Lynx Express and Renard SS24 group buys

**Jack Stevens** · 01-19-2012, 09:52 AM

For those of you interested, a Lynx Express coop is running.

2nd Express coop of 2012 *** Closed for orders ***

That one is probably going to end very soon, possibly later today. It just started yesterday (Wednesday, 1/18)

<EDIT> Sorry about that; it's already closed. Ran less than 24 hours </EDIT>

The Renard SS series will apparently start on January 28th. I already have several of these, and other than getting a run of bad PICs they seem to work well. The PICS are less than $2 each, so not that big of a deal.

Looking for Renard SS24 BOM group buy. - Page 6

From James, the guy who will be running this one:

Guys and Gals,

I will open up the order taking portion of my Renard SS Group Buy Saturday January 28, 2011. I have worked out the details and have permission to host the buy here on DIYC. So no off-site site this year, Thanks to the Admin's. It will have maximum limits of 100 participants and 350 BOM's. This should allow enough to go around for most of the people wanting them and based on this buy we will determine need and size of round two. So if you don't get in on the first round a second one will take place after this one is complete. It will take longer to sell out.

I will post a new thread in the Group Buy forum that you will need to place your order at. No orders or interest from this thread will be transferred.

I will have firm pricing by then as things are getting hard to find due to end of life and other group buys. Also postage is going up (less than a dollar) at the end of this month.

Thanks,
James

Oh yeah, (additional thought here) unless you are willing to do some soldering and some light-duty troubleshooting, and definitely some anti-static control, this won't be for you. You can get your controller costs to less than $3 per channel, but it has some sweat equity in it, and will take time away from sequencing while adding more sequencing to do to take into account the additional channels.

**kidcole** · 01-19-2012, 05:02 PM

I am not up to speed on the generic DMX controllers. I need a big pile of channels that will each run one string of LED lights per channel. Two REN24s would do the job. I might about 8 to 16 channels of 200-bulb mini light (incandescent) mixed in there also. Not sure of how much load the RENs can handle.

I see that there is a Lynx Freestyle 128 channel controller. What do those typically cost ? Are there any drawbacks or issues with this controller... ?

**Samj435** · 01-19-2012, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by kidcole

Not sure of how much load the RENs can handle.

The Renards can carry 2 amps per channel, although the Triac's used in the Group Buys are rated for 4. The Renard SS24 is broken into two sides, each capable of handling a 15 amp input.

**mschell** · 01-19-2012, 11:16 PM

And be aware that most of the Renards can use DMX firmware and so work in a DMX environment. My LED columns this past year ran off of Ren48LSD controllers using DMX. These are Renard based DC controllers that can run up to about 400-500 mA per channel.

You should plan to run any LED strip/dumb pixels using a DC controller. If you use "normal" AC based LED strings, you can use a Ren 24SS or similar AC controller. I believe that some of the Renard AC controllers can run more than 2A per channel with heatsinks on the triacs.

I've had mixed feelings about the Lynx line. I have 4 or 5 of these - some have developed issues due to weather, etc...

Note that there will be an E680/681 pixel controller group buy starting in a week or so - run by yours truly. It will be similar to a pre-sale, in that it will run for about a month. We don't plan to limit quantities, but then we're not planning on 500 controllers either...

**Al in Raleigh** · 01-19-2012, 11:33 PM

I agree wholeheartedly with Mark. The Lynx line have proven problematic in my display too. The schematics are proprietary and had problems with each board spin. I reverse engineered part of a circuit that was clearly not designed well and truly problematic with mild temperature fluctuations. I had to redesign the circuit to keep my display going. Me buying LYNX was a mistake.

**kidcole** · 01-20-2012, 08:24 AM

Great info Mark ! I might give one or two of these REN SS24s a try then. I'd like to have a high density AC controller for my Blowmold rows in front of the MegaTree. And I want to try some DIY DMX anyhow ... Unless anyone has some used ones they plan to sell ?

The pixel controller Group Buy sounds great. I hope we can hold an engineering meeting before you close it, so I can get my full plan in place including which pixel strings to use (and how many), power supplies, wiring, connectors, etc.

I also like the look of the CoroFlake with the Square 5050 modules. Would an E680 drive those too ?

Perhaps those pixel controllers become the base of a TASL standard, so we can all follow the same template for pixel strings this year ?

**mschell** · 01-20-2012, 08:55 AM

A few answers...and a warning.

Yes, the E680 will drive the "smart" square 5050 modules. If it has a pixel chip in it, like the 1809, then most likely the E680/681 can drive it. The beauty of using intelligent pixels is that you don't have to worry about wiring modules to specific DMX controllers, you just have to string the modules throughout the CoroFlake and have one wire going back to the controller.

Some cautions - be sure you have enough power for the quantity of modules you plan to use.

Second caution - the Renard line is designed differently than a "normal" DMX or LOR controller. Renard will "eat" or consume the channels that it uses, and not pass all the data it received on to the next controller in the chain. So the position of the controller in the data path will determine what channels it responds to and what channel the next controller will start at. This means you need to plan where you put the controllers and how they are connected. Most of us are used to the idea that the controller has an address, that it doesn't matter where we put it, and that we can change it on the fly with a HW utility or something similar. That is not the case with Renard, unless you want to reprogram the firmware on the chip on the board.

If you use the DMX firmware in your Renard, you can change the starting address, but it's still only changable by reflashing the firmware. A way to get around this is to use DMX splitters to split the signal before it gets to the controller. That way you don't care where the controller sits in the data path - each controller sits on a line by itself.

**Jack Stevens** · 01-20-2012, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by mschell

A few answers...and a warning.
Second caution - the Renard line is designed differently than a "normal" DMX or LOR controller. Renard will "eat" or consume the channels that it uses, and not pass all the data it received on to the next controller in the chain. So the position of the controller in the data path will determine what channels it responds to and what channel the next controller will start at. This means you need to plan where you put the controllers and how they are connected. Most of us are used to the idea that the controller has an address, that it doesn't matter where we put it, and that we can change it on the fly with a HW utility or something similar. That is not the case with Renard, unless you want to reprogram the firmware on the chip on the board.

If you use the DMX firmware in your Renard, you can change the starting address, but it's still only changable by reflashing the firmware. A way to get around this is to use DMX splitters to split the signal before it gets to the controller. That way you don't care where the controller sits in the data path - each controller sits on a line by itself.

As a side note, the Renard boards do have a specific input RJ45 jack and an output RJ45 jack. It regenerates the signal, which may mean you can run further distances than you might be able to otherwise.

ON any/all of these, you have to watch your wiring. "Standard" DMX RJ45 configuration uses pin 1 for RS485 data +, pin 2 for data -. LOR uses pin 4 for RS485 data + and pin 5 for data -. Renard uses pin 4 for data - and pin 5 for data +, in reverse polarity of LOR.

The Lynx SSR4's use pins 1 and 2 for data, pins 3-8 for SSR inputs, which means you can't just run the cable through. LOR uses pins 3 and 6 for DC voltage to run ELLs and other devices, and pass through the other pins. Renard grounds out the pins it doesn't use.

I tend to use the 568B RJ45 standard wiring on my cables, run a LOR network for my LOR boards, and use RJ45 keystone jacks to RJ45 plug adapters inside the controller case if I need to change which pins are the data pins for the controller I'm running to, if it's different from the controller/dongle it's coming from. That last part can get confusing at times, if I get the controller order bollixed up mentally.

In other words, this isn't for the plug-and-play members who just want to do sequencing. Nothing wrong with that. I like playing with the hardware, just as Mark and Al do.

Sounds like a multi-vendor show-and-tell is in the works for a TASL and/or convention meeting.