Author Topic: How to sync the whole block???  (Read 3507 times)

Offline Rogelio

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How to sync the whole block???
« on: January 02, 2014, »
My coworkers neighborhood does a "candy cane lane" theme each year.  Every house on his block puts up a 10' candle next to the road.  They are round wire frame with lights on the inside and flicker lights in the "flame".  Next year they want do something spectacular.  I talked to him about dmx and sequencing.   He wants to know if they can have all 46 candles, 23 on each side of the road, sequenced together.  Color changes and chases all the way down the block is what they are looking to accomplish.  A single 3 channel controller in each candle is all that would be needed.  Can pixelnet be wireless?
That said, how can the communications be done?  they can not run cat5 down the road.  how far will the Tx/Rx transmit?  and how can it be repeated?  They do not currently do any animated lights so no one has any LE's.

Offline Steve Gase

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2014, »
lets say that each stripe could be any color -- so a 3 channel controller for stripe A, and another 3-channel controller for stripe B.  46 canes X 6 channels = 276 channels...  plenty of space for more stuff.

a DMX RX can reach a little ways.... I had mine do 100ft easily.  it might have done more... not sure.

you can cascade the DMX transmitters...  have the first transmit over channel #1,  the second can pick up a signal across the street and run cable for another 300ft to send over TX channel #2... and the same to TX channel #3.  As long as they don't overlap you can reuse TX channel #1 again, etc.

not everything has to be wireless... you can have one RX unit pass its DMX signal to a chain of DMX controllers.


btw, pixelnet cannot be sent over wireless.  you might attempt E1.31 over wireless, but it can be iffy with lots of data, and then each receiver would need a wireless dongle and a EtherDongle....  a lot more expensive to go that route.
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Offline Steve Gase

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2014, »
I will add that there are DMX controllers (decoders) that can control smart string pixels -- but that takes you down a path where more channels are needed -- beyond what a 512-channel universe can provide.
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Offline Rogelio

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2014, »
Hey Steve.
The idea is to use some RGB modules in the flame.  It is a hollow wireframe with sheer cloth material over it.  They are lit from the inside.  So i think he only needs 3 channels per candle.  but wire is not going to work.  Here is a clip of the event.  This street has the candy canes, his street has candles, but you can see what I mean why im sure it needs to be wireless.
Maybe some could be wired but not all.  They plan to rewire all the candles with LEDs this year.  It would be the time to add some color and pizazz.

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Offline tbone321

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2014, »
To give you a better idea, we need a few more specifics.  How many candles per property, how many colors will ach candle have?  Where exactly are the limits for cable runs?
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Offline Rogelio

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2014, »
1 candle per house. 46 houses on block.  3 color rgb per candle flame.  cables would be across driveway, sidewalks.  Lots of foot traffic on weekend before Christmas.  They block off the streets to traffic.  Each house provides their own candle and runs power to it.  Cord is taped down to sidewalk or run thru a seam.  You can see all the people in the video so tripping hazard would be a concern.  They want to jazz it up for next year.

Offline tbone321

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2014, »
This type of "jazzing up" can get expensive.  From your description I can see why wireless is the desired path but there is no wireless pixelnet.   Do you have or can you get and post a picture of one of these candles.  If we can see how they are illuminated we can possibly come up with a system to do what they want at a resonable cost.
If at first you don't succeed,
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Offline Rogelio

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2014, »
Here are some pics.  They currently use 2 100 ct incans for candle a a set of incan "twinkle lights" for the flame.  Adding some RGB to the flame that could do chases down the street would be perfect for them.
Thanks
Roy

Offline tbone321

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2014, »
I guess that my question would be, what purpose would putting RGB into the flame serve.  It appears to already be orange and red so adding RGB to the flame would not accomplish what you may think.  The bodies of the candles are white and there, RGB would work but how many colors would you really want the candle bodies to change to?  What I would suggest is using a 4 channel controller and putting 2 colors in the candle body and 2 in the flame.  For the flame I would suggest red and orange.  With those two colors and some creative timing, you could make those flames dance and look like the real thing.  For the body, white and red may work and then you could do your fades and chases of color and intensity with the entire candle. 
If at first you don't succeed,
your not cut out for sky diving

Offline Rogelio

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2014, »
They make the candles and the covers that slide over them.  They have and can make white also.  But that doesnt matter if there is not a simple enough way to get a signal to each candle.

Offline combustionmark

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Re: How to sync the whole block???
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2014, »
Try working things backwards. There is 512 channels in dmx, 46 houses, so each house can have 11 channels each. Maybe add a spot light or 2.

So lets say you use 3 colors for the flame, and 3 for the candle, that is 6 for each house. The lynx express is my thought. 110 volt light strings, plenty of channels for future expansion, easy to use. You can use a ssr4 or mr16.

Each house has 1 lynx express equipped with wireless and only 6 cords for the lights. The express start address set for each candle in sequence.

Starting at the house with the show computer, the wireless transmitter set for channel 1, the candles within range is set to receive channel 1.

When the wireless channel 1 drops out, add a transmitter set to channel 2 to the dmx out of an in range channel 1 express to extend the wireless.

When the wireless channel 2 drops out, add a transmitter set to channel 3 to the dmx out of an in range channel 2 express to extend the wireless.

When the wireless channel 3 drops out, add a transmitter set to channel 1 to the dmx out of an in range channel 3 express to extend the wireless.

When the wireless channel 1 drops out, add a transmitter set to channel 2 to the dmx out of an in range channel 1 express to extend the wireless.

again and again until the last candle.

This is going to take some testing as to how much range each transmitter is going to be able to cover, and how many times the wireless transmitters are going to have to repeat the dmx.

I have done wireless on my golf cart, and find the range of the wireless changes, mostly weather related, direction of travel, and if there is something in the path of the signal. If the transmitter is mounted close to the street and up high the effective range will go up.
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