Ren32 vs Lynk Express

[isellgum]

I recently ordered a couple of the Ren32 kits with seperate ACSSRs.  At $36 for the board and $36 for the SSRs that seems like a very low cost per channel.  Is there a particular reason people prefer the Lynk Express and LOR boxes? I know that there is difference in protocol but is it really that big of a difference?   
Thanks for any input you can offer.

[David Pitts]

I have 12 RenardSS24's and 1 Ren64 with 8 SSR's. The Ren32 and Ren64 with SSR's are great when you are going in many different directions to elements in your yard or roof. I prefer the Renard controllers myself. They can also run in DMX mode. I never had a problem with any of them.

[Skunberg]

People start with LOR as it's very common, easy to find, setup and use. The Renard and Lynx are diy solder up the board from the same roots. RJ left to make his own path and hardware. I'm sure you'll be very happy with Renard. I love all mine. Ren64, ren32, ren24hc, ren16ss and some others.

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[mms]

We (PK and I) both use Expresses.  I found the assembly to be straight forward and the setup to be pretty simple.  It's well-supported and a number of people will respond to help troubleshoot if you do have an issue.  A great DIY option that's reliable.  We've had no issues at all... 2 of mine stay out year round and fire up when I need them too.

[jnealand]

The reason I did not go with Renard was that the number of variations was so confusing I could not tell which was which and there is not one definitive source to compare them all or to acquire them from.  With Lynx there is one source and lots of information.

[JonB256]

7 or 8 years ago, whenever the Carson Williams "Wizards" video hit YouTube with a vengeance, I did searches to see what hardware/software he used. I came across Light-O-Rama. I did not like the hardware pricing, though. So, I went with the D-Light kits. First some 8 channel boards, then some 16 channel boards. I did use LOR software and protocol. Vixen was not an option then. I had odd troubles with timing and lag with the LOR protocol, so I wanted to switch to DMX. When LOR finally updated their Advanced software to support DMX but my D-Light boards did not. I got involved with several people and they (I was a tester, not a programmer) wrote new Firmware to support DMX on almost all the D-Light Hardware. Very cool, and my display never looked crisper. My Pixel based Firefli units, that I still use, were incredibly improved in performance and features. 

In my DMX reading and involvement in the Lone Star Holidays Academy, I came across the DLA stuff. Since I liked to solder my own boards, I got some Lynx Expresses and some USB Dongles, then Etherdongles, DC boards, DMX testers, then into SSCs and Hubs.

But, I never seriously considered the Renard side. There seemed to be too many options and divergent products. There are a lot of other devices out there that I choose to ignore, too.

I'm really semi-ignoring many of the E1.31 options. While I really do appreciate the use of E1.31 coming out of my PC's Ethernet card  for CPU usage and quantity of universes/channels, I still cling to the strengths of RS485 communication over CAT5 cable (i.e., DMX and Pixelnet). So I don't have any SanDevices pixel boards or J1Sys pixel boards, though I do have a very nice J1Sys E1.31 to 4 universe DMX board.

[Nightowlz1966]

I have (12) Lynx expresses that I just acquired this year and started getting rid of my Dlight AC16's.
I have been looking at the renard 24's also and notice there are 2 different version from 2 different people
with the integrated ssr's I kinda like the design that has all the outputs at the bottom but would be happy
with the ones that have the outputs grouped into 6 channels anybody got any input on the differences in
these 2 versions? 

[David Pitts]

I have (12) Lynx expresses that I just acquired this year and started getting rid of my Dlight AC16's.
I have been looking at the renard 24's also and notice there are 2 different version from 2 different people
with the integrated ssr's I kinda like the design that has all the outputs at the bottom but would be happy
with the ones that have the outputs grouped into 6 channels anybody got any input on the differences in
these 2 versions?

I have only used the RenSS24 and I like them very much.

[Nightowlz1966]

Is that the ones with the outputs in groups of 6 ?

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[David Pitts]

Is that the ones with the outputs in groups of 6 ?

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No 24 straight across the bottom.

[Skunberg]

The ren24SS was developed for newcomers, easy to build, extra connection options, easy to support for those with questions. The Ren24hc is based on a older design and functions the same but can carry more current than the ss series and fits in a smaller box.

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