RGB Nodes

[wbottomley]

I found this site talking about RGB nodes: www.response-box.com/rgb


On their home page, he has a video up and at the top, "His toolchain is Madrix (running in a virtual Windows machine on a Mac, natch) –> Enttec USB Pro –> DMX / Pixel Bridge I designed –> 50 Nodes."

Did I hear DMX?

More info from the site:
A completely ‘open’ DIY DMX Bridge. We’ll publish schematics, a bill of materials and source code for a driver board based around a PIC 18F microcontroller. The source code will support 100 RGB nodes. It will be 100% DIY friendly construction, with no surface mount components. Bare circuit boards will be available for about $10 USD + freight. You provide a small handful of readily available components – nothing exotic – which we estimate will cost $15-$18.

Support for this project will be via a web-based forum on a best effort basis. Expect to see these boards & supporting documentation in late January / early February.

We’ve not forgotten our good friends the DIY enthusiasts, and we hope that this comes someway to meet their need to solder everything!

The entire project will be released under a non-commercial creative commons license.

A fully assembled, tested and burned-in DMX bridge controller which includes professional-quality XLR connectors and a rugged powder-coated chassis. The controller will accept full-speed DMX (up to 44 frames / second) and drive an entire universe (up to 172 nodes) at the same rate. This is more than fast enough to display full motion video.

The controller will also include a handful of ‘pre built’ effects generators, triggered by a small subset of DMX channels. Thus, large groups of nodes can be tastefully driven easily and with little hassle. The controller will be warranted against imperfect operation for at least 1 year. Available late Q1 2010, at an expected price of ~ $140.

LED Strings

We will be releasing the self contained strings for purchase end of Feb 2010.

100 RGB nodes ( 2 strings of 50, on 10cm centers ) $215
500 RGB nodes ( 10 strings of 50, on 10cm centers ) $950
1000 RGB nodes ( 20 strings of 50, on 10cm centers ) $1800
We likely will be offering 200mm spaced nodes as well, at similar prices. These strings will be 25 nodes long.

[Al in Raleigh]

Still too expensive for my likes. Maybe the price will come down in a couple years.

[mschell]

This is the US half of the guys doing the tree that I showed at TASL. They've done quite a bit of research on suppliers in China, designed the controllers, and are planning to offer them at the prices shown.

The guy who built the actual tree is in the South Pacific - he's currently (or just was) on a trip to China to do some factory tours and the biggest LED/lighting show in China. His US partner is the guy who runs the response-box web site. The same US guy also designs commercial DMX gear.

No much new news on their progress since January - they post on DIYC as well.