DMX-4 Controling Xmas Lites From Timeline

[rsimon050@gmail.com]

My project is to use Show Express, and it's time line, connected to a DMX-4 then connected to Xmas Lights.

The jest is to have the emersen plugs on the DMX-4 turn on and off when marked in the time line to do so, making the Xmas Trees appear dancing to the songs imported to the time line.

I have been struggling with this for some time and have watched many tutorials, but so many do not cover off using the DMX-4 for something of this nature.

First of all, is this possible to use this DMX-4 with the time line, to turn off and on lights by creating marks on the time line?

How does one assign a lite to a channel on the DMX-4?

[tomrbland]

As far a a quick google will tell me, the DMX-4 is a dimmer. Just use a basic par can profile for it. You can then turn it on and off as you would any other fixture with two scenes. One turns it on and one turns it off! This will then work in timeline.

[kahilzinger]

Something I noticed using dimmers on LED christmas light strings is that they are so efficient, dimmer level 0 still causes the LED lights to stay lit, though about 50% dimmer. I have not figured out a way to get them to shut completely off. That tells me power is still going through a par-can when you run them off a dimmer, no matter what. I am guessing that is why I had to put a resistor in line on my motorcycle's LED turnsignals so the load would be seen by the module to blink them on and off.

[tomrbland]

Most professional dimmers have what is known as a "preheat" setting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimmer#Preheat So this could be what you are picking up.

Just incase you are wanting to dim the LEDs then using a dimmer box isn't the way forward. LED's usually dim using PWM, if I think hard enough I'll remember why it's not good to dim them on a dimmer box! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation. But I would expect that you should be able to turn the LEDs simply on and off. Is it possible to switch the DMX-4 in to a switchpack rather than a dimmer?

[LightWorx]

I know this is a old post but for someone who may want to use dimmer packs with LED lights you can make a dummy load from a 4k ohm 1/2 watt resistor that will turn off the dimmer pack at 0 output. Simply place the resistor across the hot and neutral of the output. It will allow the triac switching circuit to operate properly. You can google and find them pre-made for about $14.00 or make one yourself for about $1.00.

[kahilzinger]

Thanks, I will try that. I lit up some trees over the summer with them as part of a party and that would be really nice to be able to turn them off.