Anyone Running the PropController

[dirknerkle]

roflmao!!!

[lightman]

Hey Ben...sorry about the minor hijack of thread....but I couldn't resist regarding cartoon.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.....I don't have a prop kit yet, but I still like where you are headed. I reuse my hardware all year for stage shows, so the more versatility I have the better.

When it comes to Christmas light show, I still like the dedicated controller on average. That said, your product is sooo ready for upcoming RGB pixels and the like.

[DynamoBen]

I suspect that the "must have" boards would be AC Dimmer, DC Dimmer, Switch/Relay, DMX/Renard Node, and Pixel. Am I missing anything?

[lightman]

I suspect that the "must have" boards would be AC Dimmer, DC Dimmer, Switch/Relay, DMX/Renard Node, and Pixel. Am I missing anything?

All of the above for me maybe add stepper motor control. Makes my life easier, however we both know it takes a little more understanding of interfaces as a trade for versatility. But knowing you, you will simplify those too!

[DynamoBen]

All of the above for me maybe add stepper motor control. Makes my life easier, however we both know it takes a little more understanding of interfaces as a trade for versatility. But knowing you, you will simplify those too!

You could use the switched/relay version for stepper motor control. Which brings up a good point, I should add headers to allow for servos on that board too.

[lightman]

Good point Ben. I also do robotics and audio-animatronics and am always looking for new Servo controllers. Currently I use a MIDI interface, j-omega driver, and Cakewalk MusicCreator (now Sonar 8.5) for recorder/sequencer.

The trick is to get audio track synced with control track. Propcontroller could definitely be a player.

You are right on relay/switcher for stepper control....didn't think of that !

[pmscientist]

The PropController is running my whole display this year. Working like a champ with the dimmer board. Had planned for a bunch of RGB stuff, but ran out of time on those.

Prop board, dimmer board and 8VAC transformer all mounted on an acrylic panel in a CG1000 enclosure. Have it connected to a wireless ethernet bridge for network connectivity. Just using Vixen w/the J1Sys e1.31 plugin for control. Have the Vixen timing set to 25ms, which gives 40Hz refresh rate instead of the 44Hz used by DMX. Currently using the Prop code rev from Apr/May.

Only ended up being 8 channels this year, though that's doubled from last year. Since the RGB elements weren't ready, I didn't actually use pixels, but did test 100 2801s successfully using the wireless ethernet setup.

Good work Ben! I certainly look forward to using this a bit more next year.

[DynamoBen]

Rock on pmscientist, be sure to post pics and vids.