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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Group Buy: Budget CRI 95 LED Strip Lights

X8aZLlC.jpg


Light tubes arrived. I threw this together really quick with a piece of tungsten strip light. It's hard to take a picture of because they are so bright.
 
With the "bridging" idea. Does that mean that you would then need a master dimmer? Because if you dimmed one or two channels then wouldn't that over power the other channels? Because they would try to keep the same flow of power? And possibly burn it out? I'm not 100% sure how electronics work but I feel like that could be an issue?

They are built to work this way. It's apparently very common and not a problem. All that said, I agree. I think we need to scrap the initial model all and upgrade to the 4 x 8A one. It can handle 4 full strips without any bridging needed. It's a beast, a platform we can expand on, and still relatively inexpensive. There is also one killer feature we can get with these... I'll post all the details tonight.
 
X8aZLlC.jpg


Light tubes arrived. I threw this together really quick with a piece of tungsten strip light. It's hard to take a picture of because they are so bright.

Awesome! I have seen the LIGHT.
 
Tubes may be the way to go.....

You could go with singles, and now that I have a 3d printer, print up some interlocking pieces to make a bank of them....as long as the dimmer can be adapted and modular
 
Tubes may be the way to go.....

You could go with singles, and now that I have a 3d printer, print up some interlocking pieces to make a bank of them....as long as the dimmer can be adapted and modular

They are definitely a great way to go.

I would love to see what you make with your 3D printer. Definitely keep me updated on that :)
 
UPDATE

When I started this Group Buy the goal was to put together a bulk order of around 350 feet of light strips. We ended up ordering 3.5 miles worth.



That's over 500,000 individual LEDs.


8,000,000+ lumens.


I had hoped to get everything shipped out to you this month, but once most-everyone paid (some still haven't) there just wasn't enough time to for the manufacturer to physically make all our lights. Logistics also becomes an issue when you're dealing with over 1 metric ton worth of kit. It's now looking like orders will start going out in early February.


In order to make sure everything is finished as quickly as possible I have re-booked my flight back to Europe and rescheduled the shoot days for my film that I had planned for early February. My top priority right now is to make sure you get your order as quickly as possible.


Now the good news...


The original controllers we were looking at in this group buy never made it out of QC. Making them flicker free caused the units to lose amps and as it stands now 1 controller can only handle half a strip of light and be flicker free.


How could this be good news?


Well, I found another option for us that is about 8x more powerful. It has 4 channels and it's 8 amps per channel. That means you can control 4 strips with 1 controller. Those of you planning on building large multi-strip units are all set. Even if multi-strip monster units aren't in your future this is the way to go. It gets better...


We can add a WiFi module and use it to control our entire LED lighting setup. No router required. Imagine being able to dial in your light levels and color temp for each light 'unit' all from an iPad. Imagine being able to save your settings, load previous settings, simulate a TV screen 'flicker' (not the bad kind) at the push of a button, and add notes for your setups for future reference.

Who could build an app like this?



This where Mikael "foolcontrol" Lubtchansky comes in. He's also in our Group Buy and I have been talking to him about writing an iOS app for us to use for a reasonable price. He's willing to do it!

Until the app is ready there will be other remote options that you can use to adjust your lights. At least 2 or 3 and one uses a physical knob.

So, how much is all this going to cost?

The controller is less than $75 and the remote will be around $25 (depends what you want).

Now we have to decide...

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If we take the blue pill we go forward with the weak controller and think about what could have been. If we take the red pill we all get a dream setup for $27 more (plus remote).

What's your choice?
(I already took my red pill.)

I'm putting a document together with all the details and the different options. If we get enough 'red pill' responses it goes out tomorrow with upgrade invoices.

 
So how does this work for those of us who ordered 2 variable strip controllers? Now we only need one of these new 4-way ones? Will there be a refund if there is a negative price difference? Does this affect the choice/quantity of power supplies needed (both the desktop and the DIY)? Are the new proposed 4-way controllers only for the variable led strips? or can day light and tungsten strips also be controlled (dimmed) at the same time?
 
So how does this work for those of us who ordered 2 variable strip controllers? Now we only need one of these new 4-way ones? Will there be a refund if there is a negative price difference? Does this affect the choice/quantity of power supplies needed (both the desktop and the DIY)?

It probably won't change how many controllers you need because most people are not going to have 1 lighting unit that uses 4 full strips. Any difference will of course be refunded though.

The power supplies in our group buy can handle 1 strip at the most. You will need to a very large quality power supply to power 4 full strips at once. If you plan to do a setup like this email me and we can figure out what you need.
 
This is getting confusing....

I just sent you Private Message. If you're confused about anything PM/Email me. It may also help to read the last few pages of posts in this thread.
 
RED
 
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