what to used with 5050 rgb strip

[barbotte]

hello i am using 7 lynx and 2 ren 48 lsd on my show all wireless and next year i want to start using those 5050 rgb strip or pixel ( ebay has tonne of them) ... i was wondering what i would need to run them ... i know i will need a PC power supply but what are the rest that i need ...  controler.. dongle... some wireless stuff what are their name ? is that what the ethernet dongle is used for ?? i know there is some e681 controler on the market (120 $ each ) but not sure if they are wireless ....
thanks

[mykroft]

If they are normal non-smart strips - 4 wires, 1 for each color and a common - then the simplest way is to use one of the cheap $7 dmx modules out on the market.  They have a 2 wire data in cable, 2 wire power in cable and a 4 wire output cable.  Designed for 12v dc.  The one I have here can do 2A per circuit/color on rgb strips/modules/nodes.  There are also some cheap 45w power supplies out there also i think for $14 each. 

I would send you to David Moore's site, but something is wrong with it - looks like the domain expired...

Myk

[dpitts]

Mycroft how do you distribute power and dmx?

[Steve Gase]

David's is being prepared for a new rollout:  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Harrison also sells a similar product:  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Each of them tend to use cat5 as a delivery for DMX.  DMX is on pins 1 and 2, and power is applied to pins 3-8...  but you have choices there.  You could choose to integrate a power supply into your lighting element.

Once you have DMX and power brought in, then the $7 DMX controller allows you to controller the strip or other RGB element by treating it as a 3-channel RGB element on your DMX network.

[mykroft]

David on his website when it comes back has a writeup on how to inject power into the cat5 cable.  Then you can daisy from device to device until your limit of the power supply, and then can inject again with just the data coming from the last output as to not push to the power sources together and cause probs.

Myk

[budude]

Henri - the Ren48LSD can drive about 1 meter of 60 LEDs/meter or 2 meters of 30 LEDs/meter. This is with the assumption that they are using 20mA LEDs and 12v (20 groups of 3 so 20 x 20mA). If that meets your needs then you should be good to go. Just provide enough power with the supply to drive the strips as well as the board logic (PICS + oscillator + 48 transistors - about 375mA). If you want longer lengths then you will need a heftier driver using some other type of DC controller or DC SSR.