Software

 

Our Total Control Lighting Windows software can be downloaded here: TCL.zip (41.5 MB)

Manuals and Software Set-up Documents: Elite 2K Controller  or Pro Elite Controller (contains both Word and PDF documents)

Both the Elite, and the Pro controllers use 2GB SD cards which we sell for $5 each

You can put several export files on a flash card and select them with the mode button.  Pushing set will select the current file so it will auto start the next time the controller is turned on.  The program puts the file in a folder called LED.  The folder can be called anything and the files don’t even need to be in a folder.  Pushing Speed+ and Speed- will change the speed by a small amount each time you push the button.  When you export from the program it will wipe out the LED folder, recreate it, and put one export file in the LED folder so export to a folder on your C: drive.  When you export each different file enter a different number in the Program Code field on the Gamma Dimming screen.  That will cause each export file to have a unique name.  After you export each file copy it to unique folder on your C: drive.  After you have all the files you want copy the folder to the flash card.  The controller doesn’t pay any attention to the file names.  It will select the files in the order they were written to the flash card.

Open Lighting Architecture (an open source framework for lighting control) now supports the P9813 chip.

Total Control Lighting Arduino tutorial, and code posts at Christopher De Vries’ site.

Chris’ new Arduino Total Control Lighting library is up!

Arduino Total Control Lighting Library Copyright 2011 Christopher De Vries This library allows you to control Cool Neon’s Total Control Lighting using an Arduino. The library is built on SPI and requires that the Arduino SPI library also be included.

Installation ———— To install this library, unzip it into the “libraries” directory of your Arduino sketchbook folder. If there is not already a folder named “libraries” then create it.

Hardware ——– The Total Control Lighting strands use 4 wires to provide both power and communication. If you are using the Cool Neon connectors, the wires are designated with the following colors. Red: +5V Yellow: Clock Green: Data Blue: Ground If you are using a small number of LEDs the Arduino itself can provide power to the strand, but for a significant number of lights (greater than 5) an external power source should be attached. The Arduino will control the lights using the Clock and Data wires. The Clock wire should be connected to the SPI clock out of the Arduino. For an Arduino UNO this is digital IO Pin 13, for an Arduino Mega this is digital IO pin 52. The Data line should be connected to the SPI MOSI line, which for an Arduino UNO is digital IO Pin 11, and for an Arduino Mega is digital IO pin 51. Be sure there is a common ground between the Arduino and the Total Control Lighting and your LED strand should be ready to receive data.

Software ——– In order to use the library, your sketch should start with the following #include directives: #include <SPI.h> #include <TCL.h> Before starting communication, initialize the SPI bus by issuing the command: TCL.begin(); Before sending a group of colors to your LEDs, you must send 4 bytes of 0s to initialize the strand. You can do this using the command: TCL.sendEmptyFrame(); You must also do this after every set of colors is sent to the strand. To send an RGB color, use the command: TCL.sendColor(byte red, byte green, byte blue); So, for example to send a yellow pixel, I would issue the command: TCL.sendColor(0xff,0xb0,0x00); The first color you send, will be the color of the first pixel (closest to the Arduino), the next will be the next pixel and so on down the line. When you are done sending colors, remember to finish with TCL.sendEmptyFrame();