ImagineerTom Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 In the 90's they were everywhere; now I can't seem to find anything even close. I need an idiot proof, user programmable, 12 channel (or more) switch pack / programmable chase controller. ie a box with 12 toggle buttons that user sets to on/off then presses a button and that's recorded as a "scene 1" then change toggles, presses button and it's saved as "scene 2" etc. In use someone can press forwards/backwards buttons to step through each scene with 12 outputs switching on/off according to how each static scene was programmed. It will need a stable memory that can hold at least 50 scenes that doesn't erase after 20min of no power. It's straight binary on/off I'm looking for, no timings/fades/brightness's & it will be driving simple relays locally switching a variety of voltages. It has to be muggle-proof to program (hence why I'm not using a small DMX lighting desk or some sort of PC/USB controller) and physically small as we have to be able to build it in to props. In the olden days NJD & Constella had pages of this sort of thing, now when I describe it people look at me blankly - help me BlueRoom; you're my only hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunray Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 In the 90's they were everywhere; now I can't seem to find anything even close. I need an idiot proof, user programmable, 12 channel (or more) switch pack / programmable chase controller. ie a box with 12 toggle buttons that user sets to on/off then presses a button and that's recorded as a "scene 1" then change toggles, presses button and it's saved as "scene 2" etc. In use someone can press forwards/backwards buttons to step through each scene with 12 outputs switching on/off according to how each static scene was programmed. It will need a stable memory that can hold at least 50 scenes that doesn't erase after 20min of no power. It's straight binary on/off I'm looking for, no timings/fades/brightness's & it will be driving simple relays locally switching a variety of voltages. It has to be muggle-proof to program (hence why I'm not using a small DMX lighting desk or some sort of PC/USB controller) and physically small as we have to be able to build it in to props. In the olden days NJD & Constella had pages of this sort of thing, now when I describe it people look at me blankly - help me BlueRoom; you're my only hopeThe versions I remember were Coomber or C&S. Of course not seen one for 20 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 In the 90's they were everywhere... They were? I cant recall ever seeing such a thing. The closest I can come up with is the control panel of an old IBM 360 computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 That sounds like an application for an Arduino. The code is probably less than a day's work, but the hardware might take a little longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 I was thinking that. Might even be a small market for them, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Arduinos? You've read my mind! The code should be straight forward. For the hardware you'd need a couple of shift registers for the switches and buttons, an LCD display or some 7-segment LEDs, and some more shift registers, Mosfets, and relays for the outputs. So who wants to collaborate on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Arduinos? You've read my mind! The code should be straight forward. For the hardware you'd need a couple of shift registers for the switches and buttons, an LCD display or some 7-segment LEDs, and some more shift registers, Mosfets, and relays for the outputs. So who wants to collaborate on this? I'm up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
empyfree Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Some of the Christmas light / slot machine / circus ride lighting controllers might also be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted June 2, 2017 Author Share Posted June 2, 2017 I'm in the circus/funfair world and am the person people come to when looking for this sort of thing (hence this topic) so no, nothing exists any more here. I'm not fully up to date with the Christmas light community any more but 5 years ago they'd all jumped to DMX / WS218 / Computer based control systems with thousands of channels and complex mapping so I would be very surprised if there's anyone making a simple programmable 12channel manually operated controller though I would be more than happy to be proven wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadingle Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 If you want proper old school have a look at this Pulsar system on eBay - brings back some memories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xllx Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 If you do Facebook, join and ask in "Vintage Disco Lights from the 70/80/90's" group. Some very knowledgable collectors of this sort of thing. You might find what you are looking for and kit is often bought and sold between members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 If I understand you correctly you just want to be able to manually step between a series of states containing 12 or more on/off outputs? That seems straight forward enough. Heres some pseudo code I've put together. For the hardware I've assumed that theres a momentary push-button switch for each channel, an LED indicator on each output, 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons to select the state, a 'Record' button, a display to show the state number, and a key switch to select between programming and playback. Read states from storage Set 'State number' to 1 LOOP Display 'State number' Set outputs to state 'State number' Read key switch IF key switch is 'Program' THEN FOR each push button IF button has been pressed THEN Toggle the output for that channel IF 'Record' button is pressed THEN Store the state at 'State number' IF 'Next' button is pressed THEN Increment 'State number' IF 'Previous' button is pressed THEN Decrement 'State number' To keep the code readable I've left out bounds checking for 'State number', and writing the states back to storage. If anyone wants to work on this then drop me a PM. I can code, and build the low-voltage side easily enough, but I have no experience of interfacing micro controllers with mains voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmp Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 If you want proper old school have a look at this Pulsar system on eBay - brings back some memories! Unfortunately the Pulsar Touch Panel 2 has only 24 scenes and 4 chases (with 170 steps max). Also there is no scene +/- key to go from one scene to the next - so, this might not fit your requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 That sounds like an application for an Arduino. I've got a board I call my Swiss army knife, which is PIC powered, which I thought might do the job, but it only has 8 outputs capable of driving relays and 10 DIP switches and so is undersized. The processing bit is fairly easy, its the I/O requirements that are more difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 As gyro said (well, implied), you can multiplex the inputs and outputs to increase the fan out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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