which hardware?

[pyrael]

I wasn't sure where this post should go, so I hope I'm in the right area..

I've just begun researching all of this and I'm stumped. As I understand, the first peice of hardware I need is a dongle. but I've noted that there is a wireless unit coming soon. will this wireless unit void the need for the usb>cat5 dongle? also, if I have a serial to cat5 adaptor, like the one LOR offers, do I need the usb one and if not, are there advantages of usb over serial?

I'm unsure what avenues to go really, and what ever hardware I  build, I'd like it to grow and be usable in the future. I've read a little about the smart strings, and the like and as I understand it they are DC power vs the usual AC used in other hardware. this is a bit confusing for me as to which way is better. it seems to me that other than fog machines etc, a smart string can do everything a regular string can do and more. so I'd like opinions on how you guys would build a brand new network from the start.

my only restriction is that it must be a solution that can start small and be added to in a cost effective manner.

thanks in advance,

Steve

[rm357]

I think there may be a document on the wiki, but here are some quick notes:

You need something that will talk to the PC and speak the lighting protocol. Currently the Dongle is the device that we are using for that. The dongle is a USB device and can control one lighting universe (more on that in a minute). There is a new etherdongle which is in it's first coop which is an ethernet device that can control 4 universes. Which type of universe these devices generate is determined by the firmware that you load. (You will need to buy a pickit 3 to load/change the firmware)

There are two types of lighting control universes that we are using - DMX and Pixelnet. DMX can control 512 channels while Pixelnet can control 4096. While there are a lot of Light O Rama (LOR) users on this list, we don't directly support that or other lighting protocols.

The current wireless modules that we have only support DMX.
I'm planning to run my etherdongle (If I get it before Christmas) off of a wireless ethernet client device "connected" to my wifi router.

Lights... The pixelnet was designed for the smartstring devices which need huge channel counts. Each node (light) needs 3 channels of control. For a single string of 100 nodes that is 300 channels, which is more than half a DMX universe. To make things a little easier, the active pixelnet hub can output one universe of DMX using one of 8 predefined pixelnet addresses as the start address. This is a mirror type output, the pixelnet outputs are unaffected by the PIX->DMX converter. All of the smart string devices need 12 vols DC and each string of up to 128 nodes needs a Smart String Controller (SSC) to convert the pixelnet to the 180x serial data stream that the nodes understand.

DMX is an industry standard lighting protocol, with many commercial devices available. For DLA we have the Linx Express (16 channel 120v AC), MR16 (16 channel DC - can be any voltage up to 24v), DMX SSR4 (4 channel 120v AC), Aether (RGB spotlight), and the Freestyle (128 channel controller, but it needs either SSR4s or other devices to do the power switching).

I hope this helps.

There is a lot more info on the wiki... Although at first it is like trying to drink water from a fire hose.
My advice would be to skip this year and start planning for 2012. This will allow you to take advantage of the coops as they occur throught the year. A coop is kind-of like a group buy where the manager takes orders and assembles kits. But generally speaking there are no kits availble outside of the coops. You can generally get the boards from RJ as long as he has some available, but the coops can save you as much as 30% due to the large quantities being ordered.

RM


 

[rrowan]

Hi Steve,

To add what RM posted.

You will need a dongle to use RJ's Hardware
The wireless does not remove the need for a dongle
There is already wireless out for DMX units. The new wireless will be for the pixelnet to allow syncing between the etherdongles.
Both DMX AC units and DC SmartString system can be started small and grow as needed. With SmartString being more expensive.

USB dongle is never cooped. You just order the pcb from RJ and use the link in the wiki to get the parts from mouser.com

The following is more my opinion:
To start off I would suggest a new person to use DMX AC controllers. I personally would start off with a Windows Computer, Software, USB dongle, Lynx Express (16 channels). Just added some cables (1 - USB, 1 - Cat5) and either mini lights (incandescent) or LED light strings) You can have more than one light string per channel. From there you could add dmx wireless and more Lynx Expresses (aka LE)

SmartStrings is more advance stuff. While it offers more flexibly color choices it comes with more sequencing time and the need for a higher end computer to deal with a larger number of channels and most people will need a paid version of software instead of a free program like Vixen. To get started with SmartString you need the following to get started. Windows Computer (newer higher end), Higher end Software, USB Dongle or Ethernet Dongle, 16 Port Active Hub, 12 volt power supply (atx type PC power supply), SmartString Controllers, StringString lights (currently order from China which adds a large shipping charge) and quality control of the lights are not great.

Last season was the first time anyone used SmartString system and that one person was RJ. So everyone here that is using smart strings is on a new learning curve and in some cases troubleshooting on the fly (i.e.: issues with the rgb nodes). The Lynx DMX hardware has been out for at least 3 years and more people understand and can quickly help with any problem. Along with more sequences sharing of different songs and effects for the AC controllers.

Finally the choice is totally yours to make. I am using both systems and have many different controllers in my yard. As time goes on I hope to replace a few items in my yard over to smart strings plus add a RGB megatree which is pretty expensive.

hope that helps

Rick R.

[jnealand]

Good posts by RM357 and rrowan.  My recommendation for new people is to get one dmx dongle and two LEs.  With that setup I believe that you can do a good show on ANY home and/or yard.  That is the best way to start because there is so much to learn that we never know about before getting our feet wet.  The physical layout planning including the placement of the controllers, the electrical connections and qty & type of cords, the power requirements, the placement of the computer that is needed to run the show, the FM transmitter to broadcast your music, learning the sequencing software and the scheduling of the show, etc etc etc.  These types of things need to be learned and understood.  Start with a small simple show like Halloween which is a good shakedown of many items before you get to Christmas.  After you get thru that you will begin to understand all the ins and outs of adding more colors and more control.  For instance I started with one multicolored string of lights on each front window  Then I wanted to individually control the colors so that meant hanging 3 strings of lights on every window and having 3 outlets to use for each window and 3 different channels that had to be controlled for each window so the work to accomplish and the knowledge needed was be much greater.  All this is not to scare you off, but to encourage you to start small and dream big for follow on years.  It sure is great enjoyment to have a hobby that brings so many smiles to peoples faces.

[jess_her]

Good post Jim, Rick and RM
The thing I see is that there is a ton of time spent on programing your light show. Start small dongle, lynx express get the bug then go big. 
Jess

[pyrael]

Thanks for laying this out guys 

I decided before ever joining this community that I was going to lean and plan for next year. Prior to Audio recording, I had a good amount of experience on the other side of the mics and had a good grasp on things. So when I opened my small private studio (I don't accept bands off the street at the moment because i'm not really that far along to accommodate them), I knew what I needed and the ins and outs. This, however, is quite different for me!!

Your input really helps with the direction I want to go.  Shortly after the new year (tax refund time) I'll start building stuff (better deals on lights as we all know too  ). I have a bunch of incandescent strings that I might tst with, but a couple years ago we started buying up the LED strings post Christmas. So I have quite a bit of LED to work with. I actually bought a of pumpkins (white LEDs inside) one year and cannibalized it for a lighting project of other sorts. Couldn't beat the 50 cent price tag LOL.

I really don't have a big yard or outside decor area, so if the wifi thing I guess is secondary. I didn't realize that the SmartString/pixel net stuff was that new. 16 channels of the dmx to start (or maybe 32) seems reasonable too.

What I was really conscerned with was buying things that I might "grow out" of. That happened with my studio and was an expensive mistake ($500 one) I purchased a small mixer and low channel count interface only to realize that I could have spent $100 more and had 4 times the channels and been able to accommodate a whole band. I'm hoping to avoid those poor decisions with this project.

I didn't realize that vixen wasn't a good enough program for the pixelnet stuff or other higher end stuff. That's good to know. I have three Very high end PCs at the moment (All quad cores with maxed ram), so I'm not too worried about that end. My studio PC is where I plan to mess with this mostly which was my interest in the wifi aspect. I also have a spare motherboard etc (just need to grab a cpu) that i could build into a dedicated machine.

has there been any talk of a DIY FM transmitter, or is it just as cost effective to buy one that's already out there?

thanks again for all the advice, I promise more questions too 

Steve

[rm357]

Here is a link to a thread where folks talked about what they are using:

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Here is the link to the FM transmitter page on the wiki:

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Enjoy!

RM

[pyrael]

Wow, thanks  again! I'll have to look more closely when I get home. my mobile web is about as good as a 30% tolerance resistor!

steve