New to this: Controller help?

[ptblduffy]

Hey, I'm new to the whole christmas lighting thing. I was wondering what would be a good controller to use that is compatible with vixen. I've looked over the board comparison page on the wiki, but it still leaves me with questions. What would anyone with experience recommend to me? I'd like to run 16 channels, dimmable. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, as i am new, I would very much appreciate if you could recommend a board that requires only minor skill, lol.

Thanks a lot,

-Duffy

[ctmal]

16 channels dimming, that sounds like the Ren16 to me.
I'm a little bias, that's what I built and it did go together pretty easily. There are a couple things to consider.
If you read the wiki page on comparing controllers it talks about the different topologies. That is important. Where do you want all your connections to be? If all connections are close, the Ren16 will work well for you.
As you will probably hear, this is an opinion thing...there are many different options, all of which are good and depending on your setup, some options may be better for you than others.

I was told when I was just starting to do research that the Ren16 is an easier board to start with than the Ren64 but I've never done a Ren64 so I really don't know(maybe others can chime in on that).
The best thing to do is to keep reading the wiki and suck in as much information as possible to help you make your decision.

Welcome to the hobby....you will get addicted.

[ptblduffy]

thanks for the help ctmal. Do you or anyone else know the difference between the ren16 and the lynx is though? besides that it runs DMX? It says on the wiki it is easier to assemble, which caught my attention.

[daviddth]

the Ren 16 is easy to build - only a few parts, all on 1 board etc. A great beginners board IMHO. Saves having to make a whole heap of cat5 cables etc as well, but you will have to run extension leads from the ren 16 to your lights.

[Macrosill]

You will have to make a decision on which protocol you want to use. The most popular choice to date is the Renard system. However DMX is gaining in popularity. I do not think any one is more or less difficult than the other as far as build goes. It is a personal choice. I use Renard because when I was getting into dimming it was the latest and greatest. I have been interested in DMX but I have so much into the Renard system I may add some DMX instead of replace the Renard.