I agree with you. It would be nice to see pics of the different setups
Title: Re: Trying to make sense of the controllers
Post by: rrowan on December 21, 2011,
I know there are videos of folks setup in the porch section. I did one a few years back and most of RJ's videos (see wiki smart string library) he shows the connected items.

Rick R.