I. The process for connecting RGBx 4-channel LED tape is the same for all RC4 4-channel dimmers, regardless of the particular product family or model
A. LEDs look best when dimmed using the Inverse Square Law curve — ISL. This is different than conventional filament lamps, which work best with the linear dimming curveLinear dimming curveA linear dimming curve is directly proportional to the DMX channel value on a console. If the DMX channel is at 50%, the power being delivered to the light source will be 50%.
Read more ».
B. RC4 provides two ISL curves: the ISL slow curveISL slow curveLEDs do not dim linearly: when dimmed to a linear 50%, they appear only slightly less bright than at 100%. The level must drop to 25% to appear at half brightness. To make LEDs appear linear, they must be controlled with the Inverse Square Law curve. All good quality LED dimmers use this technique. RC4 […]
Read more » , and the ISL fast curveISL fast curveLEDs do not dim linearly: when dimmed to a linear 50%, they appear only slightly less bright than at 100%. The level must drop to 25% to appear at half brightness. To make LEDs appear linear, they must be controlled with the Inverse Square Law curve. All good quality LED dimmers use this technique. RC4 […]
Read more ». There are numerous other curves also available, but the smoothest and best looking LED dimmers will only be seen with the ISL curves — LEDs are exactly what they’re for.
II. Working with four channel LED tape
A. In this example, the LED tape is wired with the red wire for the red LEDS, the blue wire for the blue LEDs, the green wire for the green LEDs and the white wire for the amber LEDs.
B. The black wire is common
C. This product is common positive; the black is the common and it is positive
1. Many multi-color LED products have the black wire as the common positiveCommon positiveWhen the incoming positive (+) power supply terminal is directly connected to the positive output terminal of a dimmer, this is a common-positive dimmer. The actual dimming happens on the negative (-) terminal, so the incoming negative power supply goes to the dimmer circuitry, and then the dimmer drives the negative output terminal of the […]
Read more »
2. This can be confusing and annoying for electricians who are accustomed to positive wire always being red. Most RGBx LED products do not observe this DC wiring standard and use the red wire for the red LEDs
3. The LED color wires are the negative leg of each circuit
III. Connecting the LED tape to the RC4 DMX4dim
A. All the positive terminals on the dimmer are common positive and connected together inside the device
B. Attach the black wire to any positive + terminal
C. Attach the next four wires to the next four negative – terminals
1. Dimming happens on the negative side, so the negative terminals are used
2. The common order is red, green, blue, amber or red, green, blue, white
3. The DMX4dim also has RGBW color coding on the terminals for guidance
D. Connect power to the dimmer
1. Voltage must be correct for the LEDs. For example, 12V LED tape requires the use of a 12VDC battery or power supply
F. The green COP indicator will be blinking to indicate the dimmer is powered and active
1. On LumenDim and W-DIM devices, the blue RF indicator will be solid when it is paired and connected to a transmitter
2. On RC4Magic Series 3 devices, the blue RF indicator will be blinking when the device has connected to a transmitter
3. On RC4Magic-900 devices, the blue RF indicator is always blinking and does not provide useful information about connectedness
G. By default (factory settings), red/blue/green/amber are assigned to DMX channels 1/2/3/4
1. This can be tested on the console
IV. Moving the LEDs to a different series of DMX channels
A. In this example, DMX channel 28 is being used
B. A dimmer curve chart is located HERE
C. When selecting channel and curve using RC4 OneTouch, all other DMX channels must be down, at zero
D. For the ISL slow curveISL slow curveLEDs do not dim linearly: when dimmed to a linear 50%, they appear only slightly less bright than at 100%. The level must drop to 25% to appear at half brightness. To make LEDs appear linear, they must be controlled with the Inverse Square Law curve. All good quality LED dimmers use this technique. RC4 […]
Read more », bring channel 28 up to 30% or an absolute value of 75 (any level between 52 and 102)
E. Using a small tool like a bent paper clip, tap the Set A ButtonSet A ButtonAll RC4 dimmers have Set buttons for each individual dimmer output. The first button is the Set A button. On a 2-channel device these are Set A and Set B buttons. A 4-channel device adds Set C and Set D. The most common use of the Set button is to assign a DMX channel and […]
Read more » on the DMX4dim
F. In RC4 Series 3 firmware versions 70 and later, this will result in four channels in a row
G. Assigned DMX channels are retained in non-volatile memory until they are changed using this procedure or the 2-button procedure for restoring factory defaults is executed