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    LED System controlled with blob track through a Kinect in Isadora

    How To... ?
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    • DusX
      DusX Tech Staff @Elena last edited by

      @elena

      looks to me like you got the math wrong.
      60x5 = 300 (rgb leds)
      300x3 = 900 (DMX channels for RGB control)

      Each DMX universe has 512 channels.
      So using 2 Universes you can control your 5m led strip. 

      The LeDMX4 offers enough to handle both of your strips without any additional hardware (although you will need a ethernet router, since the LeDMX4 must connect to a router, and your computer to the same router)
      note: I use a cheap D-link home wifi router, that cost me $10 from a second hand store
      AND you need a power supply

      I have not yet setup this device to try to use more than 2 universes on a single output (it says it can do 4), but I am running 2 Universes on each of the 4 outputs.

      The DMXking configuration software is going to be your best friend getting this to work.
      To start you don't even really need to use Isadora, as you need to work out the connections/addressing, and can use one of the utilities features (opens another window) that lets you send DMX out in a number of ways.. to a full universe or to parts. This will allow you to more easily see how/if the led strips are addressed correctly.
      Once you know this information (and its saved to the LeDMX4 board) you can start to experiment with sending artnet to the same addresses.
      note: Its possible the universe addresses will not match. NOT SURE THIS IS THE CASE, but it may be that the DMXking software is using 1 thru 15 where isadora is using 0thru 15.
      Either way the output data on the Isadora Artnet actor helps make the selected universe easier to understand.

      Working out the addressing will probably be the hardest part of this, and may require some trial and error.

      Also, once connected to the LeDMX board, and using the DMXking utility to send DMX to the led strips, you will need to send full white to all the LEDS (better to start with 25%, then 50%, then 75, then 100%)
      This is so that you can see if the LEDs toward the end of the LED strips are getting enough power. Often, what you will see is that the LEDs toward the end of the strip are beginning to look orange, then red.. this is due to power issues.
      If that is the case, you need to wire in 'power injection' along the strip and/or supply more amperage. The LeDMX4 pro supplies 5amps of power per output, but this may not be enough for your strips.
      Your lights use: 18 W/ m, 0,3 W / LED
      so 5 meters of these lights will require, 18x5 = 90 watts (best to add 20% for buffer) so make that 108 watts
      With 2 of these strips running you are going to need minimum a 200 watt power supply. Thats a 40 amp (I would get 50) at 5v power supply. (for 2 strips... you may want double that if you want to extend this to use all 4 outputs at some point with more leds)

      You may want to consider using 12 or 24 v leds strips rather than 5v as they handle power loss over distance better (require less power injection).
      But they also can't be directly controlled via 5v controllers like Arduinos etc..(in case you want that flexibility for the future)

      Sorry this is a bit of a ramble... I was remembering things as I wrote.
      Let me know if you need more clarification etc.. 

      Troikatronix Technical Support

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      • E
        Elena last edited by

        @dusx said:

        The LeDMX4 offers enough to handle both of your strips without any additional hardware (although you will need a ethernet router, since the LeDMX4 must connect to a router, and your computer to the same router)

         Thank you so much, this is very helpful. I have several questions though and I am sure it is cause of my low experience. So I am going to have only 1 LeDMX4 for both the LED strips, correct? Then why can't I just connect the King to the laptop through ethernet cable?

        Let's start with this as I am still waiting for the components to arrive.

        Thanks

        Elena

        MacBook Pro M3 Max
        32GB Ram
        Sonoma 14.6.1

        DusX 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DusX
          DusX Tech Staff @Elena last edited by

          @elena

           You can, but it requires 'harder' network config.

          To get started it will be much easier to use a router... once working you can then remove the router and reconfigure the networking to be static if you like.

          Troikatronix Technical Support

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          • E
            Elena last edited by Elena

            @DusX 

            Ok great. Sorry to be pain but this is fine using only one LeDMX 4. Just because the production is spending money and I don't want to mess up. Thanks

            MacBook Pro M3 Max
            32GB Ram
            Sonoma 14.6.1

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            • E
              Elena last edited by Michel

              @DusX 

              This would work right? 8Port Network Switch 10/100Mbps Gigabit LAN POE Ethernet HUB Desktop-Adapter

              MacBook Pro M3 Max
              32GB Ram
              Sonoma 14.6.1

              DusX 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Juriaan
                Juriaan Tech Staff last edited by

                Hi there @Elena,

                You want a router not a network switch, you need an DHCP broker in your configuration to make sure that every single device gets an unique IP. Network Switches only work for static networks.

                Isadora 3.1.1, Dell XPS 17 9710, Windows 10
                Interactive Performance Designer, Freelance Artist, Scenographer, Lighting Designer, TroikaTronix Community moderator
                Always in for chatting about interaction in space / performance design. Drop me an email at hello@juriaan.me

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • DusX
                  DusX Tech Staff @Elena last edited by

                  @elena

                  As @Juriaan said.

                  Troikatronix Technical Support

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                  • E
                    Elena last edited by Michel

                    @juriaan and @DusX 

                    Thank you both for the patience. I know I am very annoying.

                    Would this work then? Router ASUS RT-N12 Wireless-N300

                    MacBook Pro M3 Max
                    32GB Ram
                    Sonoma 14.6.1

                    DusX 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DusX
                      DusX Tech Staff @Elena last edited by

                      @elena

                      Yes. I beleive I have used the same model at one time also.

                      And your not annoying, this is a complicated thing to work out, especially the first time.

                      Have you found a power supply yet?

                      Troikatronix Technical Support

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                      • E
                        Elena last edited by Elena

                        @DusX 

                        Ok thank you for confirming the router. So... for the power supplier, I have a 500mA which based on the numbers you ran above, doesn't seem to be enough.

                        Now, I don't know if I should go for 12-24 V LED and so also for the correspondent variant of the King. 

                        I am going to use only 4m per strip, cause that is how much my length is, but if you say I should just go for the 12-24V also to be able to keep it open also to future different applications...

                        So do I look for 200W/12V= 17 -> 20amp...? which is the highest amp for 12-24V? 

                        Also I will need some cables extension cause I have to take both the strips, one at the top, one at the bottom, like in the first drawing up there... and connect them to the DMXking which will be somewhere around there... then I have to go to the router offstage and then to the laptop. 


                        Also when you say power injection, does it mean I have to solder? Cause I don't have anything to do so...

                        Thanks again for all your help

                        MacBook Pro M3 Max
                        32GB Ram
                        Sonoma 14.6.1

                        DusX 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DusX
                          DusX Tech Staff @Elena last edited by DusX

                          @elena

                          I would recommend reading this page..  it appears to be a pretty good overview of power injection.  http://spikerlights.com/pwrinj...

                          Yes, you may need to soldier.

                          20 amps is not the max. It is simply the max that the ledmx4-pro can output ( 5 amps per channel) BUT you can connect, for example a 60 amp power supply to the ledmx4-pro. Only 20 amps will flow thru the ledmx4-pro the other 40 amps are still available for power injection. This is what I have typically done. You can run the positive and negatives from the power supply to the ledmx4-pro and to the + - lines of the led strips every X number of leds (this is your power injection).

                          You can do this easily with 1 power supply since the ground is common. 

                          This gets slightly more complicated if you want to use multiple power supplies.ļ

                          Troikatronix Technical Support

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                          • E
                            Elena last edited by

                            Thank you for the heads up. So, I read it and I feel it is really going beyond my competences and also I don't have the equipment to solder. 

                            Is there a world where I can have the LED strips fairly bright for 4M length without having to do power injection?

                            @DusX Thank you for all your help on this. I really appreciate it.  

                            Elena

                            MacBook Pro M3 Max
                            32GB Ram
                            Sonoma 14.6.1

                            bonemap 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Juriaan
                              Juriaan Tech Staff last edited by

                              Hi there Elena,


                              Not really, if you want to do White for example all 3 of the colors need to be full on (Causing some powerdrop down the line). The length that you describe is just too much..

                              What you can try is adding power injection at both sides. So on the input side of the strip and the other side. (Power doesn't know what direction is, so this is a valid option), that will give you double the power, perhaps this is enough. If it isn't, you can always play around with the brightness of the strip to see or that causes the problem to disspear.


                              If all of the above fails, you should get your solder station and make some easy soldering :)

                              Isadora 3.1.1, Dell XPS 17 9710, Windows 10
                              Interactive Performance Designer, Freelance Artist, Scenographer, Lighting Designer, TroikaTronix Community moderator
                              Always in for chatting about interaction in space / performance design. Drop me an email at hello@juriaan.me

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                              • bonemap
                                bonemap Izzy Guru @Elena last edited by

                                @elena said:

                                I don't have the equipment to solder

                                 There are solderless connector options available: like this and this

                                best wishes

                                Russell

                                http://bonemap.com | Australia
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                                • bonemap
                                  bonemap Izzy Guru @Elena last edited by

                                  @elena said:

                                  Is there a world where I can have the LED strips fairly bright for 4M length

                                  Hi,

                                  This also depends on the pitch (frequency of LED along the strip). 

                                  The pitch of standard supply LED strips are 30, 60, or 144 per metre. I have used 5m strips on the LeDMX Pro that are 30 LED per meter without any noticeable drop-off. In terms of creating a quality of light that is continuous the LED's can be diffused with products like this

                                  best wishes

                                  Russell

                                  http://bonemap.com | Australia
                                  Izzy STD 4.2 | USB 3.6 | + Beta
                                  MBP 16” 2019 2.4 GHz Intel i9 64GB AMD Radeon Pro 5500 8 GB 4TB SSD | 14.5 Sonoma
                                  Mac Studio 2023 M2 Ultra 128GB | OSX 15.3 Sequoia
                                  A range of deployable older Macs

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                                  • DusX
                                    DusX Tech Staff last edited by DusX

                                    another thing to consider is that the need for power injection is less if you are not turning all leds white at the same time.

                                    For example if you wanted to move a Red block of leds (say 1m wide) the other 3m of leds would be off and you wouldn't need power injection. 

                                    As Juriaan said, connecting the power to both ends is probably the easiest way to extend the normal (single sided) setup.

                                    Troikatronix Technical Support

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