OP-Z DMX for a complete noob?

OP-Z
#1

Dear community,

since owning the OP-Z I’ve been interested in effectively using the Lights-Track for controlling LED-Strips/LED-Rings etc.

The thing is:
I don’t know anything about it and most tutorials start at a point, where noob-information is missing (at least for me).
This will sound stupid, but I don’t even get, which parts I actually NEED, to control e. g. an LED-ring like this:

My understanding is, I need:

  • the OP-Z :slight_smile: …
  • … connected to e. g. an enttec USB PRO (2)…
  • … connected to a DMX-LED-Controller (absolutely not sure about this??? any recommodations?)
  • … connected to a power supply (also: absolutely not sure about this??? any recommodations?)
  • … (both) connected to e. g. the LED-ring?

Is there anything I’m missing, apart from setting up the DMX-json-file correctly? Is there a basic setup, anyone could recommend (if possible no arduino-programming pleeeaaaase)?

Again, sorry if this is so very stupid :slight_smile:

#2

Are you hoping to address all the pixels on the ring individually? It might be kind of an odd situation getting this to work depending on what you’re trying to do.

#3

Here is a great new tutorial that might help. https://youtu.be/4bMRrrja-1w

2 Likes
#4

For the beginning it would be enough for me to just transfer what the lights on the op-z are doing to an external device, like e. g. the mentioned ring or a stripe.

I already like using the LEDs on the op-z itself for doing stuff like that:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx7oFoiolhB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

But it would be nice to do that on a larger scale.

#5

If you’re set on using led strips, then yes, you will need a decoder between the LEDs and the enntec interface, something like this:
LTech LT-DMX-1809 DMX to SPI (TTL) Digital Signal LED Decoder Pixel Control https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079VW869Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bU3EDbS9VPDZH

I’m not 100 percent sure that’s what you need, but that’s where I would start looking, since it seems to have the functionality we need. You’ll also need a power supply for the LEDs and the decoder.

The other options would be to get up to 16 individual DMX compatible lights, or if you want to really simplify things, get an LED bar/fixture that can function as multiple individual segments.

I personally use 2 led bars that can be split into 8 individual sections a piece, giving me 16 total segments to mirror the lights on the track buttons in DMX mode. There was a little bit of trial and error with the DMX.json to get everything to work, but it wasn’t that bad, honestly.

#6

I’m hacking together a poor man’s DMX with Arduino and LED strips based on this:

Did you try reading through the topic?

If you happen to be in Berlin, I plan to work on it at MotionLab every Monday. There’s an electronics meet-up with a lot of helpful people, and I could share some of the components with you.

1 Like
#7

Thanks for the offer! I’m from Cologne, so I won’t make it to Berlin every Monday :wink:
But I’ll try to read through the topic, as soon as I find some more time.
Good look with your project!!