Here are a few reasons why ChromaCove is the prefered solution for LED Cove Lighting by planetarium professionals and systems vendors alike.
We use the highest quality LEDs with the tightest binning available to match colors across the system and within each fixture. This ensures a homogenous look and offers a favorable color balance and wide pallette of colors. These fixtures are bright, but with excellent control and fading, it's ok, you don't have to have them all the way up all the time...just when you need to is fine with us.
Smooth fading takes more than 16 bit control. In fact, the control has almost nothing to do with it. What matters is what happens between the controls and the fixtures, and within the fixtures themselves. In addition to our adaptive algorithms, the colors at the LEDs are updated 500 times per second, so even with the rate limitations of DMX, there are no undesireable stepping artifacts.
We've created adaptive algorithms that evaluate the rates of change and work to smooth the transitions between different colors, but still allow for quick strobe flashes and other fun effects. This adaptive fading is automatic, selectable, and built into the fixtures and the DMXpert. It's a big part of why we can offer such incredibly smooth fades.
An important part of having smooth fades is utilizing an optimized curve for the low end. But we don't stop there. By using LEDs that have a stable forward voltage, we ensure that they all turn on at the faintest level, and we even proform a few other tricks to keep that bottom end fading as smoothly as possible, and the results show.
With constant current and constant voltage power supplies and on-board power regulation, our fixtures operate without flicker from the line noise of power. We also modulate at variable frequencies up to 40Khz with enhanced spectrum modulation which eliminates the undesireable artifacts of PWM noticable on typical LED lighting.
When we first introduced our High Power fixtures at 1000 lumens each, other systems were offering only 50-100 lm per foot. Our exquisite care in providing proper smooth fading allows ChromaCove to have a bright top end while still gently fading at the low end.
When properly installed, our wide-angle fixtures eliminate scallops around the cove and offer coverage well past the zenith of the dome without casting shadows from the fascia. There's no need to add wash lights to fill in the top of the dome, as ChromaCove lighting has you covered.
We've worked to have competitive pricing with our systems, but more importantly, we don't expect you to have to run out and buy another one anytime soon. We've seen other whole systems get replaced in the same time our customers have enjoyed the great long life our systems offer.
You are just a click away from showing impressive, colorful effects on a ChromaCove lighting system with CCDesigner, or use simple faders to fade the lights manually. To create more complex cues, you don't have to know how to write code, or do a bunch of math. Just point and click your way to colorful effects.
ChromaCove offers a lot of light with minimal power consumption. We use an intellegent power method that allows us to draw what is needed, and not need to dump a lot of extra power as wasted heat. Sure there is some, as modern LEDs do put out some heat, but we draw that heat away from the chips so as to disperse it quickly, thus further extending the life.
Our fixture design promotes a long life and color stability over time and we often supply spare bin-matched fixtures to keep on-site in case you need them sometime in the future. We far exceed the thermal management recommendations for keeping the LED components cool. This has historically been a challenge that other lighting has not overcome and why our lighting still looks so great many years later.
Our products rarely exhibit failures in the field. We offer a 3 year warranty to our planetarium customers, but our products usually work so well we are often told it is the one system they can rely on. Building these of our own design means we can control the quality and continue offering the high reliability our customers have come to know us for.
Lighting should be seen, not heard. Our fixtures and power supplies are passively cooled. This means no fan noise when mounted freely in open air conditions as recommended.
Just dust them off from time to time as needed. There's generally no adjustments needed so long as they haven't been disturbed. If they do need to be rotated back into position, that's easy to do with no tools required for most installs.
We use only the highest quality CREE LED components. No cheap LED components from an unknown source. We are not resellers, nor do we slap a lable on an existing light and call it ours. ChromaCove lighting is uniquely our own, and is excellent at what it does. We manufacture our fixtures in our facility in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States of America.
While most LED lighting is addressable in 1-ft increments, several of our fixtures go a step further by blending the colors across the length of each fixture to create a high-resolution gradient effect that apears much more natural than the single color per fixture option in normal mode.
Even better, it's free and enabled by default. There is no extra controls needed to make this work on our complete systems, and just a couple steps to make it work with other control systems not calling up cues in CCDesigner.
Our intuitive control methods make it easy to create complex effects with a few clicks. No code, no math, no need to tell each fixture what color to be. Just point, click and let ChromaCove Designer fill in the blanks. Recalling those cues later is as simple as pressing a button.
CCDesigner
Bringing together both manual control and computer control with ChromaCove Designer, is the DMXpert Processor. This unique device allows us a tremendous amount of flexibility in the operation and function of each system.
Those algorithms we spoke of in the section above for manual control...that magic happens inside the DMXpert. The design is our own, but the control is yours.
In addition to the 3 DMX Universes and DMX Control inputs, there are two switch closures that allow you to override the lighting controls to bring on the white lights as worklights or set any other combination of Red, Green, and Blue. Great for cleaning and maintenance staff, or connect it to the fire alarm for additional "emergency" lighting.
