[TriEmbed] Anyone have their own Christmas light show?

[Brian]

Scott,

How do you weatherproof your data and power connections?  Decent 
weather-resistant connectors seem to be generally pretty doggone 
expensive...

-B

On 01/03/2018 10:28 AM, Scott Hall via TriEmbed wrote:
> Rodney (and any interested),
>
> As a semi-expert in this (I have been designing my display for over 10
> years), you want to consider these points:
>
>   * the going standard for the controls and channel signals is DMX,
>     originally a theater and stage light controlling system
>   * you DO NOT want to use relays, as they will quickly fail, and cannot
>     act fast enough
>   * typically MOSFETs are used as they can be switched much faster, and
>     are suitable for PWM average power control; for experimental
>     purposes Darlingtons can also be used
>   * normal DMX uses 3-wire or 4-wire microphone-like cables
>   * I have several articles on specifically using ESP8266s as DMX
>     endpoints decoding the DMX protocol, and firing 4 channels of PWM
>     outputs (through a mux) for multistring or RGB control
>   * neopixels take a serial data stream, which is something else that
>     the ESP's are good at
>     (I did this this year, neopixels in luminaries, where they all
>     emulated candle-light flicker & colors until the show, then each
>     became individual RGB lights to the soundtrack, and then went back
>     to luminaries after the show)
>   * there are quite a number of open source DMX software out there
>   * MIDI is exactly a good source material, and the DMX controller
>     software can start with those files or signals; check out this
>     YouTube video of the Piano Guys who rigged a MIDI pickup to a piano
>     to control a DMX-based system:
>     "88 Piano Keys Control 500,000 Christmas Lights! I Saw Three Ships -
>     The Piano Guys"
>     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2IBGlDJ3lg
>
> I have a couple of co-workers who do this, and can forward their contact
> info off-list if you ask me.
>