westbrooktechcrew
Member
Does anyone know if the ETC Express 48/96 will run/handle LED lights. And if so what is the easiest way to run them, Through the dimmer rack or straight to the board if possible
ETC Express 48/96
- Thread starterwestbrooktechcrew
- Start date
Assuming you are talking about a stand-alone LED lighting fixture, as opposed to an LED lamp of some sorts (screw in, etc...)
Typically and hopefully, the LED fixture will require 2 thing, Power and Control Signal, which is usually a DMX signal.
The fixture(s) will want to be powered off a clean and dedicated power source (not a dimmed circuit, even parked ON and not in non-dim mode). You can usually power up a lot of LED fixtures on a 15 or 20 amp circuit.
Then you need to run a DMX control cable from one of the the console's DMX ports (typically port 2 - DMX universe 2, if the first port is already controlling the dimmers) to the first fixture and then "daisy chain" the control cable from fixture to fixture.
The rest of the Long Answer.
You then set the "address" of the first LED fixture and off-set for every remaining LED and thence forth.
A typical RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LED fixture might use 4 DMX addresses per fixture, one for each color and a 4th for overall intensity. Different fixtures may require more (an add'l address for other functions - strobe, as example) or the fixtures may add a White or Amber LED set, etc.....
So fixture 1 set at DMX address 1, fixture 2 at DMX address 5, fixture 3 at address 9, etc... Typically done with Dip Switches. Hopefully the fixture manual has a table to tell you what switches to set in an On/Off state for specific addresses.
One control method is to allow one console channel for every address required. If you have 96 dimmers and 96 channels used and want to control the LED's in a range above the dimmers, then set channel 101 thru 104 for fixture 1, 105 thru 108 at fixture 2, etc... Then go to patch and patch address (dimmer in Express speak) 513 (assuming you are using the console 2nd port) to ch 101, 514 - ch 102, etc......
When you bring up channels 101 thru 104 to full, all the R, G & B LED's are at full, with intensity (if the LED's have such a address) at full. You can then raise and lower the R, G & B channels to mix colors.
Typically and hopefully, the LED fixture will require 2 thing, Power and Control Signal, which is usually a DMX signal.
The fixture(s) will want to be powered off a clean and dedicated power source (not a dimmed circuit, even parked ON and not in non-dim mode). You can usually power up a lot of LED fixtures on a 15 or 20 amp circuit.
Then you need to run a DMX control cable from one of the the console's DMX ports (typically port 2 - DMX universe 2, if the first port is already controlling the dimmers) to the first fixture and then "daisy chain" the control cable from fixture to fixture.
The rest of the Long Answer.
You then set the "address" of the first LED fixture and off-set for every remaining LED and thence forth.
A typical RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LED fixture might use 4 DMX addresses per fixture, one for each color and a 4th for overall intensity. Different fixtures may require more (an add'l address for other functions - strobe, as example) or the fixtures may add a White or Amber LED set, etc.....
So fixture 1 set at DMX address 1, fixture 2 at DMX address 5, fixture 3 at address 9, etc... Typically done with Dip Switches. Hopefully the fixture manual has a table to tell you what switches to set in an On/Off state for specific addresses.
One control method is to allow one console channel for every address required. If you have 96 dimmers and 96 channels used and want to control the LED's in a range above the dimmers, then set channel 101 thru 104 for fixture 1, 105 thru 108 at fixture 2, etc... Then go to patch and patch address (dimmer in Express speak) 513 (assuming you are using the console 2nd port) to ch 101, 514 - ch 102, etc......
When you bring up channels 101 thru 104 to full, all the R, G & B LED's are at full, with intensity (if the LED's have such a address) at full. You can then raise and lower the R, G & B channels to mix colors.
RickR
Well-Known Member
To pile on to what Steve says:
I just did this with a church with exactly that console.
They have 96 dimmers and 12 new LED units. We used a 4 address "profile" because the fixtures are RGBA. In this configuration we got everything to fit on the 96 sliders which made the lighting guy very happy. They mostly use the submasters for services. But they can add more lights using channels 97-192. Those will have to be controlled by keypad.
It also all fit quite easily in one universe.
I just did this with a church with exactly that console.
They have 96 dimmers and 12 new LED units. We used a 4 address "profile" because the fixtures are RGBA. In this configuration we got everything to fit on the 96 sliders which made the lighting guy very happy. They mostly use the submasters for services. But they can add more lights using channels 97-192. Those will have to be controlled by keypad.
It also all fit quite easily in one universe.
