Programmable LED Signal Controllers

Today it is hardly possible to surprise anyone with just a luminous sign or a bright light box with a painted picture. The consumer requires spectacles, and a static advertising picture is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, giving way to dynamic displays and signs with running lights, iridescent letters, in general - the dynamics are replacing the static.

And this is not at all surprising, because the market appeared programmable led controllersallowing you to easily create unique dynamic lighting effects, which, in combination with modern LEDs, can create real miracles of visualization.

A small controller box for a sign at the request of the designer will revive the LED line, a composition of LED duralight, or a large LED cluster - a block of individual LEDs or a block of entire lines of LEDs. Such solutions based RGB LED clusters and the corresponding programmable multi-channel controllers - just allow designers to realize the most intricate ideas for signage.

Pairing several controllers will make the sign even more lively, not to mention the thousands of available shades and dozens of gradations in brightness. At the same time, to create effects, the user just needs to open the program on the computer, write a light script for the sign, connect the controller to the USB port, write the finished program to it, and that’s all - the controller can be connected to the sign. By the way, some controllers can be equipped with light sensors and remote controls.

Programmable controllers, in principle, are capable of controlling both conventional monochromatic clusters and RGB clusters for voltages typically up to 24 volts, although it all depends on the model of the controller, its complexity, and the purpose of the designer.

The controller is able to provide up to 262,000 color shades at a user-defined brightness, and each channel of the controller will work individually. Fundamentally, the number of channels is not limited, it is enough to dock and synchronize with each other the required number of controllers.

Creating a script in the program, the user will be able to immediately test it visually - to estimate how the work of the sign will look, and immediately make corrections at its discretion. In short, the system is quite flexible. And if before the developer had to turn complex analog circuits, now writing a program in a friendly and very visual environment is enough.

Next, for example, consider some controllers that are designed to work with LED signs.

iMLed16x3_Pro (16ch, 2A / ch) by Impuls Light

The size of the controller is 20 by 10 cm, and 3.5 cm high, weighing only 200 grams. The controller is capable of controlling up to 16 channels, with voltages from 5 to 25 volts, and the maximum current of 32 amperes, for 16 channels of 2 amperes, is achieved with 12 volt power supply of the LEDs.

The program is downloaded via a USB cable, using the bundled DynamicLight proprietary application, with which the user is able to write programs in 1336 steps for one controller with a time step size of 5 milliseconds to 4 minutes.

The speed of the script is entirely at the request of the user is regulated. So, the user gets the opportunity in a few minutes to create a dynamic script of any complexity.

The user has 16 channels or 5 independent groups for RGB. You can connect monochrome modules and tapes, pixel LEDs and RGB clusters for voltages from 5 to 24 volts.

The program "DinamicLight" for flashing the script into the controller is presented as a matrix, which the user needs to fill out by assigning a hue, the on and off mode of each component or group, turn on the effects (overflow, transition, strobe effect, etc.) and also set the time between transitions. The hue is set manually from the palette, and the brightness and time are simply entered by numbers.

The convenience of using the program lies in the fact that each group of LEDs can be called by its name so as not to get confused in the process of creating the script.

To create more channels for signage, or to supply more current to the elements, it is enough to synchronize several iMLed16x3_Pro controllers with each other by the principle of master-slave, and then connect the controllers to each other with a two-wire cable.

RUNLINE Dominator 810

The controller measures 11.5 by 6.5 cm, and 4 cm in height, with a light weight of 330 grams. The controller can control up to 8 channels, with a voltage in the range from 4 to 25 volts, with a maximum total current of 40 amperes and a maximum current per channel of 10 amperes.

The program is downloaded via USB, using the bundled Led controller proprietary software, with which the user is able to write programs in 65,000 steps for one controller with repeats, and with a frame duration in time from 1.6 milliseconds to 4 seconds. You can create a dynamic script of any complexity using the application in minutes.

8 channels are available for programming. You can connect monochrome modules, tapes, pixel LEDs and a board for voltage from 4 to 25 volts.

The window of the "Led controller" program for flashing the script is presented in the form of a matrix of cells with rulers: the name of the channel vertically and the operating time - horizontally, which the user fills in, setting the on and off mode of each component or group, adding effects, adjusting the working time intervals using a convenient slider.

The convenience of using the program lies not only in the visual representation of the sign, but also in the possibility of naming each channel to make it easier to navigate during the construction of the script.

To create more channels for signage, it is enough to synchronize several Dominator 810 controllers with each other, and you can write a program for several controllers at the same time, just there will be more channels in the window, and the cells for each controller will be colored.