Simple Controller Configuration using Easy Light Linker Wireless Data Nodes
Don’t want to run cables between controllers? Have a group of controllers that needs to be far away from the rest? Light-O-Rama sells the Easy Light Linker (ELL), which lets you connect units together wirelessly.
How does it work? Let’s start with the picture.
- The Light-O-Rama ShowTime Software Suite works on your personal computer running Microsoft Windows and allows you to design your own shows. ShowTime Software Suite then runs your shows and sends the right commands at the right time to the various control channels. ShowTime Software Suite can even keep music synchronized to the controller commands.
- Speakers to play the music accompanying your show are attached to the computer sound card.
- Your personal computer communicates to the controllers using a device plugged into your computer’s serial or USB communications port. The blue line shows the standard serial output of your computer (RS-232 or USB) out of your PC where it enters our converter that transforms the signal to the native Light-O-Rama network protocol (the green line) that connects to our various types of controllers over standard computer network wire. We recommend Cat 5 LAN cables available from us and off-the-shelf from your local big box store in the computer section. In this layout we also connect to the wireless data network.
- The Light-O-Rama Easy Light Linker creates a wireless version of the Light-O-Rama data network. With a range of 500 feet depending on the environment, one Easy Light Linker transmitter can send command to multiple Easy Light Linker receivers.
- The Easy Light Linker receiver receives the network commands and transmits the data to the controllers connected to it. This ability to connect wirelessly is valuable when it’s not practical to run a data cable across lanes of traffic, bodies of water or anywhere people might trip over wire.
- The Light-O-Rama ShowTime Pro or ShowTime PC controllers include special effects such as simple on/off, intensities, smooth fading, twinkling, shimmering. Up to 200 controllers (each handling 16 unique electrical circuits) can be daisy chained on the LOR network giving you the ability to control over 3,200 channels.
- Electrical power is supplied to the controller placed close to your lights so you don’t need to run long extension cords. Commands from the ShowTime Software Suite are performed on each controller. Power to each of the attached lighting circuits is controlled independently. Think of having many dimmer switches that the computer can change very quickly and independently.