Year-round color-changing LEDs?

[wackychimp]

Hi all, I'm interested in doing some cove lighting on my front porch (similar to this). I've looked into color changing LED rope lights but I'm not sure what I need.



Here's how I'd like to use them:

• Most nights the lights would be white.
• At Christmas time I'd like to maybe have a slow fade of Christmas colors to compliment my other decorations.
• Some single nights might be a different color (green on St. Patrick's day, team colors if my team wins a big game, etc.)

Do I need a DMX controller or is there a "simpler" way? Is anybody doing anything like this in their home? It looks like I'd have to have an electrician install them since most take DC power. Is this right?

Any adivce appreciated.

[cenote]

Friend of mine used a type of rope light, controlled by a stand alone dmx controller in his bar area. Same thing your talking about. He is able to change to any color, control fades, rates, etc. He purchased his stuff threw a DJ supply house. If interested, I can drop him a call/email and get controller info.

[Tim P]

I aslo am interested in this very exact thing. The original poster here, explained/asked the very same way I would have.

Curious Tim P

[ponddude]

Shameless plug here...but the Rainbow Wall Runner could easily do this.

Hopefully we will have a DMX based controller this year as well.

[MinionsWeb]

I am checking factories the next 3 weeks for this, neon rope lights, string lights, outdoor LED flood lights, outdoor DMX PAR fixtures & Fog/Snow machines too.

Bringing an LOR rig for testing purposes.

Anyone have specific items I should be on the lookout for?

[wackychimp]

So this kind of thing is what I'm looking for... I THINK:

http://www.idesign-lighting.com/Ligh...LED-Rope-Light

but again, I'm not sure if I'll need an electrician to install it for me or not. Actually, I can do the installation part of it, I'm just worried about hooking it into the house's electricity, etc.

Also not sure if the DMX controller they have would do what I want. I'm pretty confident with computers (having built several and working in the Internet industry for 10 years) so a PC controlled DMX solution doesn't scare me.

Any suggestions?

[MinionsWeb]

They are available in anything from 12v to 250vAC, I am leaning towards the 120V for our general market.

When I am at the factories, I will be learning about and then questioning extensively about the rope, connections, and the DMX functionality.

As best I can tell, with the multi-wire ropes, you should not be tied to a proprietary DMX controller.
Rather you are able to tie in via connectors designed for the ropes and control them via the LOR or like controllers using typical fade/dim/twinkle commands.
Or if you want every possible choice, add a LOR DMX module and the DMX control for the specific brand.

The rope itself is very easy to cut and connect, depending on the configuration, into short or long segments.

The plan here is to work with 100 meter roles, allowing customers to order by the increment.

I am also looking at neon flex rope, which is a little more stout, and comes in 50 meter lengths, but is quite cool looking, casting uniform light, like a fat neon tube.