AX1 PIXELTUBE™ User Manual
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 1 CONTENTS 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Package Contents................................................................................................................................................ 2 Safety and Handling............................................................................................................................................. 3 Safety and Handling.................................................................
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 Contact Information Astera LED Technology GmbH Stahlgruberring 36 81829 Munich Germany +49 89 2155253-0 Technical support Europe: +49 89 21552253-1 America: +1 954 578 8881 Asia: +86 755 28237295 Email: service@astera-led.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 3 SAFETY AND HANDLING This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 address all possible dangers and environments. Please use your own caution when operating. This product is for professional use only. It is not for household use. • • Do not operate the unit in areas of high temperature conditions or under direct sunlight. It will cause abnormal function or damage the product. Always use a suitable safety wire when mounting the light overhead. Connect the safety wire only to the intended safety mount.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 • • Always charge with the flight case open. It is recommended to charge at a temperature between 15°C and 35°C • • • The light contains a lithium ion battery. Don't throw the unit into the garbage at the end of its lifetime. Make sure to dispose is according to your local ordinances and/or regulations, to avoid polluting the environment! The packaging is recyclable and can be disposed.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 be fixed with screws to wooden surfaces or fixed to truss via a 1/4” Manfrotto stud and a Manfrotto clamp. When mounting the light above people’s heads the eye bolts should be screwed into the tube and a safety wire should be applied. The eye bolts are not designed as hangers without an additional safety backup. The 2 M5 screws at the end caps can also be used for other mounting options, e.g. inside furniture.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 4.2 BATTERY While running on battery, the light adjusts its output to meet the required minimum runtime. It can be set by AsteraApp™ between one and twenty hours. After Reset Settings (chapter 7.6), it defaults to 5h. The battery is specified to last for 300 full discharge cycles. Its runtime will have decreased to 70% by then.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 5 SPECIFICATION LED power: Illuminants: Pixels: Luminous Emittance: Beam Angle: Input of charger: Input of light Battery Runtime: Wireless Module: Operating Temperature: Relative Humidity: Size: Weight: IP Rating: 28W 64 RGB + 64 white LED chips 16 695lm 180° 110-240V 50/60Hz 0.5A at 48V up to 20hrs (seamless runtime) EU: 868.0-869.7 MHz US: 902-928 MHz 2.4 GHz 0°C – 40°C 32°F – 104°F 0%-100% Ø42mm x H1035mm Ø1.6” x H40.7” 1.00 kg 2.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7 OPERATION 7.1 ASTERARGB COLOR SPACE The lights work with a specially optimized RGB color space, the AsteraRGB color space. It is designed to eliminate the need to control each color individually to display a certain color. Instead, the light calculates the optimum combination of all colors based on an RGB value. It considers each LED chip’s temperature as well as an optimal color rendering.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7.2 WAYS TO CONTROL The light can be controlled in several ways: Use Astera ARC1 infrared remote control, point it at individual lights and press the desired effect. The AsteraApp™ is an efficient way to quickly create a customized light show. It can group several lights together, address individual lights or groups of lights, and send complex effects with a user defined color palette to all lights in range.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7.4 CONTROL BY THE ASTERAAPP™ Your light has a built in standalone engine. It can display static colors or replay a number of predefined effect patterns with a customizable color palette. With the AsteraApp™ these effects can be created and be sent to the light by the built in UHF receiver. The effects are just triggered and then each light replays it autonomously until it receives a new effect. Lights can be grouped into sets.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7.6 BUTTON Press Button Function Press the button shortly show the status display. Hold the button until the light turns on or off Blue Mode: hold the button, the light will first turn off, then back on again and it blinks blue. Chapter 7.8 explains the Blue Mode. Reset Settings: hold the button, the light will first turn off, then back on again and it blinks blue.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 7.7.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7.8 BLUE MODE / SHOW STATIC COLOR In blue mode, the light shows a rapid blue blinking. This mode is used to: • • Pair the light with an AsteraApp™ Switch it to display a static color without the use of any remote control To pair the light, make sure it is in blue mode (see chapter 7.6), then press the “Pair with Lights” button in the AsteraApp™. More details on pairing can be found in chapter 8.1.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 7.10 DMX ADDRESSING VIA BUTTON It is possible to assign DMX addresses for 4 common profiles to AX1 Pixeltubes via the light’s button and built-in accelerometer: 1) 2) 3) 4) Set the AX1 to blue mode by holding down the button for 3 seconds Shake the AX1 up and down a few times like a cocktail shaker The AX1 will no longer blink blue completely, but only ¼ of it will be lit up. The color of the ¼ tube will indicates the DMX profile.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8 USING THE LIGHT WITH THE ASTERAAPP™ The button only allows a basic operation of the light. To gain full control over all features, the AsteraApp™ should be used. The AsteraApp™ is an efficient way to quickly create a customized light show. It can group several lights together, address individual lights or groups of lights, and send complex effects with a user defined color palette to all lights in range.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.2 POWERFUL LIGHT CONTROL Your light has a built in standalone engine. It can display static colors or replay a number of predefined effect patterns with a customizable color palette. With the AsteraApp™ these effects can be created and be sent to the light by the built in UHF receiver. The effects are just triggered and then each light replays them autonomously until a new effect is sent. Lights can be grouped into sets.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.4 CREATE A SET Before the more powerful effects can be reviewed, it is recommended to create a Flow-Set first. Each light can be assigned to one set. Two types of sets are available: 8.4.1 SYNC SET All lights that are assigned to a Sync-Set can be controlled together. They will do exactly the same. CREATE A SYNC-SET: On the AsteraApp™ main screen, first press the Targets button (1) and then the “+” sign (2) to add a new target.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 8.4.2 2020-08-25 FLOW SET By using a Flow-Set, lights can also be controlled together. But additionally, they are assigned to positions inside the Flow-Set and so form a virtual light with several pixels. All effects, like a running light, are stretched over this virtual light. CREAT A FLOW-SET: On the AsteraApp™ main screen, first press the Targets button (1) and then the “+” sign (2) to add a new target. Then choose “Flow-Set”.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.6 CHANGING THE EFFECT On the AsteraApp™ main screen, press “Wedding” (1), then enter the editor (2). Set “Crossfade” to 0% and “Speed” to around 2 seconds. You should see a clean running light now. The White light will run over a pink background. The effect can be changed by sliding the effect picker and choosing a sub-effect below it. Again the colors can be adjusted, too.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.7 LIST OF EFFECTS The effects patterns are pre-defined and cannot be modified by the user. They are pre-programmed inside of each light. Still they can be parameterized. These are available: A static color is displayed. There are also options that show two, three or four static colors at a time. The Flow-Set is then divided into several parts of equal length. Fading colors. The four defined colors are displayed one after the other.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.8 CHASER EFFECTS IN DEEP To display chaser effects it is recommended to setup a Flow-Set with a multiple of four positions. This way they will be shown best. Those four positions could then be arranged in the corners of a dance floor for example. Use the tap-sync button to tap the beat of the music; the Chaser Effects will base their color changing on that beat then.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.9 THE MAIN SCREEN Here each program is represented by a tile. Those tiles can be edited and freely positioned. Several pages of tiles are available. To move or delete a tile, press the pen icon (2). A popup will show the available actions. To add a new program tile, press the “+” icon (1). 8.9.1 While adding a tile, either a default “Static Red” or the currently running program can be selected.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.10 BRIGHTNESS Additionally to each programs brightness slider mentioned in chapter 8.6, a master brightness control is available. As soon as more than one Set is created and at least one Set is currently targeted, a sub-master for each Set is shown. Otherwise, only one slider is available. It controls the brightness of all currently targeted lights. 8.10.1 Set Sub-Masters Each Set has its own brightness slider.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.12 THEFT ALARM Your light is equipped with a theft alarm. A motion sensor in the light detects when it is moved or taken away and a small siren will sound to deter potential thieves. First make sure your Radio PIN is different from 0000. See chapter 8.1 how to change it. Then press the “ON” button. Press “Activate”. All targeted lights will flash shortly to indicate that they are now armed.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.13 ANTI-FLICKER The PWM refresh rate of this light is 599.4 Hz by default. This frequency can be freely adjusted between 200 Hz and 1205 Hz to fit different camera’s frame rates. Make sure you have targeted the lights you wish to adjust (chapter 8.5). Then press the “Anti-Flicker”. Slide the “fps” to adjust to default values for a framerate. Slide the “Hz” to fine-adjust.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.14 ENTER AND LEAVE STANDBY The standby is intended to be used between setup and event (see chapter 4.2.1). After setup is completed, all lights may be switched to standby mode and woken up later when the event starts. This ensures that no battery runtime is wasted. This can be either done manually or automated. Press the small arrow to open the standby menu.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.15 DMX SETTINGS To efficiently use the light with DMX, some settings can be adjusted by the AsteraApp™. Press the “DMX Configuration” button. Adjust all settings to your requirements, then press “Send”. Your lights will start to flicker. Tap the lights you wish to setup (chapter 7.9). Then press “Done”. 8.15.1 DMX Address The address can be either entered directly, or adjusted by the “+” and “-“ buttons. 8.15.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.15.3 Input Select The light accepts several input sources. By default, it is set to AUTO. In this mode, it listens to all sources, and the first source that becomes active is latched. Once a source is latched, the light will not listen to any other source anymore. This latched source is cleared by powering down the light or changing the INPUT SELECT manually.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 HINT: To avoid the light automatically latching onto CRMX while you want to control it by the AsteraApp control, please unpair it first (chapter 7.6). As soon as the App control is latched, the CRMX receiver will no longer accept pairing requests. 8.15.4 DMX Profiles A number of DMX Profiles can be selected. Each of the profiles can optionally contain a strobe channel.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 8.15.6 AX1 Compatibility Mode with RGB Profiles When using AX1 PIXELTUBES combined with TITAN, HELIOS or HYPERION Tubes in ‚AX1 Compatibility Mode‘ it is recommended to use profiles with RGB channels for best color matching instead of RGBW or RGBAW profiles. 8.16 DIMMER CURVE The dimmer curve sets how the light responds to intensity levels and changes. Most important, setting the right dimmer curve avoids steppy dimming response.
Astera LED Technology GmbH AX1 Technical Reference Manual 2020-08-25 9 VERSION HISTORY 15.04.2016 27.06.2017 03.11.2017 12.07.2018 16.07.2018 29.08.2018 25.08.
