High Power 24 Channel 3A/CH DMX512 Controller Led Decoder Dimmer for Project

This unit works great. I bought it to plug in LEDs and then run a DMX-to-USB adapter to connect it to my computer. You need to wire the DMX cable into this decoder manually, but it's pretty easy as there's only 3 wires. Just look online for some diagrams and try it out. I got it right the first time. After connecting a power supply I was able to immediately get the LEDs to respond to my LightKey DMX software. For a power supply, I would recommend 12V DC 30A 360W Metal Regulated Switching Power Supply . For a cheap DMX-to-USB, you can use DMXking ultraDMX Micro USB DMX adapter/dongle , though for more complicated setups you'll need something more. The unit is also a lot smaller than I expected. It's about the size of a CD case, which is quite small. All the green connectors are very sturdy and are removable as well. So you can remove the 4-wire female connectors, and then put it into another slot to easily exchanged between each of the 8 LED channels without having to unplug the wires. The wires plug in using a screwdriver to loosen the connector, insert wire, and then tighten the screw. It's very sturdy. Sure, it would be nice if it had an actual DMX plugin instead of having to wire it yourself. But even a beginner should be able to screw 3 wires in (check the INPUT V+/V- section to see where I'm talking about, you have to strip your power wires and then plug them in there. Anyways, love the unit. Does exactly what it's supposed to do, and the FUN mode (DIP Switch 10) makes it really easy to test out the setup.

This thing can pass a lot of current. I hooked up seven 5m strips and put them all at full brightness. This thing got a little warm. I blew a 15 amp fuse at 12v, and one 30 amp fuse held fine. So - that's probably around 20 amps. That is a LOT of current. So - make sure that your supply lines are up to the task. I used two 12 gauge wires in parallel from a car battery. At that current, the box was slightly warm to the touch. I pulled the lid and looked up the transistors inside. They are N channel mosfets rated at 60 amps. So - you should be fine. I used this in conjunction with a TinkerKit DMX master shield also here on Amazon. This was my third iteration of trying to control a lot of strips with an Arduino. This combo worked like a charm right away. UPDATE: I think people may be confused by the documentation, which is very light. The most important thing is identifying switch 10, making sure you understand the "ON" direction, and turning Switch 10 "OFF". When Switch 10 is "OFF" the controller is in receive mode to accept DMX commands. When Switch 10 is ON, the other dip switches make led strips blink in predefined automatic ways and there is some method to their madness - but the controller does not accept DMX commands in that mode. In DMX mode (again, switch 10 is OFF) the remaining dip switches set the first DMX address of the device. Often, this will be "1", in which case the only dip switch in the ON position should be switch 1. Each RGB channel of each strip has its own DMX channel. So, the first LED strip will be red, channel 1; green, channel 2; blue, channel 3 - etc. If you hook up a second unit, you can daisy chain the DMX signal from the DMX Out of the first device to the DMX In of the second device. In this scenario you would set the initial DMX address of the second device to 25 (the first device takes addresses 1-24). You would do this be turning on dip switches 1, 4, and 5. Those represent the binary number 1+8+16 = 25. I have done this with two units connected together and it worked flawlessly.

This box is fantastic. I made some RGB bars out of LED tape and this dimmer runs them like a champ. I will say, switching speed is not super fast, so if you're trying to program something with a lot of very quick changes it may not work well for you. I'm running lights for a pop/punk band with this and for what we are doing it's working out great. You can also use this to run 12v LED bars (usually made for off-road type trucks and stuff). Those lights dont dim, but you can get a 12v strobe module and have an awesome strobe light that this dimmer can run.

Used it fine in the fun mode. Now that I need DMX, it does not work. Tried flipping DMX pins 1 and 2, but does not respond, even with Pin 10 in on OR off. Of course now my return period has expired. I have ordered another hoping I got a bad unit, I mean, what are the chances of getting two bad units,,,right? The FUN works great, great for the price, just check the DMX works before your return window expires.