Control/Dimming DMX LED Light Control

[rickytowner]

Hey, Everyone

This is my first real post hear and i could really do with some help on this one...

Well hear goes...

Bit about my self first, I'm 15 and about to start College on a Preforming Arts: Technical Course and also in my spare time Me and a few mates have set up a Youth Theater Company along side Birmingham City Council. (www.fmtproductions.co.cc)

So hears my question, and i'm really desperate for an answer to this...

For Christmas i was given 4 LED Par 64 RGB DMX light cans, the control output on them is 3-Pin XLR/DMX... We have used them in one of our shows and they hooked up to the dimmers via the DMX input and i could control them fine, but now we want to use them for a small show on there own just for a stage wash. So i was looking around for a small and cheap controller, and i found this; http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_ddc6_dmx_controller.htm.
What i was thinking is if i connected all 4 of them together via the 3-Pin DMX Out's and then one of them to this small dimmer, then i addressed them correctly, would i be able to use them the same as we did in the theater: (Slider 1= R, Slider 2= G, Slider 3= B, Slider 4= LED Grand Master)... Could any of you help me out with this question please?

Thankyou for any help in advance and i look forward to any advice and help

Please get back to me, i really am stuck hear :neutral:...

Thankyou
Ricky

 

[derekleffew]

Yes that controller should do exactly what you want. All four of the cans will always do the exact same thing. All four should be addressed to start at 001. Note that more sophisticated (and costly) consoles would allow each fixture to be addressed uniquely, requiring a minimum of sixteen channels.

A word on your nomenclature: A dimmer provides varying power to an incandescent lamp and gets a signal (usually DMX) from a control console, aka controller. LED fixtures don't plug into dimmers, they plug into non-switched, constant power for AC and into DMX from the console for control.

Also, "here" refers to location, "hear" relates to auditory response. "There" is also location, while "their" is possessive. See the thread CB: Technical Forum or English Class?.

 

[rickytowner]

Also, "here" refers to location, "hear" relates to auditory response. "There" is also location, while "their" is possessive. See the thread CB: Technical Forum or English Class?.

Sorry about the spelling and grammar, that is one of my down falls

 

[rickytowner]

A word on your nomenclature: A dimmer provides varying power to an incandescent lamp and gets a signal (usually DMX) from a control console, aka controller. LED fixtures don't plug into dimmers, they plug into non-switched, constant power for AC and into DMX from the console for control.

How i mean is, the Dimmers on the wall had a DMX input on them (where the LED 3-Pin XLR/DMX was connected using an adapter), this then routed the input of the LED's to the same out put as and dimmers to the control desk via one cable, sorry i didn't explain it very well. And sorry if that didn't help any more ether...


Regards
Ricky

 

[xander]

How i mean is, the Dimmers on the wall had a DMX input on them (where the LED 3-Pin XLR/DMX was connected using an adapter), this then routed the input of the LED's to the same out put as and dimmers to the control desk via one cable, sorry i didn't explain it very well. And sorry if that didn't help any more ether...

I am not sure if you are talking about an optical splitter which gets one cable from the control board and then sends out multiple cables, i.e. one to the dimmers and one to the LEDs; or if you are talking about daisy chaining, i.e. one cable from the LEDs goes to the dimmers, and then one cable goes from the dimmers to the control board. Either way, you can run your LEDs without the dimmers. As Derek said, you just need to plug the LEDs into a wall outlet to give them power, and then take one DMX cable from your first LED (assuming you have daisy chained them all) to the control board.

Hope this helps,
-Tim

 

[Corbettlight]

I think he was talking about daisy chaining them. What I don't understand, however, if why the OP would want to buy another controller, when it seems as though he controlled the LEDs with his current console. It seems like he may not understand that he can use the LEDs with the controller without the dimmer as part of the system.

 

[rickytowner]

I think he was talking about daisy chaining them. What I don't understand, however, if why the OP would want to buy another controller, when it seems as though he controlled the LEDs with his current console. It seems like he may not understand that he can use the LEDs with the controller without the dimmer as part of the system.

We are a small touring company and we don't own our own controller, all we own are the 4 LED's (Belong to me not the company)... and we want to use the LED's stand alone so I will need a control for them (As we don’t currently own one)... The controller we used belonged to the theatre we were in... It was a Zero 88 Jester 48 Channel Memory Console and only had one DMX input/output...

The LED's were daisy chained, the connected to a wall socket for power, then the 'DMX through' on the dimmers to allow it to be controlled via the controller...

Does that help?

 

[SHARYNF]

The questions you need to ask your self Are;

How much money do I want to spend? Am I likely to add more lights and do I want to be able to control each light on its own

It is very easy to buy something cheap and then find out that you need to bin it as you outgrow it almost immediately

you need to look at the manual for your LED's and determine how many channels they need to be controlled, some use 4 some use more

Then I would say look at a controller that at LEAST supports full channel support for each of the lights, and probably look the situation where you probably will want to at least double the number of Led pars you have

Would a PC based solution work for you?

I have NO experience with Stairville But this model MIGHT make more sense and last a bit longer Usually I would recommend that you look at a more well know name brand controller


STAIRVILLE DMX-MASTER I - U.K. International Cyberstore

The ADJ might offer better support etc

Elation DMX Operator 192 - Lighting Control - American DJ DMX Operator 192 - Disco World Ltd

Sharyn

 

[misterm]

i use LEDs in my small theatre because our dimmers don't work. I also use a few shoebox dimmers and you can totally daisy-chain them together to run on DMX.