DMX Lynx vs ACx16

 

Maybe Micheal can grant you an honorary title.

 

(sorry for the thread highjack :) )

I think that the "2010 Lone Star Holiday DIY Workshop" document "Controller Feature Comparison" compared the options available quite nicely. Although I think that if it had a section for featureset and if it informed me of h/w vs s/w, then that would have made things even clearer.

 

   It is hard to compare the Freestyle (FS) to the commercial controllers. The seperate SSR from the controller is a hang on from the DIY world. Many of the DIY users were use to the two being seperate and keeping the controller (Brain part) in the garage and the SSR in the yard. You can control a lot of channels from just one board if it is only the controller part since power is not a limiting factor. Think of a 128 channel full unit like a LOR or Express. Man how would you feed it 512 amps to meet the capacity it could handle and how big would the circuit board traces have to be to handle it, and the board would be HUGE!

 

So back to the comparison. They all do the same thing, dim lights. They all have 16 channels. They use different protocols to talk. We use DMX which is supported by almost everyone now. The stuff about fades and twinkles is not an issue. The reason D-light and LOR did this in the hardware was because the communication they used was slow enough that at large amounts of channels you could overload the pipe. So they offloaded it to the hardware so they could tell it what to do for the next few seconds and not tell it each step of the way. DMX runs fast and you will always get 512 channels updated all the time so there is no problem up to 512 channels and then you simply start a new DMX "Universe" to get another 512 channels. The user does not know the difference in other words. You mark a ramp and the software handles telling the controllers what to do.

Here is one of our users that uses LOR and Lynx stuff and he has a video talking about it. http://www.christmasonmanor.com/2009video/LYNXandLOR.wmv

 

If the issue that seems wrong is the cost and what are you giving up for it then it is simple, you have to solder it, No one is in bussiness and so we do not have employees to pay or rent on the building, profit we must make, ect. We do not have warranty to take care of you built it you fix it. We do have great support and have always been able to help anyone needing it. The units even can do things other can't, like custom normilized curves per channel to allow you to mix and match lights and make the dim and ramp all at the same linear rate. Push button programming with a display and built in test mode with the ablitity to turn the lights on and off at the unit while you setup.  Cheap wireless that while one poster here had issues with range many used it without issue. We have even created a ver 2 that is in beta that outputs 2 - 3 time the signal. Now it is line of sight so you have to stay within its limitations but for $20 a controller to be wireless it is worth doing so. Setup and tear down becomes so easy with out the data cables to worry about.   

 

The last thing is the comment about us not having a page to use to compare. I think the problem is you must be looking only at the forum. We have a WIKI for this very reason with everything you want to know.

 

Check out this link :

That takes you to the equipment page but the wiki as a whole has a lot of information in it.

 

Remember any controller that works for you and makes the light blink is the one to have. My stuff is just another option and I never tell people they are better than XYZ units. Cause I can't whats better for any given person they have to make those calls themself. We all have different needs.  

 

Hope I helped and did not intrude in your thread unwelcomed.

 

RJ

 

Ya-know, I'm not trying to be anti-DLight here. I'm just trying to see if I'm missing something.

Is it the same type of difference between D-Light/LOR and Animated Lighting? So Is Animated Lights to D-Light as D-Light is to Lynx?

Of course this could be half the problem since the Lynx site is just a forum, and there's really no product page comparing or explaining the product.

 

Also, I do understand that the Freestyle is a ... header for multiple other SSRs (controllers) and do nothing themselves, could be nice if there's some compact and complex display. Possibly a 64 channel tree so instead of putting 4 controllers there, you could use a single Freestyle and 4 SSRs, but even that doesn't seem to make too much logic. Can each SSR handle more amperage?