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Thread: Wireless DMX.....where do I start?

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Imagine View Post
    Ahhhhh wow!!!!
    Steampunking the lights - likey likey.
    Off to investigate getting some boards now.....no batteries, no external wiring/power supplies....brilliant
    A couple of things you need to be aware of Wayne:

    1. The wireless DMX boards operate in the ISM band - 2.4Ghz which may have to compete with other devices (wifi, bluetooth, yada yada etc). Your mileage may vary. I've seen my gigAbar flick off & on a couple of times since the hotel installed a Sonos network, but no major issues to report.

    2. Although they don't require much in the way of operating current (50 millamps at worst more than likely), careful you don't overload any circuits you find power for them on and that the rail is steady.

  2. #12
    Imagine's Avatar
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    Yup - already reading up elsewhere (as well as your more than useful blog) about stability, power sourcing from the board etc.

    That said, 6 of these babies are now on a (very) slow boat from China (well...Hong Kong actually) so should be with me by 2017.
    The first targets are the Jaguar MSD 250's. They're the ones causing the most pain with three cables going up my side poles (just the power cable is going to be luxury if I can pull this off). Wouldn't have thought there'd be too much chance of overloading anything on those....they're pretty much mechanical beasts with a light bulb in them

    They're both due to be serviced (note to self....must buy new lamps) so it'll be the perfect opportunity to have a poke around for where best to install the modules when they eventually arrive. Plus, a very good friend of mine 2 doors down did his degree in electronics (he's the chap that does the IPR stuff for ARM holdings don'cha know ).

    But...if anyone else has one of these and fancies posting a cheeky photo on where I need to pick up.....

    On the note of lamps and completely off-topic.....
    The currently installed (factory fitted) lamps are a generic MSD250 discharge type bulb/lamp. Now I've seen around the interweb that the make of these things can affect the brightness (sorry....lumens having been following another post today ), and everyone seems to recommend the very reassuringly expensive Philips version. Anyone got any experience as to whether the brightness differs depending on the manufacturer?

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Imagine View Post
    Ahhhhh wow!!!!
    Steampunking the lights - likey likey.
    Off to investigate getting some boards now.....no batteries, no external wiring/power supplies....brilliant
    Its much easier than i thought. just fond the CA8 (assuming it has one) board and it will have a spare 5 volt supply. Job done.
    I spent ages trying to fit 12 volt - 5 volt converters, until i bought a multimeter.
    Your DJ - Mobile DJ The New Forest, Southampton & Hampshire. Toby
    https://yourdj.co.uk/

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Imagine View Post
    I have a set of acrylic LOVE letters. Now don't get me wrong, in the right setting these look fantastic (see video below). BUT....they work in S2L mode and my OCD doesn't like it one little bit. I want to do clever things with them rather than have them randomly flashing during the main event.
    Assuming that they're standard RGB LED strips this this little box will do the job. This is designed for strip lights with a Common anode (i.e. where the negative connection is switched and the positive connections are all wired together and presented on one wire) which is most of the strip lights out there, but other boxes exist for common cathode type connections. I'd think the box I linked to should do the job for most LED strips, it's rated at 8A per channel (giving a total of 288w at 12v!)

    Julian
    http://www.bristoldiscohire.co.uk - Quality Disco and Equipment hire for Bristol & Bath
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  5. #15
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    That's a very useful bit of kit you found there Julian

    Cheers
    Rich

  6. #16
    Imagine's Avatar
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    It most certainly is.....that's the second slow boat from China on it's way to me this week

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Imagine View Post
    It most certainly is.....that's the second slow boat from China on it's way to me this week
    I'm sure I bought mine from a UK seller, I paid a little bit more (£17/unit?), but they're pretty common. My daughter has some sensory processing issues so when we refitted her bedroom I used a ton of LED tape, three of those DMX units and a WiFi enabled version of one of these to give her some pretty lights to play with. It's on 24x7 and it's been rock solid. Power in my install is provided by one of these (bearing in mind it's wall mounted and doesn't move ). At the moment I've got a spare channel so I'm considering adding a Wireless module and retrofitting one of her toys with some kind of RGB light. I also need to reverse engineer the protocol it uses over WiFi (apparently it's pretty crude) so I can set up a Pi or something similar to give her a remote control she can use.



    Julian
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    Weddings, Birthday Parties, Kids Parties, School Disco's and more
    https://julianburr.co.uk - Wedding, Family, Portrait and Product Photography

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Jules View Post
    I'm sure I bought mine from a UK seller, I paid a little bit more (£17/unit?),
    I prefer to buy from the UK and pay a bit more.
    Your DJ - Mobile DJ The New Forest, Southampton & Hampshire. Toby
    https://yourdj.co.uk/

  9. #19
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    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

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  10. #20
    Imagine's Avatar
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    OK - so the first of the slow boats from China turned up today

    However, after spending hours this evening with a soldering iron and an ADJ MegaTriPar.....I'm feeling defeated
    I've got the transceiver thingy wired into the USB interface no problem (power light's on and it's getting a steady 5v....brilliant).
    I've got the receiver wired into the TriPar (again, steady 5v supply and lights are on)

    But alas....although the lights are on it would appear that no-one's home

    As you'd expect from something from China - there's no instructions. Never mind - seems simple enough thinks I....but I'm confused now.

    As you can see from the photo below, there's four connectors on the board (from left to right they're +5v, RXD, TXD and GND). Simple enough, +5v is the power from the board, TX and RX are for the aeriel (which has it's own connector anyway), and GND is ground. Wired the +5 and the GND up...power to the board...brilliant

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    However, one is assuming that the Molex wires are for the XLR pin outs. So...I wired 1 to pin 1, 2 to pin 2......... does it work? Nope

    I've taken it all to bits again now and put things back to how they should be for tonight (everything works with cables) and will try again in the morning.

    Need some sleep now, but if anyone has any ideas or advice (Justin?), it'd be more than welcome.

    If it helps, the boards are these ones Linky

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