Andrew Acuna from Palm Valley Church in Mission, TX brings us this great and simple use of LED tape.
Materials:
Andrew started by purchasing regular indoor tape that was 150 count. But he quickly realized it was an inferior product. Also the first DMX decoders he purchased were also pretty bad. The one he ended up with was good.
This 300 ct. LED tape was waterproof and great! It had a coating over the lights that made it look and feel great. He cut 2.5″ PVC to 7′, 6′, 5′, & 4′ lengths, then the LED tape to length. The tape stuck right on with little problem and because it has the clear, you could tape over it to reuse it. He then cut the wires and wired them RGB w/ the white as the power supply as pictured. He used the 18 ga wire to go to the power supplies. He then patched them into his Jands Vista as a Generic LED RGB.
A couple of problems he encountered:
The power supply. He started with regular 12v power supplies. The light was inconsistent and had intensity issues so he went with the more powerful power supplies and wired three decoders into each using the power cables to power the supply itself.
The wire stripping. He started out not being very diligent about using his wire strippers. This is important as you need a good connection for all your ends.
Don’t skimp on the power supplies or the decoders. They need to be good quality. One final thought would be that it takes a long time. He made 16 separated fixtures which meant 10 wires to strip and connect per fixture (not to mention the ones he messed up). Total man hours are around 30 to do it right.
I’m completely new at using LED strips with DMX Encoders. Does each light stick have it’s own Encoder? A diagram showing the wiring would really help.
I’m guessing all the encoders go to one power supply or multiple ones?
Yes, each one has it’s own decoder- think of it as being it’s own fixture that you assign a DMX value between 1 and 512. You can buy decoders that have 24 channels, but then it uses only one address so you will have 24 sticks (or whatever you make the tape into) that all act as one, which could still be cool.
The power supplies take three decoders. I just used general 16 ga red and black wire to extend from the decoders to the power and it works flawlessly. I can send you a diagram if you wish, I can’t attach it here. Let me know- I hope that helps!
Thanks. I might have to get two of the 24 channel encoders so I can still have some flexibility.
Thanks, it looks awesome btw.
Hey Andrew this looks Awesome
would you mind sending me the diagram?
thanks!
danny.senaa@gmail.com
Can you email me the diagram to ozieldelacruz@gmail.com
Hey Andrew, Wow really great work! Like Eddie I am also very new at LED Stripes and DMX encoders. would you be able to email me a diagram of your work and possibly pictures if you have, just to see how you accomplished the free standing look. But seriously great job!.
Here is my email
yamil.benitez90@gmail.com
Hey Andrew, Wow really great work! Like Eddie I am also very new at LED Stripes and DMX encoders. would you be able to email me a diagram of your work and possibly pictures if you have (for wiring purposes), to see how you accomplished the free standing look. But seriously great job!.
Here is my email
yamil.benitez90@gmail.com
Can you send me the diagram please?
superstu86@live.co.uk
Hey Andrew, this is an awesome project. Think you could send me the link to the diagram? It would be greatly appreciated. My email is… nomadguy8@gmail.com
Looks awesome Andrew! Could you send me the diagram? Im building a light set for a live show in October.
danplants24@gmail.com
Hi Andrew,
I’m looking to get a similar set up but still trying to understand the connections. If you still have the diagram available, would you mind sending it to me? Thank you!
Could you send a diagram to me as well?Zaiah553@gmail.com
Could you also send me a diagram and closer pic? That looks so cool and ive been wanting to do this but scared to take the step.
Thank you and God Bless!!
Hey andrew – could you send me the wiring diagram too? treske71@yahoo.com. THX!!!
Hello Andrew!
I would love to duplicate this at our church.
Could I please get the diagram as well?
Thank you so much!
God bless~!
Hello Andrew!
I would love to duplicate this at our church.
Could I please get the diagram as well?
Thank you so much for all your help!
If anyone has the diagram can you please send it to me? I am ultra new to all this. Thank you and God bless yall!
Email: barreda14@gmail.com
I forgot to ask if you could send the diagram.
eddcen@gmail.com
Thanks!
Nice to see the Valley on here! :P
KUDOS!
so is this just PVC pipe standing up with LED tape stuck to it?
Yes.
HI Andrew, I forgot to ask if you could send the diagram.
anthonyvalenz@gmail.com
thanks.
God Bless.
Hey Andrew,
Great design and even better, thanks for all the product links! Could you send me the wiring diagram as well? I think this is a great way to get into using LED tape.
christian@trygrace.org
Godspeed,
Christian
This looks amazing. Would you mind sending me a diagram and specifics?
Thanks so much,
Jeremy
Sorry, e-mail is jalbrecht@eod.paoc.org
How goes Andrew? Really cool design. Would you be able to email me diagrams and specs as well (to andrew@lifechurchlv.org) ??
Thanks much, Andrew Kelley
Hello Andrew, could you email me the design at ozieldelacruz@gmail.com
Hey Andrew, Great Design Idea! Could you email be the diagram specifics at manuelv4@yahoo.com. Thanks
Andrew,
We’ve been using LED tape for some time now and something we always ran into was voltage drop when connecting 2 LED strips together. If we ran pure white, the end of the second strand would take on a more green appearance.
Did you guys run into this issue with these? We use the exact same LED tape you linked too and we just purchased the same power supply you linked to as well and still have the same result. Our DMX boxes I believe are the same. Did you only run maximum of 1 strand off each DMX or did you do seperate wire runs to each strand from the DMX boxes? Any advice would be awesome because we are tired of beating our heads against the wall.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Andrew, if you get a chance could you email the design diagram?
nate@wordandworship.org
Could you send me the diagram as well? Thanks Andrew, this looks rad!
domenic@elimchurch.ca
Hi, can I please have the diagram. Jedonhismac@me.com
Thanks
Jed
Hey Andrew can I get a diagram sent to me. Great design. isaiah@journeychristian.org
Andrew Any chance I could get the diagram as well? Trying to use this idea for a camp coming up!!!
Luke.still@gbcfl.org
Hey Andrew this is incredible! Could I get the diagram as well that others have been asking for? And are all the links to Amazon all the supplies needed? My email is: parker@graceevan.org
Hey this looks amazing! Can you email me the diagram? Danplants24@gmail.com
Amazing. I would love to try this please could you send me the diagram please my email is mosesogbeche@gmail.com
I have a question about the “Youth” sign in the middle. What do you have going on there? ow did you make that and light it?
Thanks!
Can you email me the diagram as well?
Looks fantastic!
Here is my email
toddclark1121@yahoo.com
Not sure if your still looking at this feed…but if you are I’d quite like the diagram. email is nunnen@gmail.com
Hi, I love this!
Could you send the diagram to me also?
Hope I’m not too late to the party.
varga.aaron.bme@gmail.com
Can I get a diagram? Thank you so much!
austingay9720@gmail.com
Can I get a diagram? I would really appreciate it! thank you so much!
austingay9720@gmail.com
Hey there! I’d love a diagram! Thanks for you hard work!
cazylock@hotmail.com
Hey! This is great! Can I get the wiring diagram please?
garrett.ivey@tworiverschurch.org
This is amazing! Would you guys be able to send the diagram to me as well. My email is jorge@newlifeaz.net I appreciate your help, and thank you!
Thanks for posting this! Could you send me the diagram as well? scott@thewellchurchnh.org. Btw, how much did this project come to?
this is amazing bro i want to know how to made youth letter must reply….
Hey Andrew! This looks amazing! Could you send me the diagram and the product links? Thanks brother!
Oooo I love this!!! Could you send me the diagram?
Thank you!!
This looks awesome! Could I get the diagram sent to my email? Would love to use it as inspiration. nic.guptill@thejchurch.com
This looks so good!!! Would you be able to email me the diagram? Thanks you!! jnichols@wwfgchurch.com
Great works for God. Awesom Andy.
Can you send me the diagram here btelvink@yahoo.com. thank you man God bless you
Hello. I could use your insights with the diagram. Please share it with me on rogananjili@gmail.com