n00b: analog strobe control

[macumbista]

First post, please be gentle

I am an audiovisual artist, and I mainly work with an analog synthesizer. I'm trying to find the most effective way to control a pair of strobe lights with this instrument. Please correct me if any of the following is incorrect:

From what I've read so far, it seems that some strobes have an analog control input that takes a pulse of 0-10V to activate the strobe. The strobe remains activated at a brightness corresponding to the voltage level of the pulse, for the duration of the pulse. Everything cool so far?

So if that's the case, I'd like to ask a few questions:

1) Can the strobe remain activated for an indefinite period of time? Not hours or days, but maybe a minute?

2) When a strobe unit has "light-to-sound" control, such as this one:

STAIRVILLE STROBE 200 DMX - U.K. International Cyberstore

what exactly does that mean?

3) If a strobe requires an external controller unit, does that mean that it responds to analog triggers?

4) I work in small spaces, not huge clubs. A couple of 1500W strobes would probably be pretty heavy for this, especially in terms of current draw. Can anyone recommend a decent smaller strobe for this purpose? Would two 200W strobes like the one from Thomann posted above be enough in a small space like a bar, gallery or similar venue? I do not need any kind of DMX or anything else, just analog control. I'm located in Germany, if that makes a difference in terms of supplier.

Thanks much!!!!

 

[dcollins]

The following may no longer be true:
Strobe lights used to use a capacitor, which is an electronic device that stores an electric charge. When the device is powered on, the capacitor begins charging up. At the beginning, there is actually no voltage across the lamp. As the capacitor charges, three things happen. The voltage across the capacitor decreases, the voltage across the lamp increases, and the capacitor's charging slows down. The lamp has a high voltage trigger connected to it, so once a certain voltage is reached, the capacitor is connected to the lamp, allowing a quick discharge. Once the discharge is complete, the trigger disconnects the lamp, and the capacitor begins charging again.

This means that the duration of the pulse can not be controlled; not easily at least, and it certainly can't be made indefinite. The rate, on the other hand, can be varied in a few ways, but practically they probably just limit the current being used to charge the capacitor, slowing down the charge cycle.

That strobe you linked is sound to light, not light to sound. That means that it will sync its strobe to the music beat, using an internal microphone.

 

[macumbista]

Thanks, that answers one of my questions about strobe length. Am I correct about the voltage level of the trigger setting the brightness of the strobe, however?

I noticed this strobe as well:

lightmaXX - Pro Strobe 750 MKII analog inkl. Leuchtmittel : Light effects

It says "analog" but it's difficult to tell from the description what kind of control one has over it...

 

[kicknargel]

Hello and welcome!

Maybe I can help on at least some of this. First off, I'm not familiar with strobes with analog control. Do you have a link? I find the control method you describe doubtful. Could it be that the 0-10v signal controls the rate of the strobe (i.e. the control stays at 6v and the strobe flashes at a certain rate)?

1) No, strobe flashes will always be fractions of a second. They use a capacitor to build up a short burst of energy for a quick bright flash.

2) "sound to light" would indicate that the unit has a microphone and automatically syncs itself to the beat of the music.

3) Not necessarily. Could be analog signal of a multitude of varieties, could be digital (DMX or other).

4) All depends on the look you want. Are you going for subtlety or trying to cause seizures? Best is always to try something out.

 

[macumbista]

If I can rewind a little..what I'm interested in is understanding how strobes can be controlled with an analog signal, and if so what kind of signal. What might help me the best is if there is some electrical documentation anywhere that I can read to understand that. Besides that, if anyone could give me a basic understanding of the signal format, and how to tell if a strobe can be controlled in this way *before I buy it*, that would be very cool. Thanks again for your patience!

 

[mstaylor]

Perhaps the best thing to do is look at what you think you want to buy, post a link and then we can figure how to control it. Why are you set on analog for control, most everything is DMX now.

 

[macumbista]

Perhaps the best thing to do is look at what you think you want to buy, post a link and then we can figure how to control it. Why are you set on analog for control, most everything is DMX now.

I have posted links a to a couple already, perhaps this one is the most interesting from the pricepoint/wattage perspective:

lightmaXX - Pro Strobe 750 MKII analog inkl. Leuchtmittel : Light effects

And as I mentioned, I want analog control because I want to trigger the strobe directly from my analog modular synthesizer. You can see some documentation of the synth here in case you are interested:

macumbista.net » Macumbista Modular

 

[mstaylor]

The strobe you linked has all it's own controls on a remote. It seems you are a DIY guy, so once you have it you meter out the contols and adapt it to your world.

 

[macumbista]

The strobe you linked has all it's own controls on a remote. It seems you are a DIY guy, so once you have it you meter out the contols and adapt it to your world.

Is there no standard for analog controlling strobe lights? Does every manufacturer really do it differently???

In such a case, I would have to buy a controller that I wouldn't use in order to find out what kind of voltage it sends...

 

[mstaylor]

Read the link that says further info, it includes the remote in the unit. Once you get the unit you can figure how it works and see how to adapt it to your controler. Most strobes that are analog are proprietary.

 

[WooferHound]

I would think that using only strobe lights would be hard to watch

 

[macumbista]

OK, what kind of signal does the strobe I posted expect at it's jack input? And what effect does that have on the strobe? That's what I am most curious about. Does this change from company to company or is there some standard there? I would assume that at least this would be some thing standard (i.e. some many volts present turns the unit on or off at the speed and brightness set on the unit itself).

 

[Chris15]

It appears that Lightmaxx might be a house brand of the retailer in question. Whether they follow any sort of standard and to what extent they might do so is impossible to say. I can't even seem to find a user manual for the strobe in question...

So until shown otherwise, I would have to assume a proprietary interface...

 

[kicknargel]

The products you're looking at are non-professional low-grade stuff. Which is probably perfect for you to tinker with as you want. But it's going to take experiment and elbow grease because you're going way out of what the product is designed for and documentation is going to be minimal at best.

If you want something with good control, documentation and support, you're looking at something like a dataflash for USD$250. These have DMX control of intensity, rate and duration. Then you'd still be looking for a way to convert your analog signal to DMX.

I guess what I'm saying is: what you're trying to do is a cool, weird idea. There will be no off-the-shelf solution, but if you're clever with electronics you should be able to make it work.