Renard/ RGB

[mbasile35]

I've been looking around for a while now and I can't find any sure answers, so hopefully somebody here can help me out. I want to try out RGB strips this year and I can't seem to wrap my head around how its done. All my experience in this hobby (last year) came from a Ren SS8, and so Renard boards with separate SSR's are a bit abve my head. What i THINK i'm supposed to do, is get a controller, a DCSSR and use 3 channels to control each strip? If thats right, the boards I was looking at were the Simple Renard 32 and the DCSSR 2.4.

Will these work together?
How many channels does one RGB strip need? 3?
From what i read this SSR provides constant positive so i would need a common anode RGB strip. Is that correct?
I need to control 2 strips about 50 ft each, will this be too much current for the SSR?
Can i also control DIYC floods with this board?
As of now, 2 RGB strips and 2 DIYC floods are the only planned DC display items i have. Can i control AC SSR's from the same Renard Board?

I probably have more questions and will post them as i remember. I also wasn't quite sure on how to control RGB in vixen, or if you even can, but maybe thats question belongs in the vixen forum. Besides I'm more concerned with getting hardware figured out first.

Thanks in advance everyone
Mike

[Skunberg]

I've been looking around for a while now and I can't find any sure answers, so hopefully somebody here can help me out. I want to try out RGB strips this year and I can't seem to wrap my head around how its done. All my experience in this hobby (last year) came from a Ren SS8, and so Renard boards with separate SSR's are a bit abve my head. What i THINK i'm supposed to do, is get a controller, a DCSSR and use 3 channels to control each strip? If thats right, the boards I was looking at were the Simple Renard 32 and the DCSSR 2.4.

Will these work together? Yes, with dumb strips (not pixels)
How many channels does one RGB strip need? 3? Yes
From what i read this SSR provides constant positive so i would need a common anode RGB strip. Is that correct? I think so but check the wiki
I need to control 2 strips about 50 ft each, will this be too much current for the SSR? Check Mfg of strip for draw, check wiki for max on SSR, not all SSRs are the same
Can i also control DIYC floods with this board? Yes
As of now, 2 RGB strips and 2 DIYC floods are the only planned DC display items i have. Can i control AC SSR's from the same Renard Board? Yes

I probably have more questions and will post them as i remember. I also wasn't quite sure on how to control RGB in vixen, or if you even can, but maybe thats question belongs in the vixen forum. Besides I'm more concerned with getting hardware figured out first.

Thanks in advance everyone
Mike

Brian

[tjetzer]

I've been looking around for a while now and I can't find any sure answers, so hopefully somebody here can help me out. I want to try out RGB strips this year and I can't seem to wrap my head around how its done. All my experience in this hobby (last year) came from a Ren SS8, and so Renard boards with separate SSR's are a bit abve my head. What i THINK i'm supposed to do, is get a controller, a DCSSR and use 3 channels to control each strip? If thats right, the boards I was looking at were the Simple Renard 32 and the DCSSR 2.4.

Will these work together?
How many channels does one RGB strip need? 3?
From what i read this SSR provides constant positive so i would need a common anode RGB strip. Is that correct?
I need to control 2 strips about 50 ft each, will this be too much current for the SSR?
Can i also control DIYC floods with this board?
As of now, 2 RGB strips and 2 DIYC floods are the only planned DC display items i have. Can i control AC SSR's from the same Renard Board?

I probably have more questions and will post them as i remember. I also wasn't quite sure on how to control RGB in vixen, or if you even can, but maybe thats question belongs in the vixen forum. Besides I'm more concerned with getting hardware figured out first.

Thanks in advance everyone
Mike

Brian's answers are spot on. I do have some comments in regards to "I need to control 2 strips about 50 ft each, will this be too much current for the SSR? "

Strips are typically sold in 5 meter increments. To get 100 total feet of strips you will need just over 6 reels.

The strips aren't designed to carry that much current. At most you can connect 2 5 meter strips (~32') end-to-end. You will need a DC SSR for every 10 meters of strips.

Also, you can connect the DIYC Floods in the same fashion, however the floods tend to work better with a little bit more voltage.

[jklingert]

As of now, 2 RGB strips and 2 DIYC floods are the only planned DC display items i have. Can i control AC SSR's from the same Renard Board?

I do not think you can control the DCSSR and the ACSSR at the same time with one Simple Ren 32. You can do that with the Ren64.
The Simple Ren32 only has one PIC while the Ren64 has multiple pics that can be programmed individually to set groups of 8 channels to either DC or AC channels.

[angus40]

I believe these settings in the asm need to be set to 1 if using dcssrs

;; PWM_build can be either 0 or 1
#define PWM_build 0
;; DC_build can be either 0 or 1 (it should be 0 if PWM_build is 0)
#define DC_build 0

Correct me if I am wrong as I am learning this also.
As jklingert stated the single pic limitation to ac or dc only .

[mbasile35]

Thanks everyone for the help. I've got a better understanding now.

You will need a DC SSR for every 10 meters of strips....

Also, you can connect the DIYC Floods in the same fashion, however the floods tend to work better with a little bit more voltage.

I'm confused as to why i'd need a DC SSR for ever 10 meters of strips though? What i want to do is control two different sections of strips. One section will be 52 feet and one will be 55 feet. The 52 foot section will be split into a 32 foot section (two strips) and a 20 foot section. The bottom will be the same except 32' and 23' sections. (The lengths might be a little off because i know you can only cut the strips at certain points) This gives me 12 DC channels (4 strips 3 channels each. Does this sound right?

Also, when you say that the floods can be controlled in the same fashion what exactly do you mean?

Thanks again everybody and sorry for all of the questions!

Mike

[tjetzer]

Thanks everyone for the help. I've got a better understanding now.


I'm confused as to why i'd need a DC SSR for ever 10 meters of strips though? The strips don't have the current carrying ability to handle more than 2 strips connected together.

What i want to do is control two different sections of strips. One section will be 52 feet and one will be 55 feet. The 52 foot section will be split into a 32 foot section (two strips) and a 20 foot section. The bottom will be the same except 32' and 23' sections. (The lengths might be a little off because i know you can only cut the strips at certain points) This gives me 12 DC channels (4 strips 3 channels each. Does this sound right? Yes, this should work fine

Also, when you say that the floods can be controlled in the same fashion what exactly do you mean? The DIYC Floods can be connected to additional DC SSRs much like the strips, except that the floods are 4 channels (One channel is for white)

Thanks again everybody and sorry for all of the questions!

Mike

Todd

[mbasile35]

thanks Todd i appreciate it!

Mike

[djulien]

I do not think you can control the DCSSR and the ACSSR at the same time with one Simple Ren 32. You can do that with the Ren64.
The Simple Ren32 only has one PIC while the Ren64 has multiple pics that can be programmed individually to set groups of 8 channels to either DC or AC channels.

I think a single PIC would be able to control both external AC and DC SSRs if it was programmed with PWM firmware and had a ZC signal. The DC SSR refresh rate would end up synced to the AC line, but that wouldn't matter - they would still be dimmable.

don