DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: sittinguphigh on July 22, 2012,
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This is a mobile unit. Moving all the time.
I need proper wiring to splice and reconnect every 25 nodes with a foot or two between. Male and female connectors needed.
Proper connectors for moving and out doors. I will be assembling and disassembling this all Christmas season for moving shows.
I want to put a plug connector on the box. No pig tales out of the box.
A large plastic electrical box. Every thing has to go into it.
Maybe as large as 20 inch by 7.0 inches by 5 inches.
Batterys on the bottom then all electrical on top of the battries.
2 to 4 SSC
Pixelnet 4 Port Passive Hub. So I can control 25 nodes in different section at different times. (small area).
Pixelnet EtherDongle
conductor hopefully if it comes out.
Amplifier
What else will I need I'm not thinking about?
Thanks
Mort
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if you don't have a conductor, what is your fallback?
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That has been a problem figuring out. Trying to find a small computer that doesn't pull eat alot of watts has been hard.
I need something I can turn off and on easy. Every thing has to be pack away.
Room is a problem.
Power is a problem. Speakers have to be loud enough to hear. Need efficient speakers. Can't run a large amp with high watts.
That's why the SSC would work well. I may only need two strings of 128. It would more efficient with more options.
Mort
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conductor will definitely be a better choice.
i first thought to suggest LOR's MP3 director as an alternative. both are similar in purpose, conductor gives you 16384 pixelnet channels, and MP3 director will give you LOR data... maybe with LOR/DMX conversion adapters you could drive Lynx DMX devices, but I don't know how to get pixelnet to the smart strings taking this path.
it seems that you'll need a notebook computer driving this. with another horse or vehicle maybe the laptop could be closeby -- but using wireless to send pixelnet e1.31 data to the etherdongle connected to a wireless switch.
you need a conductor. maybe one of the beta testers will part with their unit. :)
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This is going to be a Christmas light parade. I have to carry every thing. No cars. Just horses and horse wagons. It's Norco horse town USA. he haw. ;D
Well I hope they get the conduct finished in time.
I ordered the SSC boards, hub 4, and the wireless.
Maybe I could use the wireless some how.
I haven't been able to order the SSC V2. There's no link in Wiki.
I'm looking around for a netbook. But I have to have a strong 6 hour battery. Netbooks power always cut in half the state amount.
Mort
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This is going to be a Christmas light parade. I have to carry every thing. No cars. Just horses and horse wagons. It's Norco horse town USA. he haw. ;D
Well I hope they get the conduct finished in time.
I ordered the SSC boards, hub 4, and the wireless.
Maybe I could use the wireless some how.
I haven't been able to order the SSC V2. There's no link in Wiki.
I'm looking around for a netbook. But I have to have a strong 6 hour battery. Netbooks power always cut in half the state amount.
Mort
hubs and ssc v2s are now available in the store... the mouser BOM link for parts will be there soon, people are working on it now.
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The bom link has been fixed.
Rick R.
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Thanks guys.
Can you give me any help on wiring for the SSC
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Thanks guys.
Any help on cable/wiring for the SSC and connectors. Need connectors. Male and female.
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have used these from the wiki listing and work really well....
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/10pcs-lot3-Core-White-Waterproof-Line-15cm-long-each-male-and-female/701799_425563008.html
Myk
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Thanks just might work. Spray them black and you see them.
What about extra wiring. I'm planning to Separate the 128 node line into groups of five.
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When I got mine, I got a couple that had a marble effect on them, so my guess is they can make them in other colors, since when they change colors they don't always clean out the machine and just throw in the new color and let them mix a little. So you might email Ray and ask if they make them in black already.
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Thanks just might work. Spray them black and you see them.
What about extra wiring. I'm planning to Separate the 128 node line into groups of five.
http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/701799/210128048-425559947/100m-lot-3pin-cable-for-RGB-color-led-strip-module-20AWG-100m-long.html
Myk
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someone else mentioned using bullet connectors in another thread for nearly the same purpose for inline splices
similar to these http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d100_bullet_terminal_connectors.html
(assuming the conductor isn't released in time for you)
to meet all of your criteria I can see price on the pc end adding up. You should be able to lengthen battery life by having an SSD in whatever you choose to use but they get pricey quick. Battery runtime is usually advertised with just about everything draining turned off (think things like optical drives, usb, and network connections). For 6 hours of show running you'll probably want a notebook with a spare battery or two charged and ready to swap out. They do make tablets that run full windows 7 for under $600, but the battery life isn't to the point you need and you can't swap out the battery so you'd still need multiples.
One option that might be worth looking into is what they used to call a carputer. I haven't kept up with the tech, but basicly it's a PC with a special power supply made to run off the already 12v vehicle electrical system and using small automotive lcd's as a display. The guys that build them usually use the ultra small form factor boards and such. No idea on the drain it would put on your big batteries though. My thought is if it's feasible to use you might just need to expand your existing battery bank to power it.
Most straightforward thought is some kind of quiet generator (oxymoron I know) muffled up etc.
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Yes that has been my problem finding computer/conductor that doesn't draw alot of power and is small. I find them but they what about 1000 dollars. I'm unable to spend that kind of money on that.
So I keep looking. If I had enough knowledge about computers I would build one. Here is a place I found. I'm looking in on it.
http://www.ewayco.com/100-low-cost-pc-products-low-cost-systems-embedded-systems-servers-lcd-pc-panel-pc.html
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Yes that has been my problem finding computer/conductor that doesn't draw alot of power and is small. I find them but they what about 1000 dollars. I'm unable to spend that kind of money on that.
So I keep looking. If I had enough knewledge about computers I would build one. Here is a place I found. I'm looking in on it.
http://www.ewayco.com/100-low-cost-pc-products-low-cost-systems-embedded-systems-servers-lcd-pc-panel-pc.html
go used... goodwill (in this area) has a used computer store and you can easily find affordable used notebooks. as mentioned, you can get replacement SSD drives and together you'll end up with a system that should drive a sufficient number of lights without breaking the bank, and it will also be suited to hours of battery-based operation.
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If you use xlights as your scheduler you can get by with an old old laptop. I've been using a gateway arc200, which is about 10 years old at this point. It runs on the old intel centrino chipset. I would think you should be able to pick something like that up for under $100 dollars. If you could find a good battery for it and set it up to run with the lid closed and the display off, you could probably make 6 hours...
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The problem with older laptops is that they are not known to be either small or energy efficient.
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Yeah, conductor would be best bet, but at this point I'm starting to think the conductor may not make this year unless the coop starts soon and is really quick...
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Yeah, conductor would be best bet, but at this point I'm starting to think the conductor may not make this year unless the coop starts soon and is really quick...
offer $400 to a conductor beta tester and see if you get a taker on that deal. :)
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Yeah, conductor would be best bet, but at this point I'm starting to think the conductor may not make this year unless the coop starts soon and is really quick...
It's only July. There is still time and from seeing it at the Academy, it doesn't look all hat hard to assemble. If the coop stats toward the end of Aug, there should be plenty of time to get it ready for the holiday season.