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Messages - Murl

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1
Lynx Aether / Re: Project updates
« on: May 21, 2010, 11:18:14 pm »
RJ - just wanted to make sure... 
In the 2nd video at around 9:50 where you were placing the diodes, you said that the line needs to go to the right, "towards the side that isn't perfectly squared off".  But, on your paper, it was the left side that appeared to have the angled corners.

From the video, I couldn't really see the line on the diode.  Does it go on the right?

Thanks!

-Murl

2
Finished COOPS / Re: Dongle PCB coop
« on: January 25, 2010, 11:03:57 pm »
Two for me, please.

-Murl

3
Finished COOPS / Re: Express Coop for 2010
« on: January 14, 2010, 07:59:11 pm »
Two for me, please, RJ.

Thanks,

-Murl

4
Lynx Express / Re: Cabling question
« on: December 09, 2009, 02:52:30 am »
I didn't do a very good job of explaining this before, but the point I'd like to make is that overcurrent protection is a layered approach, and the fuses really are necessary.

The circuit breaker in your panel is intended to protect the branch circuit - not to protect the equipment that's plugged into it.  For example, if you have a 20 Amp breaker, then the breaker, the wire in the walls, and the receptacle are all sized and rated so they work together as a system so the circuit can handle the rated load and the expected fault currents without catching on fire.

But, the circuit breaker doesn't care whether it's feeding a 20-amp mig welder, or a 0.34 amp string of minis.

That's why you need the fuse in the minis.  The fuse is sized to match the smaller wire and connectors on the string, and limits the current to the range they can safely handle.  Without the fuse, the light string could catch on fire at amperages well below what it takes to trip the breaker.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but... To say you don't need the fuses because you've never replaced one is like saying it's OK to take the seatbelts out of my truck because I've never been in a wreck.

-Murl

5
The Porch / Re: Happy Birthday RJ
« on: December 07, 2009, 01:20:21 am »
Happy birthday RJ! 

Thanks for all you do.


6
The Porch / Re: Ideal Setup/Layout
« on: December 04, 2009, 12:12:57 am »
Hi Dennis!

I've seen pictures where people have done just what you described - they mounted all of their controllers in a basement or garage and ran home-made extension cables out to the lights.  They end up having huge bundles of wires that run all over the place.

I think you'll find that the majority of us agree with Rick & Tbone.  It's usually best to keep things as simple as possible, so most of us spend a great deal of time planning which controllers to buy and where to put them so we can keep the cables as short as possible.

Another thing you'll need to plan carefully as you design your system is the power required to run everything.  The loads can add up pretty quickly.  For example, I have a 16-channel controller on my mega tree that requires two separate 15-amp circuits, because each set of 8 channels can pull nearly 11 amps if I have everything on at once.

You're already off to a great start, though.  The forum and the wiki on this site are both great places to learn, and the people here will usually go out of their way to help you.  Feel free to ask lots of questions.    :D

-Murl

7
Other Projects / Re: 8 channel express?
« on: December 03, 2009, 11:02:38 pm »
Quote
I agree that RJ does have a pretty good mix of controllers but if there were no need or demand for an 8 channel controller, then companies like LOR wouldn't bother to make them.  I am just getting stareted but I already see where about 4  8 channel controllers would work very well for me.  Sure, I could use 2 SSR4's with DMX but that would result in a lot of duplicate circuitry and wasted money.  Using a freestyle in this situation would not work well since an ethernet cable needs to be run from the freestyle to each SSR4 so if you have 2 SSR4's next to each other each one would need its own ethernet cable from the freestyle and that would once again be wastefull.  I am also looking foward to the conductor and would not want it delayed for something like this but I still believe that an 8 channel controller would be a welcome addition to the current lineup.

Those are all excellent points.  I was just thinking of my little yard.  My yard is small enough that (so far) I can do everything I want with either 4 or 16 channel controllers without running cables too far.  For me, saving $10 isn't worth losing 8 channels that I can use in the future.  But, I may be in the minority here. 

I could definitely see where someone with more room may want & need a number of 8 channel controllers because of how their yard is laid out.  In that case, the $10 savings could add up pretty quickly - especially if you consider the savings in cables from having the controllers closer to where you need them.

8
Lynx Express / Re: Cabling question
« on: December 03, 2009, 02:20:12 am »
Hi Paul,

I nearly left the plugs off of mine, too, but then I started thinking about it and put them back on. 

If I remember correctly, a typical strand of minis draws somewhere around 0.3 - 0.4 amps.  I believe the fuses built into the plugs on mine were 3 amp fuses.  I realized that if I remove the fused plugs and there's a fault of some sort, the next layer of protection would be either the 20 amp fast-acting fuse in the LE or the 15 amp breaker that's feeding the circuit. 

The problem is that I doubt the wire and socket connections on a light string can handle 15-20 amps.  And, if I remember correctly, the LE is rated at 2 amps per channel.  I could see certain types of faults drawing enough current to melt the light string or to damage a channel on my LE without blowing the fuse or tripping the breaker.

Even with the best case scenario and the fuse or the breaker did protect the circuit, now I'd have 16 (or more) channels that go out at the same time, and I'd have to troubleshoot a lot more than a single string.

In my case, I decided it was worth an extra evening to solder the original fused plugs back on.

-Murl

9
Other Projects / Re: 8 channel express?
« on: December 03, 2009, 01:10:31 am »
Just my 2 cents worth, but I think RJ already has a pretty good mix of controllers to fit most needs.  He's also done them at channel counts & price breaks that make a lot of sense economically.

Need 8 channels? I'd just put two DMX SSR4s next to each other. Need more flexibility? Build a Freestyle and then you can put basic (non-DMX) SSR4s all over the place and still be pretty economical.  I think a lot of people have forgotten about the Freestyle because of all the excitement over the LE's this year, but it's a great product, too.

I also agree with Steve about connecting 32 power cables to one enclosure.  Even if a 32 channel controller were available, I'd still use 2 LE's on my megatree for that reason alone.  I mount them back-to-back on the center pole, and it makes the connections easy.

To be completely honest, though, I have an ulterior motive here - I'm looking forward to the Conductor, and I don't want RJ to get too distracted from finishing it.   ;)

10
The Porch / Re: So much to be thankful for...
« on: November 26, 2009, 09:49:52 pm »
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Thanks also to RJ and the ones who ran coops
to get us all ready for the Christmas season
this year!

11
Finished COOPS / Re: *******CLOSED****** Lynx FreeStyle and Lynx SSR4 COOP
« on: July 16, 2009, 02:41:26 pm »
Got mine yesterday, too.  Thanks, Todd!

12
Other Projects / Re: FM Transmitter
« on: July 08, 2009, 01:48:38 am »
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Has anyone tried modifying any of the other Tunecast models (original or III)?

steve

I used to have one of the originals.  I believe the antenna mod should work the same, but the original didn't have a jack for an external power supply.  I haven't seen a Tunecast III yet.

13
Lynx Express / Re: If you arent using the power do you still get the data
« on: June 16, 2009, 08:43:35 pm »
Sounds like a good plan to me.

Don't forget to pull the terminating jumpers from the MR16's and the LE - since the wall washer will be the last device in the DMX network, it will be the only one that needs the terminating resistor.

Good luck!

14
Lynx Express / Re: If you arent using the power do you still get the data
« on: June 15, 2009, 11:33:56 pm »

What you have should work fine.  As Rick said, if you're not connecting any lights to the LE, then you shouldn't need it.  The DMX signal coming out of the LE is the same as the signal going in.

Since your wall washer is a DMX device, you just need to build an adapter cable to change the Cat-5 DMX cabling used by the Lynx stuff to an XLR connector that your wall washer uses.

As long as you have the adapter, you could go directly from the Lynx Dongle to the wall washer, if you wanted.  But, from your other posts, it sounds like your setup will most likely go:  Dongle -> MR16 controller -> XLR adapter/Wall Washer.

Is that what you had in mind?

15
The Porch / Re: Buying wall washers and need to know what to do
« on: May 30, 2009, 03:14:22 pm »
It looks like the wall washer has a DMX decoder built in, so all you need is: Vixen, the Lynx USB DMX dongle, and an adapter cable.  No Express or MR16 required.

For the adapter cable, you'll need an RJ45 for the Lynx dongle on one end, and an XLR for the wall washer on the other end.  You can get the pinouts here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Of course, you don't have to plug your adapter directly into the dongle.  For example, if you're going to have a wireless Express, you can connect your adapter to the 'DMX out' port of the Express instead.

Hope this helps...

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