LED circuits controlled from iphone

ON31L

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ok so here it goes ! i have a hut at the bottom of the garden and it have an armoured cable for power and a single cat5e run upto it for internet !

ok so what i want to do is to have multiple circuits of LED's all controlled off my iphone or ipad !

so have a circuit for outside one for tree onr for decking,handrails etc

so what equipment is needed ? i would like to have a go at piecing this together myself as the kits are very expensive and i haven't found one yet that states that it will control multiple circuits but price of them is the main put off !

many thanks people
 
I will be connecting by wifi ! What hardware is necessary ? As i assume i will be connecting multiple sets of led strips and have different leds in different loacations for the zones ? So is there basically a central point to wire back to ?? Is that all wired directly into the dmx controller ? And can you reconmend one with say 5 zones ? Many thanks
 
You could look at using Rako equipment which would be pretty straight forward and would have the benefit of extending to rest of house later and/or adding keypads as additional controllers

You would need a bridge for iPhone control which need to be connected to your home network an appropriate led controller for each of the led circuits.

Are they single colour LEDs or colour changing (if single coupons and you already have driver then could just use a basic Rako switch controller for multiple circuits which would be much cheaper)
 
They will be colour changing ! So i need a bridge a dmx cotroller and the iphone app ? Leds and what else ?

Many thanks
 
You can use a spare pair on your cat5 line (So long as you are not using Gigabit) for DMX. It only needs a twisted pair.

You can get ethernet to DMX bridges as well. The pros use Artnet as it allows lots of DMX universes, so lots of channels. You only need 1 universe as this can control 512 channels. There are various DMX controllers, but you will also need a DMX dimmer or swtich. A 4 channel dmx dimmer is only £100 or so.

Going away from DMX, you could use a microcontroller with a network port and some analogue outputs. Some home automation products can be bought as a ready made unit, or you could program up your own and write a simple web based app to control it. Simply configure it for 0-10V out and connect it to the analogue input of a dimmer.

How teccy and diy do you want to get ??
 
After researching this alot more and deeper it looks like i dnt have the skill level ! As in programing and such ! I will buy the equipment and wire it all upmyself ! I am reading about the subject but i just cant seem to find which dmx controller i would need ! Is that all i would need ? Because i assume i would need a bridge for the internet and all that ? So im just stuck for what do i actually need hardware wise ? And will all the lights be wired back to the controller like one single point ? Like a junction box ? Many thanks
 
i understand that i will need

a power supply can one be bought to wire in all the circuits together or each circuit its own power supply.

somekind of bridge ?? any brands or specific product ?

a DMX controller what have i got to look for in one ?

and RGB leds about 3 sets of 5 meters


anything else im missing ?
 
It all depends on the LED fixtures. DMX is normally run as a chain, so you link everything together, input to output until the last fixture that would have a terminator fitted. If you want to run as a star configuration, you should use an active splitter.

How about a USB - DMX controller plugged into an old PC and run a "Log me in" type package on the ipad / iphone ? Total cost: not a lot, certainly under £150 for the DMX dongle and software.
 
the LED fixtures will be leds on a reel if thats what u mean ? and when u say run as a chain would it be because i want say 3 different sets of lights controlled independently of each other ? many thanks
 
When I suggested Rako earlier it was partly to avoid having to use DMX controllers/separate led drivers. With Rako you would buy some 3 channel (rgb) controller-drivers which would be wired in line in the power supply to the led strips (one controller for each strip that you want to control separately).

You then need a rako bridge which will plug in to the mains (via a power supply unit (PSU)) and your home network (or straight into router)

This is not going to come cheap though. Around £120-140 for each controller-driver plus the cost of the bridge (at a guess about £180 ish)

It is comparatively easy to set up but you do still need to use the Rako software to identify each of the drivers to your set up
 
Ahhhh ok rako seems the way forward here ! Is there an app for the iphone ?
 
yup app for the iphone is free but you need the bridge to make it work......

Advice DIYLady gave ya is spot on....
 
You should use the light wave rf/Seimens stuff there easy to use and cheap, you can get the hub for £80 a pack of 3 wifi sockets for £30 and a free app and you can add any more hardware as you go on, even b&q stocks them know.
 

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