Wireless Button

[itiba]

I'm looking at building a hand held button system to trigger a cue on a lighting desk.

 

A very rudimentary google has given me something like this which would seem to do the job. The infrastructure at the receiver end is easy for me to sort out so it's more the wireless side of things that I'd like some advice about.

 

The three main concerns for me would be:- Range- Reliability- Lag

Cost isn't a big issue so I'd be happy to spend more to get something that could be used in a professional context. Has anyone made or used something like this before or got any advice as to the best technology to achieve this?

 

[pscandrett]

What lighting desk is it? Solutions could be as simple as an app on a phone-like device (either the manufacturer's or something outputting (eg) OSC) to more electromechanical/physical inputs on other desks.

 

ETA: sorry this doesn't answer your direct question!

Edited October 30, 2019 by pscandrett

[timsabre]

I have done much messing around with remote control devices such as this. You need to be concerned about reliability of the radio link, because it will not work 100% of the time. If this is acceptable for your application then it's a simple way of doing it. If not you need something more complicated with 2 way radio which will retry if the message is not received.

 

Also there is a risk that audience members with garage door openers / remote controlled lights / etc etc in their pockets might be able to trigger it.

 

 

 

[Bryson]

How about this?

 

https://www.etcconnect.com/Products/Architectural-Systems/Echoflex/

 

(Might be a North America only product, looking closer. Shame - it looks like exactly the thing you need.)

[Shez]

Could you adapt something designed for PowerPoint like the Interspace Industries system?

[Bryson]

Looks like the underlying tech to Echoflex (as mentioned above) is made by a German company. The issue will be if if you can buy in small quantities:

 

https://www.enocean.com/en/products/enocean_modules/

[empyfree]

Could you adapt something designed for PowerPoint like the Interspace Industries system?

You could probably hook up an interspace micro cue to trigger Companion (from Bitfocus), which in turn would fire OSC at your hopefully compatible Lx desk!

 

Or artnet...

Edited October 30, 2019 by empyfree

[the kid]

I recall years ago a children's theater show someone using this setup for a minidisk player set just off stage with no issues. They had backup stomp boxes hidden in the stage to fire if it stopped working but by all accounts they never had an issue. I think the lag might be an issue if your going for special flashes etc but I couldn't say.

[timmeh2]

...You need to be concerned about reliability of the radio link, because it will not work 100% of the time.

 

Hi

 

I've solved this issue by building buttons that run over Wifi and UDP. It transmits the button condition 10-16 times a second, so when its state changes you're guaranteed that at least one packet gets through.

 

The range of the devices were about 50 ft between button to access point.

 

The other end was a bit of c++ software listening for the packet state and firing off the appropriate MIDI command when it changed.

 

All the best

Timmeh

[itiba]

Ah cool, some interesting replies.

 

It'll be triggering an MA2 so either through the remote input socket or through something like this to enable control through the DMX inputsIt needs to be a physical button ideally as it's a much more tactile surface to avoid mis-fires etc.

 

Tim - did you find something off-the-shelf that did 2 way radio?

At the moment I'm using the flash buttons on a portable 6-way-desk to transmit CRMX although it's a bit of clunky way to do it. Despite being on 2.4gHz it seems rock solid even when we've had issues with wi-fi so ideally it would be on it's own frequency.

 

Does anyone know if the Power Point remotes use a technology that's different to the one I linked to in my first post - ie more powerful or with error correction?

 

[timsabre]

I don't know of a simple thing that does send-acknowledge.

Normal powerpoint remotes just use 1 way 2.4Ghz (not wifi) and this can quickly become unreliable or unusable in a room full of smartphones. I am not sure how the more robust Interspace one mentioned above works.

[Jivemaster]

The firework firing system market has lots of single channel units with a single button transmitter all dirt cheap, all very far from instant, however the modern ones do have pretty good exclusive learn/pairing to prevent door bell buttons triggering them. Likely they all use the same dereg frequency possibly 464 or 433 MHz. Still they are typical remote buttons that only send a coded pulse, with no reply from the receiving end and certainly no hand shake or error checking or the like.

 

Random web links,

 

https://easypyro.com/consumer-firing-system/1-cue-firing-system

https://wirelessfireworks.co.uk/firing-systems/

 

Both companies of several years standing. BUT check the product yourself for it's meeting your needs.

[sunray]

I have one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3KM-Long-Range-2CH-Remote-Control-Switch-System-Wireless-Transmitter-Receiver/312748523491?hash=item48d143bfe3:g:3OIAAOSw5wVdZ42O

Single channel, latching.

It seems to be instant and so far has worked perfectly up to 150m. Spec says 3Km

 

It appears to be reprogrammable but I haven't looked at what it can do.

Edited November 2, 2019 by sunray

[timsabre]

That's the sort of thing I've used. Works absolutely 100% until in a gig situation with 100s of people in a room, then becomes unreliable.

[bruce]

I have one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3KM-Long-Range-2CH-Remote-Control-Switch-System-Wireless-Transmitter-Receiver/312748523491?hash=item48d143bfe3:g:3OIAAOSw5wVdZ42O

Single channel, latching.

It seems to be instant and so far has worked perfectly up to 150m. Spec says 3Km

... and running on 315MHz - so not legal for use in the UK.