Point Source Pixels Remixed [Archive] - Do It Yourself Christmas Forums

JEC

11-22-2008, 05:30 PM

The point source pixel design I came up with last fall has a lot of advantages: Small size, low power & good color mixing in a 10mm package. The hardest part was finding a way to chain multiple boards together. I'd done lots of tests by hand and found that building the wiring harness often took much, much longer than the actual board assembly.

http://www.response-box.com/rgblights/2007point.shtml

Life's too short to spend days and days building a wiring harness.

So I redid the design... It ended up costing a few pennies more in components, but the time saved making wiring harnesses more than compensates.

Since each pixel has an on-board voltage regulator - and since the LED is driven from the processor directly - voltage drop within the cable is less of an issue than otherwise expected.

It's based on a 'backplane' of 10-conductor ribbon cable. 4 conductors each for power and ground, plus a pair for DMX data.

It's easy to lay out the cable, mark it every 6" or 12" and install IDC female headers as needed.

Since I was concerned that the high-speed data would be corrupted over long lengths of flat cable, I also designed a tiny DMX repeater / splitter board. It has connections for DMX in & through, plus an RS-485 receiver. Then, two RS-485 transmitters feed data to two separate 10-pin headers.

Each header connects to a female ribbon cable jack. So in essence, a string of lights can be driven from the center.

I expect to drive 16-18 pixels on each side of the 'T,' with each arm being 8-10 feet long.

Each splitter board will be connected to the control equipment two cables: a shielded, twisted pair for data and a heavy gauge pair for power.

Pictures attached. One is the splitter / driver board, One is an assembled pixel and one is the same pixel covered in heatshrink tubing.

~600 of these are being assembled by a shop here in town... Will post some video clips when it's all installed.

EDIT: After taking the picture of the board + heat shrink tubing, I used a razor blade to trim the tubing back to the junction between the LED's wider 'neck' and main bulb. This way most of the 10mm bulb is visible but the water resistant seal remains reasonably sound.

These are being mounted in the eaves, under the raingutter and near the soffit. It's not designed to be fully submersible, just resistant to the occasional sideways-blowing blizzard.

A Marchini

11-22-2008, 09:04 PM

The point source pixel design I came up with last fall has a lot of advantages: Small size, low power & good color mixing in a 10mm package. The hardest part was finding a way to chain multiple boards together. I'd done lots of tests by hand and found that building the wiring harness often took much, much longer than the actual board assembly.

http://www.response-box.com/rgblights/2007point.shtml

Life's too short to spend days and days building a wiring harness.

So I redid the design... It ended up costing a few pennies more in components, but the time saved making wiring harnesses more than compensates.

Since each pixel has an on-board voltage regulator - and since the LED is driven from the processor directly - voltage drop within the cable is less of an issue than otherwise expected.

It's based on a 'backplane' of 10-conductor ribbon cable. 4 conductors each for power and ground, plus a pair for DMX data.

It's easy to lay out the cable, mark it every 6" or 12" and install IDC female headers as needed.

Since I was concerned that the high-speed data would be corrupted over long lengths of flat cable, I also designed a tiny DMX repeater / splitter board. It has connections for DMX in & through, plus an RS-485 receiver. Then, two RS-485 transmitters feed data to two separate 10-pin headers.

Each header connects to a female ribbon cable jack. So in essence, a string of lights can be driven from the center.

I expect to drive 16-18 pixels on each side of the 'T,' with each arm being 8-10 feet long.

Each splitter board will be connected to the control equipment two cables: a shielded, twisted pair for data and a heavy gauge pair for power.

Pictures attached. One is the splitter / driver board, One is an assembled pixel and one is the same pixel covered in heatshrink tubing.

~600 of these are being assembled by a shop here in town... Will post some video clips when it's all installed.

Yup, ribbon cable is a good idea. I worked for a company that had a high voltage 8 bit bus for individual access of locks. We strung a lot of ribbon cable for that.

One question, how are you handling one node to the next??? do you cut a few wires on the ribbon at each node???

Nice use of shrink tubing too , by the way.

Tony M.

mrpackethead

11-22-2008, 09:05 PM

As usual John, a clever design..

Me thinks i'll run up several hundred next year.

JEC

11-22-2008, 09:54 PM

Yup, ribbon cable is a good idea. I worked for a company that had a high voltage 8 bit bus for individual access of locks. We strung a lot of ribbon cable for that.

One question, how are you handling one node to the next??? do you cut a few wires on the ribbon at each node???

Nice use of shrink tubing too , by the way.

Tony M.

Thanks.

I'm not quit sure what you mean by cutting wires. All ten wires are common to all 16-18 boards on the bus.

Since it's RS-485, the individual boards just tap the data signal as needed. Each pixel has a discrete DMX address, so it only responds to a particular section of the datastream.

EDIT: However, each 'arm' of the T uses a separate ribbon cable, which is driven by its own RS485 transmitter. So yes, there is a complete break in the cable, right at the driver junction. Power and ground are common to both sides, of course.

An interesting side effect is that the main DMX controller / Vixen Computer / Lighting Console can now feed a daisy chain of 32 point source drivers. And each point source driver can in theory handle 64 (32 * 2) point source pixels.

A Marchini

11-23-2008, 12:00 PM

Thanks.

I'm not quit sure what you mean by cutting wires. All ten wires are common to all 16-18 boards on the bus.

Sorry, thinking loop in and out daisy chains. Forgot each device grabs its own part of the frame (or 3 parts I suppose in this case).

Tony M.

kostyun

11-23-2008, 04:18 PM

Very very cool! I can think of a few display uses for them!

P. Short

11-24-2008, 05:48 PM

Any thoughts on how long strings(s) of these would compare with the Galaxia products? The cost of a string by itself is probably more than the Galaxia string, but the equation would tip the other way when the controller costs are included. Plus you get RGB with this approach...

JEC

11-24-2008, 08:59 PM

Phil - I'd expect that you're generally correct. I haven't looked at Galaxia's price sheet for a while.

Controller cost for these could range from $2 for an 16F688 to a $30K+ touring lighting console.

NB! This revision of the design is not pin-compatible with older point-source boards which may already be in circulation. While all versions use a group of 10 pins on .1" centers, the wiring is quite different.

<thread hijack>
In the spring, a couple of us are going to finalize a stand-alone Vixen file playback machine. It will support .mp3 and .vix playback from an SD/MMC card and drive between 1 and 4 discrete DMX universes...
</hijack>

NogginBoink

11-28-2008, 11:08 PM

Nice work! So what's the per-unit cost of an RGB LED Pixel in the 'few dozen' quantities?

JEC

11-30-2008, 10:47 AM

Thanks for the kind words...

Incremental price of raw materials at 100 pieces looks something like this:

$1.25 processor
$0.45 LED
$0.19 RS-485 receiver
$0.15 regulator
$0.40 misc. R & C parts
$0.10 10 pin header

To these prices...

* Add tooling charge for PCB design
* Add PCB cost (very, very small on a run of 600. Board size is .55" x 1.3")
* Add 'stencil' charge for SMD pick & place automated assembly
* Add assembly labor per board
* Add processor programming & testing labor
* Add $17 / 100 feet of ribbon cable. I've been thrilled with boards on 8" centers
* Add $0.20 for female IDC connectors, one per pixel
* Add 16 gauge wire (power) + shielded wire (data) to run from 'home base' to the string. The ribbon cable is only used for the actual string.

Boards were manufactured overseas by a company I've had a long relationship with.

Assembly has been stateside, about 10 minutes from home. Advantages include (1) a single time zone, (2) a common language, (3) a two day (!) turn on 80 prototype boards and (4) not paying FedEx hundreds of dollars to see the finished product 3 weeks later.

I put a string of 34 up on the roof last night for a test run. They looked Awesome.

NogginBoink

12-01-2008, 08:05 AM

Six hundred boards! Did you really get six hundred of 'em? Man, I can't wait to see videos of an eighteen hundred channel lightshow! :)

JEC

12-01-2008, 09:52 AM

Half are for me and half are for a gentleman on the West coast...

JEC

12-10-2008, 11:36 PM

Installed about 100 of these boards earlier this week. From the street they look fantastic.

http://response-box.com/rgb/2008/12/point-source-pixels-halfway-installed/

NogginBoink

12-11-2008, 12:33 AM

Those look incredible! I'd love to see video of the final show in action!

ibby

12-11-2008, 03:03 PM

How do you control the different shades of color in Vixen? As far as I know Vixen allows for dimming and truning off and on a channel not selecting color cominations.

I love this idea!

Ibby

JEC

12-11-2008, 05:48 PM

How do you control the different shades of color in Vixen? As far as I know Vixen allows for dimming and truning off and on a channel not selecting color cominations.

I love this idea!

Ibby

Each pixel uses three DMX channels, one each for red, green and blue.

At 8 bits per channel, we have ~ 256 * 256 * 256 possible color combinations. Colors can be built by adjusting the proportions of each channel's color.

Truth be told, I use a different (commercial) program for building these sequences. While it doesn't support audio syncing - this display is more architectural than musical - it does take much of the drudgery out of building color combinations one step and one light at a time.

It also has a color picker, ala Photoshop. So you can use the computer to precisely pick a specific color, and watch the pixels respond - and match the screen - in real time. Pretty fun.

On a different sort of tangent, forum member mrpackethead has hacked together some code which accepts video / image files and converts them in Vixen sequences.

Finally, a couple of us were chatting last night about (possibly) editing the pixel string code to speak Renard. Then, no DMX dongle would be necessary. Just serial via RS485. It would certainly be a springtime project.

Hmmmm.........

mrpackethead

12-11-2008, 08:52 PM

Those look incredible! I'd love to see video of the final show in action!

Hey Noggin. My show is built using the same pixels..

Video is pretty crap, i'll try to do something better later, but try..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWlQ_gEtps

mrpackethead

12-11-2008, 08:57 PM

How do you control the different shades of color in Vixen? As far as I know Vixen allows for dimming and truning off and on a channel not selecting color cominations.

I love this idea!

Ibby

While vixen does a lot of things, this is something that vixen doe'snt do so well! As JEC said up a few posts, i have hacked some scripts together, to build vixen compatiable files, out of image series.. I am jsut using vixen to 'play' my shows, not to program them.

I have 160 pixels in a grid, and if you where to try to program them by hand in vixen it would take a long long long time.. not impossible... Have a look in my thread "the pixel grid" if you want some details of what i did. Pretty ugly and not great code, and it will get some work on it for next year.

Its also been a bit of a learning curve about what looks good and what does'nt. High contrast sequences look really good.. the 'black' spaces are as important as the 'white'..

Its been really sucessfull, and people love it! We will be putting up another 500-1000 pixels next year, for a really big show!

ibby

12-11-2008, 09:15 PM

Off topic MPH but I can never get your web link. Is it a function site?

Ibby

JEC

12-11-2008, 09:17 PM

Hey Noggin. My show is built using the same pixels..

To be specific... mrpackethead has a gaggle of original (18 discrete LED) pixels in plastic enclosures.

My rooflines are point source (a single 10mm package, all three colors in one die) and my garden lanterns are lit with original pixels.

ibby

12-11-2008, 10:34 PM

mrpackethead

12-12-2008, 04:02 AM

Off topic MPH but I can never get your web link. Is it a function site?

Ibby

Did you read my signature?

JEC

12-12-2008, 11:33 AM

JEC,

Looking at your website today. It seems that the "older" version would be brighter since it has 6 LED per color. Is this a true statement? If some one was to look for next years project which one would you recommend?

Different designs for different applications.

The original pixels are meant to be enclosed in a diffuse material or pointed at a wall or screen. They're quite bright - almost unpleasantly so at close range - and work best when softened. Putting them in globes, plastic containers or behind bits of Lexan works fabulously well. I've also had great success with theatrical 'diffusion' gel. I personally don't like seeing the discrete color emitters, but your mileage may vary.

The smaller design is meant to be an actual lighting fixture. It's friendly on the eyeball and the color mixing is automatic. They can be viewed directly without seeing the three separate color chips.

In terms of raw brightness, the original design wins.

However, I would estimate that the point source design reads equally well as the neighbors' C9 clear / white bulbs from several hundred feet away.

P. Short

12-12-2008, 01:16 PM

Finally, a couple of us were chatting last night about (possibly) editing the pixel string code to speak Renard. Then, no DMX dongle would be necessary. Just serial via RS485. It would certainly be a springtime project.

That seems pretty retro to me. it should be easy to do, but seems pointless. One problem that I see is that you would need a good RS485 converter, not one of the cheap Ebay versions. The reason for this is that you would be driving a multiple-receiver line, and may not be able to get by without a line terminator. And the cheapy RS232-RS485 converters cannot usually drive a terminated line, as they cannot get enough power out of a RS232 port. So you are back to requiring either a USB-RS485 converter or a powered RS232-RS485 converter (if such things exist). So in the end I don't see any advantage to doing this. The current scheme seems like the better way to me.

mrpackethead

12-12-2008, 04:38 PM

That seems pretty retro to me. .

The other possiblity is using an old Apple II, THat would be retro. I aggree with you about the RS485 issue. As a general rule those $10 units are not so flash, and i avoid them like the plauge.

I personally would'nt use REN, simply because its not so practical for what i'm doing ( my controllers are spread over a long distance and theres many many many of them..

I suspect that the ethernet/ip option will win out in the end for me. With the desire for every light fixture to be contronable, I just have too many things to control in any sensible format.

NogginBoink

12-14-2008, 01:43 PM

Finally, a couple of us were chatting last night about (possibly) editing the pixel string code to speak Renard. Then, no DMX dongle would be necessary. Just serial via RS485. It would certainly be a springtime project.

Hmmmm.........

I'm looking at the Enttec open DMX dongle. At $60, it hurts the pocketbook. But it is an 'open' design. And I believe it can be built for ~$10, which may be cheaper than a Renard controller.

I etched my first-ever PCB last week, so hopefully I'll be able to build and test this within the next few weeks.

mrpackethead

12-14-2008, 04:40 PM

I'm looking at the Enttec open DMX dongle. At $60, it hurts the pocketbook. But it is an 'open' design. And I believe it can be built for ~$10, which may be cheaper than a Renard controller.

I etched my first-ever PCB last week, so hopefully I'll be able to build and test this within the next few weeks.

You'll be dissapointed with the open. Everyone eventually is. They just don't hack the pace, and you'll end up with missing frames etc, esp when you start doing greater than 20fps.

NogginBoink

12-14-2008, 05:16 PM

You'll be dissapointed with the open. Everyone eventually is. They just don't hack the pace, and you'll end up with missing frames etc, esp when you start doing greater than 20fps.

Hm. I see. So maybe going straight to a custom USB based DMX512 converter is the way to go.

Thanks for the opinion; I'll pass on this project and move on to the next one.

ben

12-15-2008, 07:18 PM

Hm. I see. So maybe going straight to a custom USB based DMX512 converter is the way to go.

Thanks for the opinion; I'll pass on this project and move on to the next one.

Or RJ's Lynx Dongle that is like $40 to make and works great!! I will be using 4 of them next year (unless this so called multi universe dongle makes the scene :) )

Ben

ErnieHorning

12-15-2008, 07:37 PM

Did you read my signature?
I tried it, it's dead. Can't even ping it.

phenagan

12-15-2008, 07:40 PM

I tried it, it's dead. Can't even ping it.

I think the important part to read in his signature is this "... others get suckered in by links that dont' work."

ErnieHorning

12-15-2008, 07:46 PM

Well, I guess someone had to try it.:) So that others don't have to.

JEC

12-16-2008, 12:15 AM

Finished the installation!

Pictures here:

http://response-box.com/rgb/2008/12/point-source-pixels-fully-installed/

And how I weatherproofed them:

http://response-box.com/rgb/2008/12/how-to-nearly-waterproof-a-point-source-pixel/

Trepidati0n

12-16-2008, 11:48 AM

Nice!!!! I was thinking, that to save channels, there would be nothing wrong with setting multiple pixels to the same channel. I think it would still look pretty sharp even with 3 pixels on single channel. that way your 600 channels would plummet to 200.

djulien

12-24-2008, 06:27 PM

Finally, a couple of us were chatting last night about (possibly) editing the pixel string code to speak Renard. Then, no DMX dongle would be necessary. Just serial via RS485. It would certainly be a springtime project.

If that happens, would it look like just a regular Renard controller to Vixen? (ie, is it safe to start constructing pixels and sequences with the assumption that they will work with Renard with little or no additional effort?)

don

JEC

12-24-2008, 07:17 PM

If that happens, would it look like just a regular Renard controller to Vixen? (ie, is it safe to start constructing pixels and sequences with the assumption that they will work with Renard with little or no additional effort?)

don

Yes, more or less.

The thought was that there'd be a small controller on the front end of a string of pixels which could receive the Renard data... This controller could receive DMX (3 channels for each pixel), simple DMX (plays back 'canned' effects using only a few channels of data) or Renard.

Haven't thought this all the way through, though. Comments welcome.

JEC

12-24-2008, 07:18 PM

P. Short

12-24-2008, 07:47 PM

Doesn't that controller effectively become a DMX dongle? Is there any advantage (cost or operationally) over just building a DMX dongle? Maybe I'm missing something here...

ben

12-24-2008, 07:54 PM

Doesn't that controller effectively become a DMX dongle? Is there any advantage (cost or operationally) over just building a DMX dongle? Maybe I'm missing something here...

Im on the same track as you Phil. Why not just spend $45 and build one of RJ's and call it done.

Just sequence them seperatly in a different sequence and run them in the profile. That way you can run them DMX.

Ben

Duke

12-28-2008, 08:19 AM

Could these be made to work with LOR S2 via DMX?
What is the cost per pixel not inluding multi cable?

JEC

12-28-2008, 08:56 AM

Could these be made to work with LOR S2 via DMX?
What is the cost per pixel not inluding multi cable?

I'm not familiar with LOR S2, but so long as its DMX output conforms to the published standard, you shouldn't have any issues at all.

Scroll up to the top of this thread and you can see my rough costs per unit.

Note that this design was a beta version for myself and a colleague this year - and we both understood the risks inherent in a first-run design.

Though I did sell a handful of bare circuit boards to folks on this forum, it was definitely a 'do it yourself' project. Caveat Emptor.

The prices posted above do not reflect a decent amount of my own time invested.

Were these to be produced and sold commercially, the price would definitely be higher - both to cover the increased costs of tech support / customer service / liability and provide a reasonable return on (substantial) capital invested.*

I guess that's a long-winded way of saying, "I don't know just yet."

However, after the first of the year I'll begin working on a custom injection-molded case to hold them. Should be rated to IP65 or maybe 66. Am also envisioning strings of 60-80 pixels with waterproof connectors between each unit. They can be chained together like Lego blocks, up to some maximum combination of cable length and device count.

Sorry for rambling.

-------------

* I won't respond to any complaints of profiteering at the expense of others. Nobody begrudges Home Depot, Lowes, the Planet Christmas Monster Shipping Container of Lights Project or the Electric Company a reasonable return on goods sold. If value received >> money spent, great. If not, design your own.

Duke

12-28-2008, 09:05 AM

JEC

12-28-2008, 09:12 AM

This is Light-O-Rama's DMX adaptor/module.

iDMX1000 (http://store.lightorama.com/smdmxin.html)

It goes on an RS485 network as do their controllers and provides 1 to 1 channel control with their S2 software. IE: 1000 software channels I = 1000 channels of DMX. :mrgreen:

Interesting. If they're actually converting 1000 channels of lighting data into a single universe of DMX, they're breaking the official spec pretty badly... Most pro gear won't allow a start address greater than 512.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512-A

Duke

12-28-2008, 09:12 AM

It would be interesting to see these manufactured as self contained encapsulated units as you mention. Then you could plug-in and or replace them as if they were bulbs in a string of lights. It could be left up to the end user to determine and set their own spacing needs. A 10 pin vampire plug along a multi-cable, hmmmmmm? "Create-A-String" Or a plain vanilla breadboard that you add mating 10 pin connectors to make a panel array.

JEC

12-28-2008, 09:13 AM

Jeff Millard

12-29-2008, 11:34 AM

Interesting. If they're actually converting 1000 channels of lighting data into a single universe of DMX, they're breaking the official spec pretty badly... Most pro gear won't allow a start address greater than 512.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX512-A

The intent was to be able to control a single universe of 512 channels. I have no idea where the theoretical qty of 1000 came from, but currently it will only control 256. There have been complaints that the other 256 have noise on them causing unwanted effects on some DMX items. I'm only stating this to show that the thing is public, yet still in development. I was the one who pointed Duke to this thread as I thought something really cool could be had from the device you developed here. D-Light released a device similar to the popular Leaping-Arches this year, the FireFly. It has 16 RGB pixels for 48 channels, controlled directly from LOR's proprietary software and the two softwares that control D-Light hardware. There seems to be some problem with the pixels sticking on in the FireFly using LOR S-2. I was hoping your point source pels would make a good inexpensive alternative to commercial devices like I mentioned.

Sorry for the hijack...

Jeff

JEC

12-31-2008, 10:25 AM

It has 16 RGB pixels for 48 channels, controlled directly from LOR's proprietary software and the two softwares that control D-Light hardware. There seems to be some problem with the pixels sticking on in the FireFly using LOR S-2. I was hoping your point source pels would make a good inexpensive alternative to commercial devices like I mentioned.

I'm quite confident that we'll hit sub-$10 - possibly much lower - later this spring.

As an added bonus, they'll be (at the very least) controlled by DMX512, which is fast, free and open.

A Marchini

12-31-2008, 12:21 PM

However, after the first of the year I'll begin working on a custom injection-molded case to hold them. Should be rated to IP65 or maybe 66. Am also envisioning strings of 60-80 pixels with waterproof connectors between each unit. They can be chained together like Lego blocks, up to some maximum combination of cable length and device count.

It would be interesting to see what waterproof connector you come up with. Ribbon cable being what it is, it probably could only be used once a year. I am of the belief that it has low tolerance for UV and the wires can break fairly easily. Also I am sure the crimp on connectors provide no protection from moisture exposure.
Course your first run will tell the tale.

Is potting the boards too expensive?? I mean compared to injection molding tooling. Would you be looking at a single cavity tool?

Heck you may not even care, you probably have a line on company that just does all this for you :)

Now here is a question, can you get production on die mount stuff or is that like 100K Qty only?
What about those Hong Kong toy micro controllers, like those little ones they put in the multi operation light strings?

Tony M.

Jeff Millard

01-01-2009, 11:21 AM

Thi thread caused me to make a purchase at the 75% off sale at Target. I bought 15 boxes of C9 leds to have the faceted bulbs to use if I get my greedy hands on some of these pixels...

Jeff

P. Short

01-01-2009, 11:51 AM

Jeff -

Are you planning on going color (RGB) or monochrome?

Jeff Millard

01-01-2009, 06:00 PM

RGB. It's more a wish, than something I've planned. I've seen the results of the Pixels JEC made and was hoping to get a similar effect from a C9 bulb with a single tri color LED.
Jeff

P. Short

01-01-2009, 06:05 PM

That's an RGB C9? If so, it's a new one on me.

mrpackethead

01-01-2009, 06:13 PM

And me too.. How do you intend on controlling them Jeff?

JEC

01-02-2009, 12:09 AM

Thi thread caused me to make a purchase at the 75% off sale at Target. I bought 15 boxes of C9 leds to have the faceted bulbs to use if I get my greedy hands on some of these pixels...

Jeff

Are you envisioning some sort of surgery to be performed on the Target bulbs?

ben

01-02-2009, 11:53 AM

RGB. It's more a wish, than something I've planned. I've seen the results of the Pixels JEC made and was hoping to get a similar effect from a C9 bulb with a single tri color LED.
Jeff

Jeff, the C9 bulb is a certain color. unless they are white what you want to do will not work. I was looking at some C9's and I switched a blue and a yellow C9 cover and the colors where HORRIBLE. The color of the bulb has to match the LED. Like i said, if you got white it may work but the colored ones will not.

Ben

Virtus

01-02-2009, 12:02 PM

Don't they make clear C9s, too?

ben

01-02-2009, 12:54 PM

Don't they make clear C9s, too?

yes.

P. Short

01-02-2009, 01:23 PM

OK, it looks like I misunderstood what you were saying. Are you thinking of using a clear/white C9 cap (minus the original innards) with a JEC mini-pixel (or some similar device)?

Jeff Millard

01-02-2009, 07:17 PM

RGB. ...a similar effect from a C9 bulb

Sorry, should have been more "clear" here... "a C9 'clear' plastic faceted shell that goes over a small button LED"

Are you envisioning some sort of surgery to be performed on the Target bulbs?

Yep, the faceted C9 is just a clear plastic shell that slips over a flat faced LED. Some of them pop-in to a shell the size of a C9 socket. Others screw into sockets a little larger than a mini lamps. I can see getting a small RGB LED into both shells. You can get some nice spread of an RGB LED with them. I had one that came in a parts grab bag I bought. I lit them with the SSR tester Wayne sold me at the Philly mini. I think that these shells slid over RGB pixels would look great wrapped all the way around my roof.

But, as I said before... this is just a wish. I already have a plan for 2009, and this isn't in it because of the development status of a DIY point source pel. I only spoke of this as Bob and I were chatting about the idea elsewhere. I haven't even thought of the cost. Would it be a less expensive idea, to have RGB pixels in C9 shells, with only 4 to 8 sets of controllers. Then wire them in a chase pattern so every 6th bulb is on the same color. If so, then I don't need any controller. I'll just make my own full wave strings in groups of 35, 50 or 70 depending on the voltage of the LEDs. Then just control them with dimming channels. I don't need to reinvent the wheel. All I want is to be able to color mix RGB LEDs. People looking at my display won't know or even understand how it's controlled. In fact, typing this post has just caused me to rethink my idea. I think I just came up with a solution to my idea...

But my idea is hijacking the development thread....

Jeff