ProDarwin
ProDarwin MegaDork
5/26/22 8:30 a.m.

I have a need for the following:

 

Multiple RGBW Led strips  usually in the 4 - 12 range

Not very long, low power dray

intensity and color values controlled independently.

ideally some ability to turn some of them off/on or switch them between multiple 'modes'.  Ideally with input from a switch somewhere else I wire up.

 

On the surface DMX lighting seems like its capable of doing this.  But I've never used it before.  What do I need to know?  Can anyone recommend a lighting controller?  

Something like this seems ideal, especially given I can daisy chain more of them if I need to add more discrete channels.

But I definitely don't understand the controllers enough.  I don't need to go full DJ with this, program animations, etc.  I just want good control over each light wrapped up in a nice package.

ProDarwin
ProDarwin MegaDork
5/26/22 5:10 p.m.

Bump for the evening crowd.  Curtis?

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
5/26/22 6:12 p.m.

Did you stop? Drop? Shut it down, open up shop?

 

Sorry, I'm no help. Given the title ,  I have the Rough Riders anthem in my head.

thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago GRM+ Memberand UberDork
5/26/22 7:43 p.m.

In reply to Appleseed :

I've got "X Gon' Give It To You" in mine. 

grover
grover GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/26/22 11:35 p.m.

All of my experience is from more than 10 years ago and never with LEDs. From what i remember though, none of that should be an issue. Controllers used to be Uber cheap- not sure about recently. 

ProDarwin
ProDarwin MegaDork
5/27/22 8:43 a.m.

In reply to grover :

They have a very very very wide range of prices and capabilities.  I'm not sure how to find what I need.  I may just take a stab at it with a wifi DMX controller, but honestly wifi/the need for a "smart" interface is a negative for my application.

the_machina
the_machina Reader
5/27/22 11:41 a.m.

Some questions:

1) How do you want to control this thing? Use a laptop and some lighting control program to set it once, and then just a lightswitch to turn it off and on? Or "Alexa, set light group 2 to blue, 50%"

2) Are you hoping to integrate this with anything else? Have it synch to music, have it turn red when the home alarm goes off, have it turn on automatically at dusk and off at dawn?

DMX is a great way of controlling lights, but you could also go with just a regular cheap LED strip driver/controller.

ProDarwin
ProDarwin MegaDork
5/27/22 11:54 a.m.

1) this is used for demonstration purposes (think kitchen showroom).  I want to be able to adjust the intensity and color at any time, but I also want to switch a few of them between two different modes (think day/night mode).  No alexa integration whatsoever.

2) no integration with anything else

 

I'm open to a "regular cheap LED" controller, but those are generally a pain in the ass, and only control a single channel.  They don't give you as fine a control over the RGBW values (I'd prefer a 0-100 or 0-255 for each of the 4 wires), and matching the values across multiple channels sucks.  But if there is a 4+ light (16 channel) controller that is off the shelf that can do this, let me know where to find it.

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