Laser Show Systems are totally Awesome! Everyone loves them, when they’re setup and used correctly it’s an experience like no other, in this Edition we will explore the components of a laser show system, and show they work together to achieve greatness! Starting with the lasers themselves, we will break down what lasers are best suited to particular spaces and what protocols they support. Almost all lasers support DMX, and many support ILDA for content management.
Most people start out with a cheap laser show unit. They soon figure out that getting your own content to display on the lasers is a much more involved affair. Lasers use their ILDA port to communicate with a controlling PC, the PC must be running laser show software; like iShow and have a ILDA dongle plugged into USB .The ILDA dongle connects to the ILDA cable, and the ILDA cable plugs into the laser. We stock ILDA Cables in length’s between 10 Meters and 100 meters.
There is, however another option, an ILDA to RJ45 (Ethernet) connector. These adapters allow you to plug into an ILDA port, and convert it to RJ45. You will need one of these connectors for the back of the laser, and one for the ILDA dongle. Fortunately the ILDA Dongle we stock has an RJ45 Port so you just need one RJ45 to ILDA converter for the back of the laser.
Ethernet Cables are much cheaper than ILDA cables so we recommend going this route. We do stock ILDA cables, and sets of ILDA to RJ45 Adapters with up to 20 adapters in a set. To run a single laser unit you either need an ILDA cable or one, or two ILDA to RJ45(Ethernet) converters depending on your ILDA Dongle. You will also need an Ethernet Cable as well as an ILDA Dongle.
This will all be connected to a PC running the iShow software via a USB cable. Come back soon for the next instalment in the Laser Show System series. We will go through the process of selecting the right laser unit for your space. In Edition 3: Choosing an Awesome Laser that makes your space Fantastic! Edition 4 will look at actually setting up a laser unit. In future Editions will be using the ILDA system to control the content we display on our laser.
Please always use care when setting up lasers! Lasers can absolutely cause eye damage even from large distances. Use eye protection when you’re setting up laser show systems, and always take case when positioning your laser units. If you have any questions about lasers; laser show systems or safety please don’t hesitate to contact us. We will gladly advise you on the safest application of laser projection units in your space.
Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter for 10% off all of our products we offer, and informative posts like this one!