Issue #7, October 2004
Doug Fleenor Design has been contacted by one of our clients about building a power supply for a popular LED lighting fixture. The Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12 was designed primarily for architectural applications. Like the Aircraft Landing Light and the DYS overhead projector bulb, the entertainment industry has adapted the ColorBlast for our benefit, making use of its unique capabilities. The adaptation usually consists of attaching a connector to the fixture (the ColorBlast is generally permanently wired so has no connector), and encasing the Color Kinetics power supply in a suitable enclosure with connectors. Upon polling our dealers we decided there is a market for a road worthy off-the-shelf portable power supply for the ColorBlast.
We contacted Color Kinetics regarding the project whom offered their support. They affirmed that they have no plans to offer such a product, that their primary focus is on LED fixtures. In fact they encouraged us to support their line of fixtures by offering an entertainment oriented supply.
Everyone we've contacted uses the 4 pin XLR for their ColorBlasts. Most use pin 1 for common and pin 4 for +24 volts. One flips the polarity using pin 1 for +24 volts and pin 4 for common. All use pins 2 and/or 3 for data. Our power supply provides six female 4 pin XLRs normally wired with pin 1 common, however the supply can easily be modified for reversed polarity. Our supply offers two types of data on pins 2/3. An internal slide switch selects either 5V differential data on pins 2/3 (used by many scrollers and gobo rotators as well as early ColorBlasts) or non-differential 24V data (used by newer Color Kinetics fixtures). When set to 24V data, the signal is placed on both pins 2 and 3 for wide compatibility . Our 24V signal is current limited to prevent damage to 5V differential inputs.
An addressing feature on our supply eliminates the need to reset the ColorBlast's address for each show (all fixtures are set to address one). The supply shifts the DMX data so that each output receives the correct DMX values. The user interface is then similar to a common dimmer pack where the starting address is user selectable and each successive output is controlled by successive DMX values. Setting the supply's address switch to 000 disables the shifting feature so the user still has the ability to address each ColorBlast in the conventional manner. The 000 setting also allows our supply to function as a 300 Watt "scroller" supply. Switch settings of 600 through 699 select fixed color outputs for stand alone use (no console required). Switch settings of 700 and above access pre-programmed effects.
Our 300 Watt, six output supply (model number LED300) will be introduced at LDI '04. Stop by and see us and our other new products at:
LDI '04
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ColorBlast 12 is a registered trademark of Color Kinetics Incorporated.
Doug Fleenor Design Inc. cooperates with, but is not affiliated with Color Kinetics Inc.