Color Changing Flood lights, what do I need

The fact there are three cables suggests it is DMX (i.e. separate Power, DMX in, DMX out). From the product description:

Signal Input: differential input (3XLR: A, B, GND) Well they aren't XLR but they are 3 pin. I don't think you can damage by trying different combinations of A/B/ground until it works, but don't hold me to that!.
Signaling protocols: standard DMX512 protocol (1990);
Operation Modes:
Series connection: Writable address code This is the programmer which is available. If you haven't requested anything specific then it probably has its start channel set to 1.
maximum 170 pcs lamps connected one universe of DMX

This is why it's always worth buying a sample :)

If you wanted to pop the unit open and if it's possible to photograph the electronics inside, that would also help confirm!

To connect you could get an XLR male and swap it out for the supplied connectors. You would need to consider waterproofing etc though. To test temporarily you should be able to poke wires into the holes on the small 'DMX' connector.

Afterhought - if you have a test meter, you should be able to get continuity between the Power connection ground and one of the pins on the 3 pin 'DMX' connector. That will tell you which ground is. Then the other two pins are either A/B or B/A.
 
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looking at cable prices I think I am going to order a 12 pack of DMX extension cables on ebay. This will allow me to cut 6 in half and solder to the board inside, and have 6 to use as connections between lights as needed. My thought is that as long as I connect same wire to same point in the light it actually matter which pin the wires go. The only exception would be the first input which needs to match the adaptor configuration. pictures below of inside board and wiring labels on outside of light.
Am additional thought is I am going to do some more price research. By the time I get a 24v DC transformer and pay to swap the cables, these "Cheap" floods may not be the way to go after all.
Untitled-1_0001_IMG_5578.jpgUntitled-1_0000_IMG_5579.jpg
 
If the lights indeed are all mini XLR, then you are probably supposed to get all mini XLR cable, and you should need only one XLR-to-mini-XLR converter. I haven't particularly noticed DC24V power supplies as being more expensive per watt than 12v power supplies, and all of us here have to buy them. If/when you run pixels & ws2811, you will need power supplies anyway. The simplest DMX floods take regular 120vac power.

Based on your experience, I think the reason there are so many failed DMX adoptions is that there are so many detours and rabbitholes along the road to getting started. And you are pretty much hitting them all. I wish you could just punt on the weatherproofing until later when you at least have it working, but I understand why everybody doesn't want to do that. The way it is supposed to go is, any lighting guy could grab a spare DMX flood they have for you, plug it into their light board (which is the same as your USB dongle), assign a DMX address, and move around one of their slider buttons and you watch it dim and change colors. The whole demo should take them 15 minutes.
 
RichieNorthcott said:
Afterhought - if you have a test meter, you should be able to get continuity between the Power connection ground and one of the pins on the 3 pin 'DMX' connector. That will tell you which ground is. Then the other two pins are either A/B or B/A.
Click to expand...

3-pin is data+, data-, and ground. I believe LOR is 4-pin, with the fourth being power+, and you could do that then. But 3-pin would be harder. You certainly don't want to connect data+ to 24v.
 
1pet2_9 said:
Based on your experience, I think the reason there are so many failed DMX adoptions is that there are so many detours and rabbitholes along the road to getting started. And you are pretty much hitting them all.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much par for the course for me lol. Maybe if I wasn't trying to do it as cheaply as possible because I have some other elements, I am trying to add this year as well that I have already committed to. I am exploring ws2811 via the BST forum as well. May even put the floods on hold till next year. Will figure out what I am doing eventually lol
 
Irrumater said:
This is pretty much par for the course for me lol. Maybe if I wasn't trying to do it as cheaply as possible because I have some other elements, I am trying to add this year as well that I have already committed to. I am exploring ws2811 via the BST forum as well. May even put the floods on hold till next year. Will figure out what I am doing eventually lol
Click to expand...

My thought all along was that ws2811 would be easier, particularly if you are using xLights or Vixen3
 
DMX is supposed to be: you plug it in to the wall like you would any other AC, you plug the XLR to the USB dongle, go to Xlights, hit "Discover", add a DMX effect, select channels 123 for your RGB. Click Output to Lights. Play. Done.

Maybe it's Youtube video time.
 
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