Two Lasers - One Board

[soforene]

As part of my future plans I'd like have an RGB flanked by a couple of greens to do beam work (the classic arrangement).
What would be the best way to drive the greens?

I have been told that a QM2000 board with a custom made cable that splits the output into 2 would suffice, the same output going to each projector.

I could then use a switch on the projectors themselves to alter the horizontal and vertical axis as required.
Would such an arrangement create an unacceptable extra load on the board (driving 2 projectors instead of one)?

Alternatively I have read of FB3’s being used as slaves.
So many options ……

I'd be interested in how other folks manage their multi-projector setups.

[p1t8ull]

So long as the lasers modulation and galvo amp signal inputs don't have silly high impedance, you should be absolutely fine with an ILDA splitter running 2 projectors.

You could use an FB3 to drive the satellites, but as LivePro can't control the QM and FB at the same time, I would personally stick with one QM for the RGB and another one for the satellites. Not sure if Beyond will be able to do both FB and QM, I would guess probably not.

Or... In theory you could trigger cues on the FB3 memory card by DMX from LivePro, pretty easy to setup too if you're .NET'ed.

[dave]

You want a high input impedance ( such as a opamp input).. Low input impedance is baadd

So long as the lasers modulation and galvo amp signal inputs don't have silly high impedance, you should be absolutely fine with an ILDA splitter running 2 projectors.

You could use an FB3 to drive the satellites, but as LivePro can't control the QM and FB at the same time, I would personally stick with one QM for the RGB and another one for the satellites. Not sure if Beyond will be able to do both FB and QM, I would guess probably not.

Or... In theory you could trigger cues on the FB3 memory card by DMX from LivePro, pretty easy to setup too if you're .NET'ed.

[p1t8ull]

You want a high input impedance ( such as a opamp input).. Low input impedance is baadd

Daaang... thassawat I meant

[dave]

I'd be interested in how other folks manage their multi-projector setups.

Easiest way to many-projector setups is many QM2000's

Another trick we like to employ is drive a few single color projectors off the one QM2000, and assign one to the red channel, one to the green channel, and so on. Then, whilst they will all be projecting the same image, we have the ability to do projector chases via color chases in LivePRO..

[buffo]

You'll have no problem running a pair of projectors off a single QM-2000. We've done it several times at FLEM. (In fact, we've run up to 3 RGB projectors off a single QM-2000 with no problems.) The idea of a reversing switch for the X and Y is a good idea. You'll probably only ever need to reverse the X though.

Another trick we like to employ is drive a few single color projectors off the one QM2000, and assign one to the red channel, one to the green channel, and so on. Then, whilst they will all be projecting the same image, we have the ability to do projector chases via color chases in LivePRO..

That's brilliant Dave! Such a simple idea... Yet I never would have thought of that, and I don't think it's ever been posted here before. Thanks for the tip! (Thinking about how we can try this at SELEM this summer....)

Adam

[soforene]

.. we've run up to 3 RGB projectors off a single QM-2000 with no problems...

Was that with a customised cable (or maybe 2 "Y" cables)?
Are the QM2000 Cards available seperately then? (and if so, anybody got some to flog? )

Some projectors have an ILDA Through (ILDA Out).
Do these have any kind of amp for the signal or are they just wired up directly from the ILDA IN? i.e Pin 1 In to Pin 1 out etc.
If that's the case then surely they'd only work for a finite number of "jumps" before the signal gets degraded and the projectors start producing unreliable results.

I get the feeling this is gonna cost me some more money .......

[buffo]

Was that with a customised cable (or maybe 2 "Y" cables)?

It was done with a short strip of 25-pin ribbon cable that had 4 IDC connectors on it. The incoming signal from the one QM-2000 plugged into the end of the ribbon cable, and then we ran short ILDA cables from the other three connectors on the ribbon to the 3 projectors. Nothing to it.

Are the QM2000 Cards available seperately then? (and if so, anybody got some to flog? )

HAHA! In this case, we wanted all three projectors to be displaying the same show. We could have networked the comptuters using the .net software, but one of us didn't have it installed, and one of the other guys was running an older version of Showtime. We could have upgraded everyone's software, but then we would have had to train the color palette for each of the other 2 projectors and assign them to zones. Then we would have had to map the output of the show to multiple zones. In the end, we decided that a Y cable would be much faster!

Some projectors have an ILDA Through (ILDA Out).
Do these have any kind of amp for the signal or are they just wired up directly from the ILDA IN? i.e Pin 1 In to Pin 1 out etc.

No amp that I'm aware of. Every projector I've seen that has an ILDA pass through port is simply wired in parallel with the input port. (As you said - pin 1 to pin 1, etc.)

If that's the case then surely they'd only work for a finite number of "jumps" before the signal gets degraded and the projectors start producing unreliable results.

Correct. I've heard of people running up to 4 projectors off a single QM-2000. Shorter ILDA cables are probably a plus here. I don't know what the limit is, but I suspect it's around 4 or 5 projectors.

Bottom line, 2 projectors is no problem at all, even with 75 ft of ILDA cable between them. (I've tested this myself.) Even three projectors is fine, though I've only tested that with a relatively short wiring run (less than 50 ft total between the three).

I get the feeling this is gonna cost me some more money .......

You've been in lasers how long, and you're just now figuring this out? Dude, it will *always* cost more money. There's always something you can convince yourself that you need!

Adam

[Stuka]

Dang - does this mean I have to save up for another "Jolly Green"

You guys REALLY need to quit putting ideas in my head...

[soforene]

The idea for the cable is twofold.
1. Run a couple of greens from one card.
2. Increase the number of projectors we can link up at the meets.

Now I guess that it's the kind of thing that some folks may have when they attend (cus everyone seems to bring bucketfulls of cables, adaptors, plugs, leads etc.) but I'd like one (or two) in my own arsenal of cables etc.