Smart String Project 2013-2016

[caretaker]

Chris, if you are going the route of an external supply why not put in a constant current driver and eliminate the big resistors.

[JonB256]

Using DMX, you'll send an ON command, then an OFF command. The length of time between commands will be your strobe flash.

Or, do you plan a timing circuit that will turn it OFF at a fixed time (5ms, 10ms, 15ms) after it gets an ON command?

ps, if you severely limit the ON time, you won't need 5watt resistors. A normal 1/4 resistor would not get hot handling a 5ms pulse every 2 to 5 seconds.

[chrisatpsu]

Smart Strobe running as 50ms. RGB  (3 watts white, 1 watt per color)

some people don't like the timing of 50ms for a strobe. 50ms looks darn good to me!

[twooly]

Tease says the video doesn't exist

[chrisatpsu]

Ok, vimeo is acting up for me today, it's been almost an hour and a half...


here's the video on photobucket

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[twooly]

What was the quick flashing at the start?  Guessing the steady white flash is the 50 ms?

[chrisatpsu]

at the beginning, it was flashing at different rgb values...   
50ms intervals...   R,off,r,off,r,off,g,off,g,off,g,off,b,off,b,off,b,off,w,off,w,off,w,off and repeat a few times.

 the rest was a 50ms flash once a second.

so, is it too long?

[zwiller]

I think it looks great!  I would love to see a test of running some together.  50ms might work. 

Is there any to squeeze one more into the circuit for a total of 4? 

[twooly]

Ah ok I think the speed at the start is good enough for me.  Only thing I can think of is some way to make it random for different ones to get the effect of strobes.

So I'm interested now, want to give build details

[PJNMCT]

50ms looks good. I think the repeat rate at the beginning is the key to its awesomeness. I dont know of any xenons that can come close to this.

[chrisatpsu]

Ah ok I think the speed at the start is good enough for me.  Only thing I can think of is some way to make it random for different ones to get the effect of strobes.

So I'm interested now, want to give build details

twooly, i totally made these strobes to be independently controlled. as far as the sequencer, think of them as just a plain old node.

i have the one strobe set up in vixen. each "strobe" takes 3 channels, R,G, and B. (all three make white)
the pattern you saw, was simply in vixen with a 50ms refresh rate. one block on, one block off, etc...

you can have total control when they come on. if you want to make a "starry sky" then you turn them on, and leave them on.
i left these on for a solid hour, and the heatsink was warm, but i could pick up the led without any complaint. (and wont be an issue for the plastic enclosure i had over the led. 

I think it looks great!  I would love to see a test of running some together.  50ms might work. 

Is there any to squeeze one more into the circuit for a total of 4? 

zwiller, i haven't played around with more than one "strobe" yet, as I'm still waiting on the 5watt resistors to come in.
i can have a string of 128 of these, just would have to provide a power injection, or a doubled up, or trippled up + and - wires.

[chrisatpsu]

strobe node with plastic enclosure


strobe node without plastic enclosure

[rdebolt]

When is the COOP? 

[chrisatpsu]

on the left a C9 xenon strobe...   on the right, my led strobe.   trying to duplicate the effect of the xenon strobe.
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same thing, but showing that you can leave the led on full 100%
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[chrisatpsu]

the camera doesn't give it justice, but the led is way brighter than the strobe.

I have a string of 6 of the xenon strobes, and the one led "strobe" is just really dominant.