How do I make light blink to music?

[RJ]

So you want to have your own holiday light show but do not know anything about it?
No problem this is why DiyLightAnimation Exist.

So you say you don't know your SSR's from your DLA thats OK!
I know abbreviations can be hard so I will first layout a glossary for you here :

Beta  -  Second stage of development of a design. It normally means that something is in the testing phase and not ready for normal use.

Blog - The web log that I post to from time to time to tell people about what I am doing.  (see the top menu on the home page)

BOM  - Bill of Materials (parts list of what parts are needed to build an item.)

Chat - the text chat room we also operate.  (see the top menu on the home page) It has mainly been replaced with Teamspeak (see teamspeak below)

Controllers - any electronic device that is the controlling part of the light system. These include internal SSR & external SSR. See SSR in this Glossary

Coop - Cooperative Order (what we call when we all get together and make a big order for a large quantity of parts to build an item and then sort it into parts kits and send them out. This save money since the parts are much cheaper in large quantity.)

Coop Manager - The person running the coop, (Takes the orders, collects the paypal payments and then orders, sorts, packs the stuff and sends it to you. All for the good of the group at large.)  Always be nice to the coop manager they do a lot of work for you to save you money.

DIY  - Do It Yourself  

DLA  - DiyLightAnimation (Our Site)

DLA Staff - Term I use to refer to the Admins and Mods of DLA.

DMX - Digital Multiplex  (The type of language our systems speak to each device. It is the industry standard and has good speed and channel count as well as it can travel long distances)

DMX Dongle   -  A device that hooks to your computer and lets your computer generate DMX to run DMX devices like our controllers or snow machines, Fog machines, Robotic Lights, Lasers, Ect.

Firmware - Software that is designed to be loaded into microcontrollers like the pic to make them operate.

FS   -  Freestyle (one of a number of light controller we build that has 128 channels but uses separate SSR's)

LE    -  Lynx Express  (one of a number of light controllers that we build, this is one with the SSR's built in)

LOL - Laughing out Loud. A term used to show you are joking when you post. It can be hard to tell in text the emotion meant by a comment so this added to the end makes sure the users know you are kidding around.

Lynx  - A name I use to describe the stuff I design. Like Ford or Chevy it is a family of products. Each has its own name like Express. As in Lynx Express, OR Lynx Dongle. See the following blog entry to understand better : http://diylightanimation.com/Blog/?p=17

Mod - Moderator (a person who monitors and helps run the forum to make sure people are behaving (never an issue on DLA) and things are running well.)

Mouser - The Main Electronic parts stores that we order parts from online to build stuff. Others are( Digikey, Newark, Jameco)

Paypal - (www.paypal.com) A payment service over the internet that we all use to send and receive money for payments to each other. It is the only way to pay for a Coop order you make. Make sure your Shipping address is entered into it and you put what you are paying for and your DLA username in the comments, as this is the #1 issue that causes rejected payment which we refund until it gets fixed.

PCB - Printed Circuit Board (the electronic boards we have produced to allow people to solder parts on and create the devices we build to control the lights.

PIC - a type of programmable microcontroller made by the company microchip and used in the equipment to be the brains of the device. They must be programmed as they come from the manufacturer with no code in them and will not do anything. Once the programming is loaded they are smart and can do things. See Firmware.

PICKIT2 - a brand of pic programmer made by the microchip company that makes PIC chips. Used here to program and update the equipment with new software.

PM  - Private Message ( internal email to the forum which allows us to talk to other without doing so in a public post.)

RJ  -  Me (An odd guy who designs electronic stuff for others to build to make lights blink to music)

RJ45 - a type of connector used in networking of computers. It looks like a larger phone plug. It is the most common type of connector in DIY lighting for the data (DMX in our case).

SSR  - Solid State Relay (an device that acts like a light switch but is electrical controlled but a controller, some controllers have these built in and some have to have separate ones hooked to them to work )

SSR4 - A lynx version of an SSR. It can be a SSR in its basic state or it can have parts added to make it a full standalone 4 channel DMX controller at anytime.

Teamspeak - A program we use to chat via voice on the site. It allows you to hear and talk to the group as if you are on a conference phone but at no cost.

Wiki - One of the most import resources we have. It is a repository of all the information we can get into it on everything. It can be found listed on the top menu in the home page. It should be the next place you go to read all you can after reading all of this thread.

The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

Ok,

 Now you know the talk lets get you going. Whats your first question?  How do I get started?


Before anything make sure you post a "Hi my name is ?" post in the new members area or you will not be able to see much when logged in to the forum. Once this post is made which is part of our rules it unlocks the rest of the site for you.

Know to get going you need to know what you want to build. This requires a visit to the Wiki's equipment page.  

http://diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 Once there read about the different controllers. If you have questions post in the forum and ask. That is what the forum is for as we are here to make you successful building your light show.

First you will need a way to make DMX from your computer to talk with all the controllers. This is the job of the Dongle. It can control up to 512 channels of lights (A Lot). So you will need to create one of these to get going. We do not do Coop kits for the dongle.

So you get a Dongle PCB from me by sending me a PM (RJ) asking for one. Then if you look in the wiki equipment page beside the Dongle entry you will see a link for mouser that when you click it it will take you to mouser and fill out all the parts you need to build the dongle. Once you recieve your parts the main pic chip (part number 18f2450) does not have the program loaded in it and needs to be programmed with this firmware. You can do it one of two ways. You can buy a $35 pickit2 and download the firmware from the wiki and program it. Or you can mail the chip to any of the people on the list in the wiki that programs pics for other for free.

When you buy other controllers on COOPs the chips come programmed for you by the coop manager. While your in the wiki on the dongle click and check out the manual for the dongle to see how we make it easy to assembly your equipment. You can assemble the dongle in about 30 minutes.

Once you decide what other equipment you want you can get the PCB's from me and parts seperate or if you an get in a coop you can save a lot of money because we order so many parts in the order the cost goes way down. This is what a coop is all about. The manager does a bunch of work sorting and packing the kits to save you money.

You also need to decide if you want to go wireless or use cables to send the DMX information to your controllers.

The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

Next Question, Wheres the Schematics and PCB files and the source programming code for the controllers to make my own version of them or modify them to be different?

None of my controllers or equipment is Open Source. That information is not released and I do not want different version created. This has always been the case.

Why?
 Because I saw what having many versions of the equipment did to the difficulty of non technical people being able to enjoy the hobby. It is confusing enough for the first couple of weeks learning everything. When you add different versions that look somewhat a like but use different parts and assemble different it creates even more so.

If your wish is to create new equipment then start fresh and create something new that has abilities or features we do not have. This is a benifit, making personel copies of the same device is not a benifit to anyone.  

DLA is about making it as easy for EVERYONE to do this. It is not a club for the technically inclined. We keep as much of the technical talk out of the public as possible and limit each design to one version so you have as clear as possible insructions to follow and you will be successful. I am unaware of anyone wanting to do this that we have not been able to help be successful. This includes people who had never used a soldering iron and a few who had never seen one.

The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

Hows does it all hook together?

 Well if you decide to use cables to send the data from your dongle to the controllers it sends it using Catorgory 5 network cable. The kind you can buy at home depot or most home do it yourself centers. The ends crimp on with a pair of special pliers you can also buy there or you can buy cables pre made but these cost more and it is more flexible to use bulk cable and make your own.

If you are wondering why I said "If you decide to use cables"  This is because you can run it also on our Wireless DMX system that send the data over radio waves. This can be used on any of our controllers. and even other compatible devices like LOR and D-light using DMX.

Either way you need power cords to get power to the devices. This can be premade extension cords or you can buy SPT2 wire and connectors we call Vampire taps to make you own what every lenght you need. This is cost effective.

Believe it or not extension cords is one of the places you will spend most of your money doing a animated light show as they add up fast.

The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.   

[RJ]

I already have some LOR equipment do I have to get rid of it to use Lynx Controllers?

Nope, Since LOR supports DMX now you can likely use all of the LOR equipment and do so in a number of ways including stay with LOR's software and hook up the Lynx stuff using a I-DMX device from LOR, Or use a Lynx Dongle and use other software.




The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

What software can I use with the Lynx Equipment?

Well since they are true DMX devices they can work with any software or hardware that uses DMX. We work with a number of softwares but the most common used are :

Vixen, Light Show Pro, LOR, & Aurora on the next release which supports DMX.

  
The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

How do coops work?

  Basicly a member of DLA who has been a prroved to do the coop my the admin post in the current coop section near the bottom of the board.

He post that he is doing a coop for XXXX device and it will include XXXX and XXXX and then he post what the cost will be. This is often a number of prices based on how many gets ordered. He can not be sure how many of them will be order so his cost will be much higher if only a few get order and lower if more get ordered.

There is often a limit of at least so many orders or the coop gets cancelled. This is to protect the people and insure cost is low enought to be worth the time and work to do the coop. If there is no savings you would be better to order it yourself is the thinking.

He post a cut off date and time of when the coop orders close and you must have your order posted by that time or you will not be included in the order.

Then he asks everyone that wants any to post with how many. So at this time you post and say "put me in for 2" for example.

You will not pay anything at that point. When the coop order closes the manager gets current quotes and figures up what it cost for one kit and sends a PM to everyone of how much to paypal him. You only have a few days to get your payment in using paypal or you get bumped from the coop. Once all payments are in or the time has passed he places the order and waits for the parts to come to him. When they arrive he does a lot of work sorting them into kits and packaging them up to mail to you.

Sometimes the shipping is included in the payment sometimes it will say that the shipping will be requested at the time of shipment.  If the latter you get another pm telling you what you owe for shipping and once you pay it he ships your kit to you. If the shipping is or is not in the first payment is always clearly posted for you in the coop information.

One thing to remember is that if you are in a coop you need to have or put money in your paypal and be ready to pay. He can not wait on you to transfer money to your account. There are strict rules on these coop managers in what they can and can not do.

Each coop payment will have a 3% coop fee added. This is insurence to protect the manager if something goes up in price unexpected or other issues that could come up. If nothing does it becomes a tip for doing all the work and likely saving you 30%.

The lesson will continue on the next post under this one.

[RJ]

I hope this will help you on your way to get up to speed. Do not be overwhelmed with it all you will begin to understand it all in a few weeks of reading and hanging out on the forum. Once you do it will be so easy you will wonder why you had a hard time at first.

Don't be afriad to jump in a be active and post and ask question. We do not have flamers on DLA they would not last long. Everyone will be helpful and we all started a zero ourselfs so we understands. We were not born understanding it all even thought a few seem like it.  LOL

RJ