Flood lights are a great way to create "volume" in your display and when you add in the versatility of full color RGB and individual flood control using DMX , it only gets better!For an updated and pre-assembled flood, see our 10w RGB flood .
For a complete kit including controller, power supplies and flood lights, see our Flood Kits
Hands on with the floods NOTE: Floods no longer available Pre-assembled
What's in the Kit? NOTE: Floods no longer available Pre-assembled
Chad Richins Display (6 Floods)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many flood lights can I run using the DMX + CAT5 system?
Q: What is the power consumption of the flood light?
Q: What is the maximum length of CAT5 cable that can be used with these floods?
As the length of any cable increases, so does the level of resistance within the cable. As this resistance increases, the voltage also drops, resulting in lower power output at the flood. While there are a number of factors that affect voltage drop (wire alloy, wire gauge, cable design, connectors) - we have a
Knowledgebase Article that provides additional information about how to measure and test for the maximum lengths of cable.
Q: Can these floods be used for landscape lighting?
Q: How many flood lights will I need to light up my house / garage / fence / porch / other?
A: There are a number of factors that affect the number of floods required for your display. Due to the number of different situations and factors, we would recommend reviewing the following information and then watching some of the Customer Videos (tab on this page) to determine the number of floods that will be right for your display. If you are not sure, start with one and perform testing aginst your specific structure.
Reflectivity of surface - If you are reflecting the light off of a surface (as opposed to directly pointing them at your audience as "blinders"), this will have the greatest affect on the floods usability and output. Examples of surfaces that reflect poorly are - dark brick, dark painted surfaces, roofing, trees, dark stucco or any other dark surface. When illuminating a dark surface, additional flood lights will be required. Consider placing your floods in front of windows with white blinds or against props or structures that are lighter in color.
Height and width of area - These floods output at an angle of about 120 degrees, as such, the area they will cover varies depending on the distance from the area being lit. So, placing them 10ft away from a wall will cover a larger area but at a lower level of light compared to a flood only 5ft away from a wall. If this area is highly reflective (white), this may not be an issue but if the area is dark, you may need to move the flood in closer and add additional floods for full coverage. Also consider where you are placing the flood - if you are attempting to illuminate the underside of a second story soffit, you would be better to place the floods in an elevated position closer to the second story, such as on a lower roof.
Structure / house design - it is always easiest to illuminate a smooth, flat surface. Given that most houses have elements that prevent this, such as columns, curves, porches, windows, protrusions and other design elements that break up the dispersion of light, often more than one or many floods are required to archive a smooth and even coverage over the entire area being illuminated. As a side benefit of using a number of floods is that you can now control each one individually, allowing more complex sweeps or chases over the face of the structure.
Q: Should I use a "High Output" flood or a lower level output flood?
A: There are a number of factors that determine if would be better to use a High Output flood or a simpler, lower level output flood:
High output lights usually cost about $100-350+ per flood due to their need to more complex housings due to heat dissipation issues (higher output LED based floods are less efficient.)
High output lights are great where you need a huge amount of light in a focused area, such as up lighting a tree. Where this can be an issue is when they are used on houses or other large objects. When you light up a house, you want smooth even color over the entire face of the house. Since most houses are not completely flat, that means that you'll have columns, gables, soffits, porches, etc that need lighting directly on them to ensure that there are no dead spots or shadows. This is accomplished just like the theater does it - with a range of overlapping lights. That then means you need lots of them, say, 4-10 floods, not just one or two. To test this on your home, get a large flash light and stand in your yard where you want to place the flood light(s). Then look for how well the coverage is, how far back you need to be to get the area of coverage and if there are dead spots.
The more floods you have, the more sequencing options you have. If you have 4, 6 or 8 floods over the face of a house, you can easily chase or "roll" colors over the face of the house. When you have one or two high powered floods, the effect is greatly diminished.
Additional/Related Assembly Videos
Step-by-Step Flood Light Assembly Video
(showing switch-less DMX controller)
RGB Flood Assembly Instructions from Holiday Coro on Vimeo .
Our floods use our DMX Signal+Power over CAT5 system. Here is a video that shows how to produce a power injector:
How to build the HolidayCoro RGB Power Injector from Holiday Coro on Vimeo .
Additional examples of flood lights:
David Williams Display with six Floods:
Edward Czajka's Display:
VIDEO
Don Johnson's Display with six flood lights:
Eugene Alexander's Display with four floods mounted in the soffits pointing down:
VIDEO
Julie's 2012 Display with three floods (two on garage, one on front porch):
VIDEO
Kevin Devoll's Display using RGB floods as blinders (pointing directly at video, not reflecting off a surface). Video is slightly under exposed:
VIDEO
Rick's "For Freedom" Reflective Event:
Product Features
General Product Information
A wide variety of uses, including on and off season:
Animated Christmas and Halloween displays
DJ / Parties / Weddings
Uses easy to find flood light housings that can be purchased from a variety of local and on-line sources. This allows you to pick the housing design and color that works best for you. See links below.
Simple to build with our step-by-step assembly video. Most floods take 15-20 minutes for assembly of the first flood and about 10 minutes for subsequent floods.
Lower power consumption than standard incandescent flood lights along with the ability to select any color - not just a single color
A Do It Yourself build means you save the money
Included, optional and customer supplied items
Items included with this item/product/bundle:
One DMX Controller (DIP Switch Settings)
Ten, LED retangle modules, which each have three, 5mm x 5mm RGB LEDs for a total of 90 RGB lights (30 per color)
LED mounting board that fits into selected flood lights (see below for list)
One 3.5ft long CAT5 cable for use in DMX + Power over CAT5
3 Way CAT5 splitter to allow daisy chaining of floods
Required items for operation:
Optional itemsFlood securing methods (varies by location mounted)
Customer supplied tools or items:
Assembly Instructions
Video: (see FAQ & Documentation tab on this page)
Written: None
Estimated assembly time:
First unit: 15-20 minutes
Additional units: 10 minutes or less
Technical Specifications
Color: White (mounting board)
Temperature Range (controllers and LEDs)
Operation: 0 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
Storage: -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit
Certifications & Approvals
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Certified/Recognized/Approved: No
CE: No
ROHS (Lead Free): No / Unknown
Compatibility
All DMX512 output devices including:
Power / Signal / Wiring
Wiring / Interface:
DMX input (see Knowledge Base for wiring details )
Protocol: DMX512/1990
Signal: RS-485
Blue: RS-485 Negative
Red: RS-485 Positive
Black: Ground (not typically connected)
Power input
Voltage Range: 7 to 12v DC
Red: Positive 12v
Black: Negative 12v
Signal (PWM) output:
Dimming Levels / Steps: 8 Bit / 256 (DMX Maximum)
Black: Common positive 12v (shared)
Red: Red / Channel 1 common negative
Green: Green / Channel 2 common negative
Blue: Blue / Channel 3 common negative
Warranty & Support
Warranty period
60 days from date of purchase OR until December 31st of the year in which the product was purchased. For complete information, see our warranty details .
Customization: No
Product Revision history
23-Apr-14 - Product updated to work with DIP switch based controller 02-Feb-12 – Initial product release