SSR4 Add On To Express

[mmais68569]

This being my first year here & YES I have learned a lot, can the SSR4 be used with the Express to convert it to a 64 Ch controller? That is can a SSR4 be added to each channel on the Express making 1Ch break down to 4 Ch. I know I need to stay under the 20Amp at any time. The reason I ask I have Mini trees & Arches that eat up CH but if I could break them down to a few channels that would help. I hope I am making myself clear if not as me questions.

             Mike

[rrowan]

Nope they are not designed that way.

They work in two modes: 1 - As a slave to the Freestyle Controller, 2 - As a stand alone 4 channel Controller

If you got the dmx option with your SSR4s or if you want to add it then you can just plug it in to the dmx data line (cat5) and set its start address.

hope that makes sense

Rick R.

[jeffcoast]

So, is this basically a 4 channel Express, or does it do something different that the Express can't do?

[mmais68569]

So if I run a Cat 5 Cable off my Express I will add 4 CH. Then if I  run another SSR off that one I will have another 4 CH & so on. It is like daisy chaining Expresses but these are only 4 CH.

             Mike

[Rainlover]

Mike,
That is correct. Think of it as a 4 channel controller.

John

[tng5737]

The SSR4's also do NOT do any light curve adjustments!   I use them for mini trees or candy canes - the kind of elements in which don't necessarily need the light curve technology.

[jnealand]

Let's go back to your original problem - not enough channels.  When I started several years ago I had 8 mini trees with 3 colors each, but since I did not have enough channels I daisy chained all the same colors together and used just 3 channels.  The next year I went to 16 mini trees, but still not enough channels even though I added a bunch to the whole display, so I put each each the white on a separate channel and then daisy chained the other colors so that every other tree was daisy chained together.  Then I could turn on half red and half green with every adjacent tree being a different color.  That along with being able to chase the whites through the colors gave a lot of options.  Now I finally have enough channels to have each color on each tree be individually controlled.  Don't think that you have to have each string on a channel when you first start.  There are ways to make it interesting and still be channel poor.  We all want more channels so we get finer control, but budgets and time don't seem to cooperate.  I just add another 64 channels it seems every year.  And this is without getting into the RGB channel conundrum.

[mmais68569]

Jim

 This will be my actual 4th year used LOR for the first 3 but got to expensive so I came over here. This year I will have 96 CH of regular control & 16 CH of Rainbow Floods a total of 128 CH a far cry from the 32 I started with. And it will be wireless also still using my LOR with Lynx.

                  Mike

[tbone321]

So, is this basically a 4 channel Express, or does it do something different that the Express can't do?

It is NOT a 4 channel Express.  It can become a stand alone 4 channel controller if you add the DMX option to it otherwise it is just a 4 channel SSR which requires a controller such as the Freestyle to control it.  Also remember that it doesn't have the features of the Express such as light dimming curves, the active splitter, or the ability to program the start channel from the board itself. 

[tbone321]

So if I run a Cat 5 Cable off my Express I will add 4 CH. Then if I  run another SSR off that one I will have another 4 CH & so on. It is like daisy chaining Expresses but these are only 4 CH.

             Mike

If you add the DMX option to them then yes, you can daisy chain them together just like most other DMX devices.  Just remember to set the start address for each one and terminate the last one if it is at the end of the line.

[Freebird]

Last year I used 10 SSR4xDMX for 10 trees.  Each tree had 4 colors ( R, B, G, W ) incands.  I just twisted each color together and made one string for each branch, and a total of 6 branches per tree.  A cheap mans way of having RGBW strings.  The 4 channels on the SSR4xDMX controlled the 4 colors.  I brought a cat 5 cable across the yard from the LE running my arches and terminated the last SSR4xDMX.  Real easy to do and connect to each tree.

Freebird

[jnealand]

Jim

 This will be my actual 4th year used LOR for the first 3 but got to expensive so I came over here. This year I will have 96 CH of regular control & 16 CH of Rainbow Floods a total of 128 CH a far cry from the 32 I started with. And it will be wireless also still using my LOR with Lynx.

                  Mike

You and me both.  I started with LOR and sold a lot of them off since I could get double the channels for about the same money with LEs and also go wireless.  I still own 3 LOR units, two dongles, and the S2 software.  Been converting LOR to Vixen and running that way the last two years.  Now on top of the LOR stuff I also have a lot LEs and SSR4s, multiple lynx dongles and enough wireless stuff to do it all wireless.  This addiction just keeps growing.  I also have some SS stuff sitting unbuilt in a box, but thinking about selling it and waiting another year before getting into the world of RGB.  I need to see the software catchup and settle down before I jump into RGB with both feet.