I know many of you have been patiently waiting for the beginning of the Smart String Coop. I also have been in a hurry to get it started.
This is where we stand:
I worked with the rep and manufacture to get some stable specs set and agreed to so we can get the same items over and over.
Ordering from China you do not always get the same thing so I wanted to make sure you got what you needed without any surprises.
This part has been completed. I have agreed to specs and even had them change some wiring colors as all items did not use the same color for the same thing. On some items the ground was green, on other it was blue and green was the data, ect. They have agreed to provide us with a consistent color scheme. The pixel node strings units would have required extra waterproofing to insure all of them did not get any water in them. I asked them to do something about this. With all the diy'ers pushing for better sealing the company that makes them, changed their molding to completely seal the back of the lights.
This then made the lights closer together so I had them add to it to bring it back to the 3.5" spacing they were before.
I had them add 2 ft of lead on the front end of the strings to give us plenty of room from the SSC to the first light.
That's the lights lets talk licensing:
I also signed an NDA agreement with Philips early on in the process and began the process to be licensed to sell them under agreement with them. This went very well, if not too slow, up until about a week ago. The Lawyer here in the states and I got to a usable agreement and It was just a matter of the Lawyer in the Netherlands signing off on it. This is where it became a problem. We had conference calls and basically this Lawyer wanted me to pay royalties for anything that might ever come close to being hooked to a Smart String including the ATX power supply you would purchase to power you units.
It ended with them going to work it out and let me know this week. I let them know I would be moving ahead and not holding my users up any longer so they had till the weekend. Yesterday I received a email saying they wanted to talk some more next week .
At this point I feel it best we just move ahead by having you purchase them yourself. This is no worst than everyone else is doing. It will be far less work for Dad and I and in the end with the additional add on fees they were talking about adding since I would not license the whole Lynx line, I believe you would not have saved much in the long run. We would be charged More licensing fees than normal and the custom duties would have pushed up well beyond the $.63 I had worked up based on the licensing and duties. I based it on the normal fees from philip's not the newer 2 to 3 times that was being mention in our last call.
I spoke with the rep and he will be getting you the best shipping cost he can since they want our business and they know the order will be large. I made sure they understand we will be a repeat customer and so they need to take care of you or I will find another factory to make them for us. I believe you will be treated well. I myself will be ordering stuff just as you will for my show.
To start off I will ask Bill to add the links to order from, to his payment request pm for the members of the Smart String Controller coop since they are the people that need them.
Once everyone on the coop has had time to order I will post the links for everyone for future purchases since I will not be under the licensing I can post it with no issues to me.
Here is the price breakdown :
Pictures will be on the order link for you to look at before you place your order. You can also review the video where I was demoing them.
Item 1:
Pixel Strings - ~2 foot of leader added to the front, back sealed completely, 20 awg wire, 12v, 10cm center to center of lights:
25 node string = $14.70
50 node string = $29.40
75 node string = $44.20
100 node string = $58.90
128 node string = $75.40
Item 2:
( Think LOR CCR but each led is controllable)
Flexible led strip waterproof, 12v, ~2 ft lead of 20 awg wire on it for the SSC to hook to color consistent with other items, 4 Meters long with 120 nodes of led's to be compatible with SSC, can be cut to pieces and wire added every ~4 inches.
$57 each
Item 3:
Plastic rectangular pixel module with 3 5050 RGB led's controllable by SSC, 3inch long by 5/8" high by 3/8" thick with a screw hole on each end.
$1 each
Item 4:
Metal backed 1 3/8" square pixel module with 3 5050 RGB controllable by SSC, Hole in the center and on two sides for mounting.
$1.10 each
item 5:
1 meter long Ridged led strip, like the flexible strip but mounted on aluminum channel, 30 led's per meter comes with three pin watertight connectors attached.
$13.50 each
item 6:
Pair of cable (1male / 1 female) ends to match the ridge strip if you want to use the ends on it to connect them.
$.84 each pair
item 7:
100 meter Roll of three conductor 20 awg cable same as used on these products like the Strings, modules, ect.
$28 each roll
RJ
