First what is a Lynx Aether?
It is, Like almost all my projects, something I wanted for my show. I have been using MR16 lights as wall washers and the MR16 controller to run them. The two things that I felt could be improved the most where:
1- Output, the Mr 16's just take too many and this gets expensive as you add them since you have to add additional items to hold them... it runs away in cost.
2 - Having all the seperate items to setup, seal from the weather, and wire.
Now a number of DIY persons have done a pretty good job of over coming the 1st with the different porta flood designs. But it is the second where I wanted to really improve. Then of course make sure it can operate with wireless so I do not have any setup time just set it where I want it, point it & plug it in to a extenstion cord for power and be done.
But then I looked at different ways to build it and I decided to not use a large number of small LEDS but to use a small number of high output leds.
I looked at all the cheap leds and after reading a lot, found that you can not trust their ratings they rarely come near what they advertise for output, The color mixing is often off and sometimes the quality is not there leading to high failure rates if you use them at full output.
So I went with 6 brand name high wattage RGB leds. Then to really run these things at full output and make sure they last as well, and get all the light I can out of them I decided to go with latest generation constant current technology. This prevents us from having to have resistors dropping voltage into heat and instead use all the power for light. It also means as the leds temp change the current does not.
I provided a built in power supply and DMX controller to make it an all in one unit. Based it on the Express firmware to give me the ability to tune the curves for smooth dimming with good color. Designed it to fit into a $5 flood housing that is common and easy to get. it is designed to use the power cord already in the housing.
I put the program and terminate jumpers on the side facing the the glass which opens with one screw and hinges down to allow easy access to set the channel and terminate if needed.
Heat was the big issue but the design takes this into account.
This unit should output 680 lumens of light at full so it will be very bright. (Typical 10mm bright led puts out about .7 lumens).
This is not the beginning of the project since the design work has been done and the prototype pcbs are on the way as well as parts.
This is where we see if the design meets my goals.
RJ
