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<title>Elliott Sound Products - Project 62a - LX-800 Lighting Controller</title>
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<table style="width:100%" class="tblblue"><tr><td class="hdrl">&nbsp;Elliott Sound Products</td>
<td align="right" class="hdrr">Project 62-A&nbsp;</td></tr></table>
<h1>LX-800 Controllers</h1>
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<hr /><b>Introduction</b>
<p>There is a standard show lighting protocol for analogue dimmers which I have followed during the design and development of the LX-800.&nbsp; There is nothing too fancy or complex about the circuit.&nbsp; It can all be broken down into sections: the master faders, the channel faders, the sound to light filters and so on.&nbsp; With an eight channel system, there are obviously eight very similar sections making up the console electronics.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.esta.org"><img SRC="estalogoS.gif" alt="ESTA" height="70" width="64" align="left"> &nbsp; ESTA</a> E1.3, <b>Entertainment Technology - Lighting Control System</b> - 0 to 10V Analog Control Protocol, Draft 9 June 1997 (CP/97-1003r1) describes also that controllers and output devices shall be provided with a blocking diode (or similar circuit) such that each output presents an open circuit to any source voltage of more than itself.&nbsp; The blocking diodes allow multiple controllers or outputs to be paralleled to control the same dimmers or receivers on a "highest takes precedence" basis.&nbsp; The LX-800 conforms to the standard, in its current draft.&nbsp; All outputs in the system are either an analogue control voltage (variable between 0 and 10V) or a 10V pulse, routed through blocking diodes.</p>
<hr /><b>Circuit Description</b>
<p>The circuit contains eight slide controls per bank, with a master fader controlling each bank.&nbsp; Having two banks of controls, each with its own master fader gives a great deal of flexibility to the finished article.&nbsp; One lighting state can be set up on Bank A, another (next scene or next song) on the Bank B.&nbsp; Make Bank A active by bringing up the master.&nbsp; At the end of the scene, reduce A and increase B and a smooth transition between lighting states is realised.&nbsp; A switch reverses the Bank B master so that maximum output occurs at the bottom of its travel and minimum at the top.
By moving both masters together, very smooth transitions can be effected.</p>
<p>Each channel has a flash button associated with it that will bring its channel to maximum brightness regardless of the position of the channel fader.&nbsp; Useful for simple effects.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f1.gif" alt="figure 1" border="1" /><br />Figure 1 - Main Fader Bank Circuit</p>
<p>The faders and flash buttons are wired as shown in Figure 1, and although it looks complex, it is just repetitive.&nbsp; The diodes isolate each section, and provide the "precedence" function, where whatever fader is at the higher level takes precedence.&nbsp; Note that the master faders control the voltage supplied to all the others in each bank.&nbsp; The bi-colour LED is used to show if the B-Group is switched to normal or reverse operation.</p>
<p><b>NOTE:&nbsp; </b>For all schematics on this page, diodes are all 1N914 or 1N4148.&nbsp; Transistors are BC549 or similar (e.g. 2N2222A) and resistors are all 1/4W.</p>
<p>P1 is the main output for the fader sections, and connects to the dimmer rack via S1 on the rear panel.</p>
<p>Included in this section is the 8-channel sound to light converter.&nbsp; If you've ever seen a 3 or 4 channel system in operation, then this one with 8 channels will blow you away! When you get it built, do yourself a favour - play Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" through it, with the volume high and the house lights low - Wow!</p>
<p>A reader suggested an improvement to the faders that will improve their apparent linearity dramatically.&nbsp; Simply by adding a pair of resistors to each fader, the "S" curve is produced.&nbsp; This approximates our eyes' response to the lamp filament voltage, as well as the actual light output at various voltages.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f1a.gif" alt="figure 1a" border="1" /><br />Figure 1a - S-Curve</p>
<p>To obtain this curve requires the addition of two resistors to each fader as shown in Figure 1b.&nbsp; The downside of this is that the loading on the power supply is increased.&nbsp; In the original configuration, each pot draws a maximum of 1mA with the master fader at full-on position.&nbsp; This new circuit draws considerably more, and the supply has been upgraded to suit.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f1b.gif" alt="figure 1b" border="1" /><br />Figure 1b - Added Resistors to Obtain S-Curve</p>
<p>The revised version of the 10V regulator shown on the Power Control page will accommodate the additional loading.&nbsp; Each pot will draw 3mA worst case, which is when the pot is at maximum setting.&nbsp; The two banks of faders will have a total current draw of over 60mA with this circuit, as opposed to about 22mA for the original.&nbsp; The capacitor shown is optional - feel free to omit it to minimise component count.</p>
<hr /><b>Sound To Light</b>
<p>The S2L section consists of an audio buffer section at the input which feeds eight filters to split the audio spectrum into eight channels.&nbsp; The lowest frequency is filtered through a low-pass filter with no low-end consideration.&nbsp; It is designed to cut off at its high side.&nbsp; Six bandpass filters follow, then a high pass for the highest frequencies - again, no care has been taken to limit the upper frequencies.&nbsp; The input buffer stage is shown in Figure 2, and is designed for high level input.&nbsp; VR1 allows the sensitivity of the S2L system to be set as desired.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f2.gif" alt="figure 2" border="1" /><br />Figure 2 - Sound To Light Input Section</p>
<p>The next stage has the high and low pass filters (Channel 1 and 8 respectively).&nbsp; The circuit for this is shown below.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f3.gif" alt="figure 3" border="1" /><br />Figure 3 - High and Low Pass Filters</p>
<p>Finally, there are 3 dual sections for the 6 midrange frequencies.&nbsp; The capacitor values and connector pinouts are shown in the table.</p>
<p class="t-pic"><img src="p62-f4.gif" alt="figure 4" border="1" /><br />Figure 4 - Midrange Filters (6 in all)</p>
<p>Each of the bandpass filters has a different frequency, which is determined by the capacitors.&nbsp; The table shows the channel number, capacitor values and connector pin number.&nbsp; Values in brackets are for the second section, since each filter has two sections allowing the use of dual opamps.</p>
<p>All diodes are 1N914, 1N4148 or similar</p>
<table border="1" align="center">
<tr><td width="147"><b>Channel</b></td><td width="147"><b>C1, C2, (C4, C5)</b></td>
<td width="147"><b>Frequency (Hz)</b></td><td width="147"><b>Connector Pin</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>18nF</td><td>110</td><td>P3-x = P3-2</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>(6.8nF)</td><td>300</td><td>P3-y = P3-3</td></tr>
<tr><td>4</td><td>3.3nF</td><td>605</td><td>P3-x = P3-4</td></tr>
<tr><td>5</td><td>(1.5nF)</td><td>1,300</td><td>P3-y = P3-5</td></tr>
<tr><td>6</td><td>680pF</td><td>2,930</td><td>P3-x = P3-6</td></tr>
<tr><td>7</td><td>(270pF)</td><td>7,450</td><td>P3-y = P3-7</td></tr>
<caption align="bottom" class="t-pic">Table 1 - Midrange Filter Capacitor Values and Connector Pinouts</caption>
</table>
<p>The schematics and table show where the S2L outputs connect to the rear-panel connector (P3) and how the link cable will connect to the dimmer section (connect to P2) for the precedence protocol.&nbsp; The outputs from the dimmers terminate at the rear-panel socket P1.</p>
<p>If you want individual power boxes, then the dimmers from (P1) will connect to one DIM-RAK 8 and the S2L, through (P3), will connect to another.</p>
<table border="1" style="width:100%">
<tr><th width="16%"><b><a href="project62.htm">Overview</a></b></th>
<th width="16%"><b>Channels &amp; S2L</b></th>
<th width="16%"><b><a href="project62b.htm">Strobe &amp; Chaser</a></b></th>
<th width="16%"><b><a href="project62c.htm">Power Control</a></b></th>
<th width="16%"><b><a href="project62d.htm">Connections</a></b></th>
<th width="16%"><b><a href="project62e.htm">Miscellaneous</a></b></th>
</tr></table><br /><br />
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<tr><td class="t-wht"><a id="copyright"></a><b>Copyright Notice.</b> This article, including but not limited to all text and diagrams, is the intellectual property of Brian Connell and Rod Elliott, and is &copy; 2000.&nbsp; Reproduction or re-publication by any means whatsoever, whether electronic, mechanical or electro-mechanical, is strictly prohibited under International Copyright laws.&nbsp; The author/editor (Brian Connell/Rod Elliott) grants the reader the right to use this&nbsp; information for personal use only, and further allows that one (1) copy may be made for reference while constructing the project.&nbsp; Commercial use is prohibited without express written authorisation from Brian Connell and Rod Elliott.</td></tr>
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