Author Topic: strobe lights  (Read 2492 times)

Offline duane.mosley

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strobe lights
« on: December 26, 2015, »
what is the strobe light of choice?
Florence, KY


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Offline meman

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2015, »
I only know of one online retailer that still stocks "real" xenon tube strobe lights that pop when they fire. They are the only ones I will buy. The rest of the market has stooped to selling the lame Chinese "blinkers" with the white base. Whether LED or Xenon, the white base blinkers literally flash off and on just like an airport beacon.

Heres a link to the good stuff.
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Mike E.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2015, by meman »

Offline lrhorer

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2015, »
I can see those being useful for viewer-facing illumination or small area illumination.  For illuminating larger areas, and more flexibility in intensity, color, and strobe rate, I use one like this:

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or this:

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I also use these:
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If you need a really fast, brilliant strobe or to cover a large area, one can use something like one of these:
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Offline zwiller

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2015, »
Still waiting for the ultimate DIY strobe solution.  As lhorer reminds us there are different effects people try to achieve.  If you going for a high power solution consider the Aether II running a shimmer effect.  Video does not do it justice but at :36 here is 5 aethers shimmering color contrasting against the flex strips of my house outline.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  The camera (semi pro Nikon D7000) starts having issues with it.  It is clearly one of the best parts of my show.  Very much "an alien landing" effect that I was going for.  On the other hand, I prefer many smaller strobes scattered throughout a display.  Here the CLS curtain rules in it's simplicity, but I cannot justify the cost.  The aussies guys have the strobe strand but testing has proven it is not "random enough".  I am really close to getting some custom strobing firmware on a diy.org controller to run "dirk cheap strobes" (1W led chips run at 5v) but you could try the komblinkin but the komby stuff is a bit advanced for me.  I am very much committed to getting strobes for 2016 and will pass word along if I find something!
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

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Offline jnealand

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2015, »
I need to take some video, but the RGB nodes flashing in strobe mode are just great.
Jim Nealand
Kennesaw, GA

Offline zwiller

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2015, »
Strobe mode in XL? 
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline sirloinofbeef001

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2015, »
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I need to take some video, but the RGB nodes flashing in strobe mode are just great.
+1 Jim is right on.. I use sparkle in xlights. It's in the color choices. It's a great effect when used as a whole house effect or a single element or model.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2015, by sirloinofbeef001 »
Its the most wonderful time of the year.

Offline lrhorer

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2015, »
Oh, I don't know why I didn't think of it before.  I have a video showing the results of the Eliminator Lighting 192 here:

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That's 3 strobes set to the same DMX addresses.  Of course, the 192 is white only, and not suitable as a sparkle strobe.

Offline taybrynn

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2015, »
I have a bunch of the CLS strobes ... quite expensive each, but certainly nice and have been durable for me.  I didn't use them this year, because they really use a ton of power ... and don't really add that much over just strobe effect on these very bright RGB nodes ... and they are totally random and of course you just turn on entire strings worth of them at a time.  My LE don't always do well with the power fluctuations those strobes put on a channel.  LOR units never had a problem but I've had LE units go out a lot, so I started to split the strobes into smaller groups (different c9 cords) to reduce the load on each ... and still, they sometimes cause issues.  THis year without them, no issues at all.
Scott - Castle Rock, Colorado   [ 2 homes, 100% RGB in 2016; since 2008; over 32k channels of E1.31 ]
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Offline jnealand

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2015, »
Check out this video around the 59 sec mark.  There are other shots in the video when the lights come on in a strobing fashion, just did not mark them.

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Jim Nealand
Kennesaw, GA

Offline chrisatpsu

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2015, »
Been off and on with the project, but the rgb strobe is still being looked at.

I'm able to get the pop with a higher power rgbled. (they outperform my blue xen strobes.)
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Offline duane.mosley

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2015, »
i have used the strobe effect as you can see at the :13 second mark on this video. i like the effect but i am wanting some strobes to give a little more pop!


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Florence, KY


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Offline zwiller

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2015, »
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Been off and on with the project, but the rgb strobe is still being looked at.


If I had a nickel for every time I read that...   ;D
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline lrhorer

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Re: strobe lights
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2016, »
Well, it's not RGB, but I ran across this 12VDC strobe by Velleman at Altex Electronics the other day:

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They probably will discount for a large order.  Also available in red, green, and blue.