DiyLightAnimation

Hardware => Lynx Freestyle => Topic started by: jem5136 on January 08, 2013,

Title: What's Your Opinion
Post by: jem5136 on January 08, 2013,
I'm planning on moving my display this year to my church (not to make money from the display, just to light up the church), and I want my show to be awesome! I already have my display designed, but I am wanting to know your guys opinions about controllers. As of right now I have a bunch of Lynx Express controllers (about 176 channels worth) and I am thinking about selling those and replacing them with a Lynx Freestyle.

The reason I am doing this is because I'm going mostly RGB this year, and what channels are not RGB is spread out in the display, and I think it'd be easier and less wires if I had a Freestyle instead of a bunch of Express's. What do you guys think about this? I know I'll need more Cat5, which isn't a problem and I am going to get all LEDs this year, so has anyone ever had a problem with a Freestyle running LEDs?

Also I am going to have 4 MR16's hooked up to run my floods. I am just wondering what everyone thinks is the best option.
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: chrisatpsu on January 08, 2013,
Lynx equipment is not allowed at a church.  It's not about making money off the equipment. It's about the chance for something to go wrong, and more possibility of people getting hurt. The devices are made by members, so it would never clear a UL certification.

LOR would be a better choice for this type of setup.
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: rrowan on January 08, 2013,
Well you have some problems

1 - You shouldn't use Lynx hardware at your Church - there is insurance problems using a non UL device (RJ's name is on the boards and could be sued if there was a problem like a fire)
2 - The freestyle is not designed to run LEDs its designed to control SSR4 (there is not enough amps on the transformer to power up more then a couple of leds along with the circuit design)
3 - Unless there is a coop for one you might have a problem getting a freestyle
4 - Most people would think going from a LE to a freestyle is going backwards

To be safe sell off the lynx equipment and buy hardware that is UL listed if you are determined to have lights at the Church.

Rick R.
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: jem5136 on January 08, 2013,
I forgot about the UL certification problem. Would it be possible to have the church sign an agreement and put signs up around the display saying not to enter the display? Also, I know the Freestyle uses external SSR's, and I was asking if there was a problem controlling LEDs with the SSR's.
Title: What's Your Opinion
Post by: rm357 on January 08, 2013,
This is going to sound harsh, and I want to say up front that it is nothing personal, I'm not trying to be mean or unfair...

You agreed when you joined not to go there.

Personal use only.
It's in the DLA Agreement Statement in the New Members Introductions area.
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: caretaker on January 08, 2013,
As someone else has said if you want to do something at your church get LOR equipment as it is all UL rated which would protect your church should something go wrong and insurance companies were involved.  I talked to several other people who had shows at there house and when traffic got overwhelming talked to there town or church with the idea of moving it there. In every case one of the first things asked was, "Is the equipment UL approved". Nobody here at DLA wants to rain on anyones lightshow, but to protect RJ and this site that is why the rules must be strictly enforced.
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: jem5136 on January 08, 2013,
Yeah, I remember that agreement, It looks like I'm going to have to go with LOR, or keep my display where it is (which I don't want to do). I don't want to void that agreement, so I'll probably just keep the display at the house, but either way, I'm still doing RGB and I still have the same problem.  <yk..
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: scharbon on January 08, 2013,
Still not sure I know what your problem is.  Introducing a Freestyle and up to 16 SSR's only introduces more cables - not fewer.  176/16 = 11 LE means you have 11 power cords running around your yard and 1 cat5 cable with 11 segments.  Using the freestyle with 16 SSR's would mean you need 17 power cables (one for the FS and one for each SSR) and you would have 17 Cat 5 cables (one from the dongle to the Freestyle and then one from the freestyle to each SSR).  In the end, the LE's use less power cord and cat5 cable.  In addition, the LE has light normalization curves that you can load into it that will make your LED dimming smoother (more uniform) than what you will get with the FS since it has no light normalization capability.  Finally, the LE has snubbers built into the circuit that help your LED's fade smoother.  The SSR's do not. 

So kind of like Rick said, going from LE to FS would appear to be a step backwards to most.  Is there something else you are trying to address that haven't quite understood?

Steve
Title: Re: What's Your Opinion
Post by: caretaker on January 08, 2013,
There are plenty of other options for pixels that can be used in a "commercial" environment such as Stellascapes http://www.stellascapes.com/ or you can Use pixel controllers from San Devices http://www.sandevices.com/aboutus.html or J1sys http://www.j1sys.com/ethcongateway/ are all options OR you can use CCR's (Cosmic Color devices) from LOR
In reguards to your original question about Freestyles, at one point people wanted lot so DMX channels and at the time the FreeStyle was a way to accomplish this with out a huge upfront cost. Now with the price of an Express in a coop it is cheaper than going the Freestyle route. If you only wanted 4 DMX channels in certain sections then the SSR4 with DMX option would make more sense.