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marty
03-17-2009, 01:50 PM
Hello

I’m new to the christmas lighting seen but have done a bit of reading about this online. I am looking for some advice and direction. I would like to control some LEDs with Vixen and a Renard board. Everyone seems to be using the Renard board to control AC devices. Can these boards control DC or is the AC needed. Can I get the boards with on board DC SSRs or will I need to use the 4 Channel DCSSR I saw online? Also is there any coops ordering what I am looking for?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Marty


I guess I should clarify that I am looking to run multiple channels of LEDs.
RichF
03-17-2009, 01:53 PM
Marty,
You may want to look at a ren24lv. This unit will do what your looking or in 24 channels.
rstehle
03-17-2009, 03:14 PM
Can I get the boards with on board DC SSRs or will I need to use the 4 Channel DCSSR I saw online? Also is there any coops ordering what I am looking for?

Marty, AFIK, none of the DIY boards have DC SSR's. You will probably need to use either a Ren 24 LV, or Ren 64, with outboard DC SSR's. There are no group buys running at this time. I don't recall ever seeing one for DC SSR's.........:(
marty
03-17-2009, 03:41 PM
Rich,
From what I read on the wiki site the ren24lv board can only run 100 LEDs. I’m looking to run 20-30 LEDs per channel, (720 total). Would that be ok?
marty
03-17-2009, 03:48 PM
rstehle,
Is the out put of the ren24lv AC? Will the 4 Channel DCSSR I was reading about connect to the Ren 64?
ctmal
03-17-2009, 03:56 PM
I believe what you would need is the ren24lv and 8 DC SSR's(or a ren64 and 16 DC SSR's). Each DC SSR is 4 channels. Also keep in mind that you only need enough SSR's to cover the amount of channels you need. For example, if you need 8 channels, you would need 1 ren24lv(the controller) and 2 DC SSR's(the switches).
rstehle
03-17-2009, 04:47 PM
Rich,
From what I read on the wiki site the ren24lv board can only run 100 LEDs. I’m looking to run 20-30 LEDs per channel, (720 total). Would that be ok?

Marty, the 100 LED's that the Ren 24 can drive is directly off of the SSR outputs. With SSR's, you can drive an almost limitless amount.

Oh, and sorry, I forgot, WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!
RichF
03-17-2009, 05:34 PM
The output of the ren24lv is DC.
P. Short
03-17-2009, 06:18 PM
There are a number of choices.

First, if you wish to use the coop boards in the most straightforward way, you use:

1) Renard24LV (I'm not sure how pin 9 of the ULN280x chip is wired up, so I don't know how high the output voltage can go).

or

2) Renard24LV with external DCSSR boards (for higher output capability)

or

3) Renard64 plus one or more DCSSR boards (you can probably get this from wjohn)

If you are not restricting yourself to the standard coop boards used in the standard way, there are more options.

1) Use strip board and wire up your own DC SSRs (quite easy to do regardless of whether you need isolation or not).

2) If you can find one, a SimpleIO Triac8 board can be modified for DC operation fairly easily. This mod is so difficult to do for the other boards (SSR, SSROZ, and the Renard boards with integrated AC SSRs) that it is not worth doing. Apart from modifying the board, this uses a custom cable.

3) Use one of the custom ULN buffer boards that are currently being discussed in another section of this forum. Again, custom cabling is needed.

There are probably other choices that I am unaware of.
omzig
03-17-2009, 06:25 PM
You can run the DC SSR's off of the Renard24LV too.
rstehle
03-17-2009, 07:26 PM
You can run the DC SSR's off of the Renard24LV too.

Yep, done it..............
marty
03-17-2009, 08:44 PM
WOW thanks! You guys are wonderfully helpful!

Based on what was mentioned here I'm planning on using Renard64s and DCSSRs. Right now my design is looking to be 20-30 LEDs per channel and about 60 channels.

And for the really newbe question of the day:
Will the Ren64/DCSSR setup still be dimable?

Again thanks. Your help is greatly appreciated!
P. Short
03-17-2009, 11:13 PM
WOW thanks! You guys are wonderfully helpful!

Based on what was mentioned here I'm planning on using Renard64s and DCSSRs. Right now my design is looking to be 20-30 LEDs per channel and about 60 channels.

And for the really newbe question of the day:
Will the Ren64/DCSSR setup still be dimable?

Again thanks. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Yes.