SkullTroniX (tm) Support

crazybob · Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 20

I've talked to Phoenix on other boards about using DMX relay packs. He mentioned that although DMX may be a bit pricer tha a KIT74, it ends up being cheaper the more you buy. The cheapest dimmer pack I have found is $75 at cheaplights.com. That works out to around $19 per channel, no matter how many channels you buy. I'm a bit confused as to how this makes it cheaper the more you buy. Could someone clarify this?

Phoenix · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 248 Location: Chester, UK

Sorry, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant, when I said it gets cheaper I didn't really mean that it gets cheaper than other simple solutions.

DMX is about making complex lighting systems simple, its very easy when starting a haunt to knock together a simple lighting system, but, as your simple system grows its gets out of hand with complexity.

With DMX you get 512 channel via a single control cable, consider the implications of trying to do this with SIXTY FOUR kit 74s

For a start off you cant connect this many to a PC without some serious reworking on the architecture, then you have the problem with routing 512 cables, then when you want to add servo boards you need to use more ports from your PC.....

Your 4 channel dimmer, its an OK solution if you want to dim simple lights, and for a start off the kit74 cant dim, its ON or OFF, however OTOH consider our Red/Green/Blue DMX strobing spotlights and how you would achieve that solution with a Kit74.

Now what about your PSC servo boards, these are limited to 15' from your PC, use a SkulltroniX BOC and you can control over 200 servos from a single PC via a single cable. up to 1000' long.

The savings of DMX are not always in $$$, most of them are in simplicity, try rigging a 500 channel system with a 'simple' solution and you will tear your hair out trying to track down frustrating bugs, rig the same system with DMX and you will be up and running much more quickly.
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Bryan Davis
Phoenix Animatronix

crazybob · Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 20

Sorry, I guess I did misunderstand. As far as controlling simple non-DMX lights, is a $75 dimmer pack the best way to go? I'm still new to DMX, but i'm assuming any DMX items can be hooked up to anything else DMX, and then each seperate item would be assigned as many channels as it needs, right?
Can the exorcist send out multiple DMX commands to different scenes at the same time, since each light/board would have a different address?

Phoenix · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 248 Location: Chester, UK

In its current form Exorcist doesn't send out any commands, VSA does all that, and the answer is NO if you want to control different scenes using different VSA profiles then you need a separate DMX chain for each scene, this is actually an issue that I'm hoping to address this winter.

if you want light dimming then the dimmer pack is probably the best way to go, otherwise there are Kit74 style relay packs available.
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Bryan Davis
Phoenix Animatronix

mark_mco · Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Posts: 7

Another option as far as controlling non-DMX devices is to use controllers from Light-O-Rama. With the latest firmware, they can function as DMX dimmer packs. At $205 for 16 channels, the CTB16PC controller comes out to less than $13 a channel. There is a small amount of assembly required - attaching cords and mounting in the case, but it will save you $45 over the fully assembled version. You can pick them up for about $20 less during their sale they usually have in the spring. Here's a link to the product page - http://store.lightorama.com/ctb16pcpage.htm
Here's a doc explaing the DMX functionality - http://www.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf

Mark