LED Rope Light and Drivers

[MRW Lights]

This will certainly dredge up some past threads, I have searched and found several from many years ago, but I'm wondering what is new and to what success others have had.

I'm looking to line a set and staircases with LED Rope Light, I've had good success with these Rope Lights from Birddog distributing, but the driver was a random China import and unfortunately it seems no one at that theater has the information any longer. After speaking with some friends they suggested the Elation driver for LED Tape products, but I'm also curious to other suggestions and if there is anything better than piecing these systems together with random components?

The Breakdown-
3-4 Channel LED Rope Light (Preferably flat) or tape.
A DMX Controller
Power Supply

Looking forward to hearing what's new and any go to solutions others have come up with.

 

[Van]

In my career doing Displays for Retail, Trade Show and Promotion, I regularly used parts of the whole Enttec line. I found them to be extremely reliable and robust. SuperBrightLED is also a quick, cheap and fairly reliable source for LED adhesive backed tapes and associated mounting hardware

 

[MRW Lights]

In my career doing Displays for Retail, Trade Show and Promotion, I regularly used parts of the whole Enttec line. I found them to be extremely reliable and robust. SuperBrightLED is also a quick, cheap and fairly reliable source for LED adhesive backed tapes and associated mounting hardware

I was looking at trying a new version with this conrtoller from SuperBrightLED and this Driver and Power Supply from Enttec is attractive as a combo, though it's size may be somewhat prohibitive in some applications.

I may very well be back to a new round of trying this and that.

 

[porkchop]

SuperBright is a great source for low voltage DC DMX decoders. The 3A version of that decoder is my go to because it's cheaper and I rarely need more that 3A per channel. The power supply can usually be bought cheaper elsewhere, but shipping might change that balance given your situation.

For anything 120VAC like what you linked to I find it's often easier to use a shoebox dimmer like the DMX-4 from Chauvet. It's more flexible afterwards and is a contained unit that's pretty much ready to go out of the box.

Also the stuff you linked is really expensive. You might consider more traditional 12VDC or 24VDC LED strips installed in channel with a diffuser. Environmental Lights is a source I've used for this type of thing in the past because they have everything. If you're willing to shop around you can get specific products cheaper elsewhere.

 

[MRW Lights]

SuperBright is a great source for low voltage DC DMX decoders. The 3A version of that decoder is my go to because it's cheaper and I rarely need more that 3A per channel. The power supply can usually be bought cheaper elsewhere, but shipping might change that balance given your situation.

For anything 120VAC like what you linked to I find it's often easier to use a shoebox dimmer like the DMX-4 from Chauvet. It's more flexible afterwards and is a contained unit that's pretty much ready to go out of the box.

Also the stuff you linked is really expensive. You might consider more traditional 12VDC or 24VDC LED strips installed in channel with a diffuser. Environmental Lights is a source I've used for this type of thing in the past because they have everything. If you're willing to shop around you can get specific products cheaper elsewhere.

I agree with you on all points. I hadn't thought about using a "shoebox dimmer" (points for that one by the way, that's a new one for me) I usually go with the leviton's, but it's an interesting possibility. And a good reason to buy new dimmers

I'm not opposed to piecing it all out separately, it's sounding like that's still the standard and that it's personal preference for the most part.

Thankfully going into this project knowing we were needing approx 150' of strip, I was able to budget for the 120v fancy neon stuff. I do like the look of it, but it isn't as easy to work with as superbright.

 

[Harrison Hohnholt]

!Disclaimer! I work for City Theatrical.

We were previously carrying a dimmer similar to the one you posted about from Super Bright LED's. We found that for most applications it worked well but we started to run into issues when people wanted to do slow fades out or slow fades up. It just didn't have the resolution needed for the "theatrical" fade. When being used in retail it worked fine because there are seldom slow fades to black.

We opted for a different line of dimmers that has 16-bit DMX dimming as well as adjustable dimming curves http://www.citytheatrical.com/Products/b5-dimmer.

These dimmers are constant voltage so they will need to match with constant voltage LED tape.

-H

 

[MRW Lights]

Hello All,

I though I would share an update on the road to the final product. Of course budget always has a say in the final line, we were close to getting what we wanted in this case. I visited another show here in the city that had a similar setup. I've summarized where I'm at below.

Envrionmental Lights seems to be the go to for the DIY scenery one stop shop solution. (Side note - their customer service is very impressive. call their sales team, tell them what you're trying to do and they'll send you the quote. Straightforward and simple)

Superbirght LED came in at a close second, a little less one stop convenience shopping and less helpful on the customer service side, but the products are solid and the reviews are good.

City Theatrical and Elation seem to have the market figured out on high budget event and commercial gigs. Lots of grumbling from event technician staff about installation, but overall satisfied with their results.

Due to the large scale of this project and short term investment. (1 week 8 show run) I believe the team has decided to go old school with classic warm white incandescent rope light into a dimmer.

I will bring any new updates back and share a reference of what at least can be done at the lower end with hopes of going all out next time.

 

[EdSavoie]

Just an add-on about led rope / tape

If you cheap out and buy the $25 5m rolls, it will come back to haunt you. The cheap rolls use counterfeit WS chips that will have high failrates very quickly.

Been there done that.

EDIT: I'm talking about addressable led tape, probably not very relevant...

 

[MRW Lights]

Definitely relevant and the wanted end product. Unfortunately, where this came up in the budget process they're going with standard rope light as the investment isn't feasible for a 1 week run at this time. In the future though I'm hoping this thread provides a jumping off point for whoever needs it.