LED lighting.

[Phil Starr]

On 16/09/2025 at 00:12, Chienmortbb said:

Arrived today. Lights work Fine but no instructions, inc DMX protocol. In addition the IR remote does not work. Tomorrow I will try it with the DMX controller but does anyone have any ideas on how to activate Sound to light? 

Hi John, hopefully someone with the light will get back to you but I've found all the lights I've had in the last ten use use a very similar protocol as @Woodinblack says. The menu button simply cycles through the options. Sound is usually Soun but on some of mine it is just Sn )and could be something else too I suppose. confusingly some of my lights have Sn as sensitivity)

 

pressing 'Enter' should take you into the sub menus and one of the menu options will be sound but maybe not labelled as such. 

 

Check the battery on the remote, I've had ones dead on arrival, they are usually a 3V lithium button cell CA2032  or CA 2016

[Chienmortbb]

The remote had a spare battery and that also did not work.

 

I connected the light to my DMX controller and it works fine. I had to re-learn DMX too, as I had forgotten that the addresses go up in 16s. 

[Woodinblack]

On 03/09/2025 at 10:31, Al Krow said:

A mate's band has been using this to good effect for up-lighting, which I've recently seen in action: 60W RGB 24PCS LEDs Wall Washer 

 

I've taken a punt on one for my crew, and at just £36 inc P&P - not too much downside!  

 

Used that with the band yesterday and it is ok, not super bright but in the right place it works well - but transport wise, anyone got a recommendation for a bag to put it in?

[Al Krow]

My mate has 4 of these to put around the band, he's using a cheap keyboard case to transport all 4, but agrees it's not particularly protective.

 

I would have thought a pole bag with as many slots as you need could work and not break the bank?

Edited September 30 by Al Krow

[Phil Starr]

I use one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305925820264?var=605184196024  It's designed for tent poles.

 

I can get 6 lamps in a 20x20cm bag plus the mains leads. Check the length though, they come in a range. Previously I hollowed out an old bass hard case which then took five lamps and offered a bit more protection at the expense of extra weight. The pole bag is lighter and easier to pack but I wouldn't stack anything on top of it so it has to go into the car last. 

 

Edited September 30 by Phil Starr

[Woodinblack]

I got one like that, but 10x10 as I just have the one pole, and don't know if I am getting others. Seems ok, it has padding but as you said, I wouldn't put anything on it.

[Phil Starr]

On 03/09/2025 at 13:37, Al Krow said:

@JPJ interesting about putting out too much light - was the iColor adjustable on brightness? I guess another would be an extension plug with built in dimmer switch. (Although dunno if that is going to set off any safety issue alarm bells?)

 

I don't think/can't imagine that would work on modern DMX lighting. The control of the LED's is by programming them not by varying the voltage. The issue with dimming them is the internal chip that controls the built in sequences and fx. You can only access what the manufacturers programmed in and usually for the sequences, sound to light and strobe that means full power. You can fade the RGB and other colours individually in 'colour' mode but if you want sound to light then you'd have to override the internal DMX with the sort of controller I accidentally purchased above.  DMX is good fun but time consuming and has a learning curve similar to using a digital sound mixer so I've never bothered using it with a band lighting set up. The pre programmed sequencies tend to do the job though generally I'd prefer some slower fade sequences for a band. Rapid flashing works for a disco but less well for a band.

 

I've seen some of the function bands use software that passes DMX control of the lights over to a laptop or tablet. Ultimately this means you can programme you lightshow for each song and even sync it if you play to a click track. It looks so cool but what a lot of work for a pub gig. I know one band where a single mouse click to select a song will start the click track, insert backing tracks bring up lyrics and chord charts, scroll them, adjust the mixer  and even set all the fx on your pedal board, all for each song. At the end of the song all the reverb is removed from the mixer so you don't get it for the announcements. Crazy but good.

[Phil Starr]

@Al Krow what is the length of your wall washer bars, the ones you got from AliExpress?

[Woodinblack]

If its the same as mine it is 101cm - I know that as that is a pain size to get the bag (which I now have!)

 

[Phil Starr]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

If its the same as mine it is 101cm - I know that as that is a pain size to get the bag (which I now have!)

 

Thanks, looks like they are standard size then. My tent pole bag is 120cm which just leaves space for a few leads as well as the lights. 

 

Whilst I was checking the dimensions of my existing lights I tool a pic of my adapted bass case with the 'spare' lights in. You can see where I removed some of the foam when I cut it out to accommodate the lights. As a case it offers good protection and will take 5 strip lights at a time

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I have (hopefully) four more cheap dmx PAR lights (for a total of six) coming tomorrow with one of the cheap controllers.

 

It may be weeks before I have time to experiment propery dueto work

 

 

[Phil Starr]

On 03/09/2025 at 10:31, Al Krow said:

A mate's band has been using this to good effect for up-lighting, which I've recently seen in action: 60W RGB 24PCS LEDs Wall Washer 

 

I've taken a punt on one for my crew, and at just £36 inc P&P - not too much downside!  

I couldn't resist trying one of these at the silly low price. Here's my impressions:

 

Delivery was really slow, months rather than weeks  but it arrived safely and working. Ali Express is pretty much no different to Amazon or eBay IME.

 

The light is bright and the 40deg beam angle is not far off though it is much brighter in the middle of the beam. The light itself is well consructed with a similar aluminium case to all the rest of these lights, the end caps are plastic (ABS?) with brass inserts for the screws. the bulbs are all identical with all my other lights (inluding the brand name ones) and chuck out similar light levels. This one is brighter overall  because it has more bulbs. It's a good uplighter , really useful and if I needed extra lamps I might well order more of these.

 

You can however see the shortcuts down to keeping the price down. The kettle lead is too short to be usable, just one metre long. The remote control doesn't really work well. The button for white only works with repeated presses and the light when it comes on is neither white nor bright. The remote doesn't offer all the light can do withmany adjustments either not available or maybe just not working on my remote, it seems a bit of an afterthought. The built in programs aren't great, they are mainly chase or strobe programs which are too fast for band use IMO, they are clearly more orientated to disco use and are too fast for that use also if I'm honest. The control unit on the back isn't much better than the remote. There doesn't seemto be an adjustment for sensitivity in the sound to light and slowing down the chases isn't very intuitive. The four buttons on the back don't follow the 'standard' arrangement of menu, up, down and program and leave you guessing as to what each button does. It may have features I haven't managed to find yet. Other cost cutting issues are that the mains out is a Euro/US socket even thought the input one is IEC whch is odd. The Lightmaxx uses powercon connectors for mains which are much better .

 

I'd use these lights either as single colour uplighters or in fade mode, confusingly labelled 'jump' on the remote. (yet another sign of cost cutting, jump usually means and istanteneous colour change) Instad of jumping it starts a gradual fading in and out of a colour sequence. That's really useful for a band as the colour change is so gradual you barely notice it and it won't distract from the band but it is potentially more interesting than an entirely static colour. Crucially this is slower than any of my other LED bars.

 

So some minus points but at that price? I think it's all good.These lights would work best with a separate DMX controller but the colour intensity is good in the primary colours and the slow fade is a useful effect. The beams are broader than most and if you don't have a haze machine that works really well. The construction seems to be great for the price, I shudder to think how they do it. I don't think the lights wil prove to be unreliable but time will tell. If I were starting from scratch I'd be ordering three or four of these to illuminate the stage in steady mode and then have something overhead to do sound to light or chases.

Edited 2 hours ago by Phil Starr

[Stub Mandrel]

I've invested a small (tiny) fortune in six cheap dmx PAR lights (excellent) a DMX spot (OK but really too tight for a static lamp) and a tilt/pan spot (the dogs).

 

The £19 controller is effective but programming needs the manual to hand!