Integrate and interact
From themed entertainment to art installations, integrators and designers need lighting to react and adapt dynamically to a vast range of stimuli. Remote Input/Output devices (RIOs) allow your Pharos Designer LPCs and VLCs to interact with the world, to respond to events and triggers from other systems, people and the environment, and to send commands to other devices and systems.
Switches and sensors can indicate to the controller zone occupancy status, interactive exhibit pressure pads, or perhaps the position of a ride-car; potentiometers, sliders and variable sensors can for example send light levels, wind speed or temperature values which can be translated via triggers to a myriad of artistic lighting outcomes such as colour adjustment or timeline position and rate.
Relays can be triggered on cue to activate animatronics, fans or smoke machines to provide the show control for an immersive experience.
Flexible and configurable serial protocols allow commands to be sent and received between basic and advanced equipment for complete integration with projectors, sound and video systems and other themed attraction devices, for a seamless and perfectly orchestrated solution.
RIO 84
The Pharos RIO 84 is the new 8-in/4-out replacement for the three original RIOs (the RIO 80, 44 and 08) which have reached end of life.
Joining the Pharos RIO G4 and RIO D4, the RIO 84 is housed in our low-profile plastic DIN-rail enclosure, and is available at a comparable price point with a wider selection of ports on-board. The RIO is a Power-over-Ethernet device, which can be deployed wherever you need it, with just one cable for data and device power.
Each RIO 84 adds a further 8 input ports to your Designer control system for receiving data from sensors and switches. Configured using Designer software, the ports have many operating modes and flexible range settings. The inputs can be individually programmed as analogue for capturing variable range values, digital for threshold voltage triggering, or as open/close circuit contact closures. The 4 output ports are low-voltage relays to activate switches on other devices.
The multi-protocol serial port can send and recieve commands from other systems over RS232 and RS485 with configurable data rate and format settings, or can be configured as a convenient additional DMX port on the system, supporting a full-universe (512 channels) of remote DMX output or DMX input for triggering. Existing RIOs were limited to 96 channels of output, but we are lifting this restriction across all RIO variants from Designer 2.16 to allow 512 channels of output on all RIO serial ports.
Multiple RIO 84s can be added to your network to provide integration wherever I/O is needed. Pharos Designer systems are extremely flexible and scalable, seamlessly combining controllers and remote devices to build whatever control solution you require. There are impressive system limits for remote device count, which includes all types of RIO (including Audio, Gateway and DALI) as well as EDNs, TPS and BPS. The DIN-rail LPCs support 64 remote devices each, and the 19″ rack-mount controllers support 100 remote devices each, with a maximum across a project (multiple controllers) of 200 remote devices.
Architainment lighting solutions
From a janitor key-switch override, to an interactive museum exhibit, to an art sculpture responding to passers-by, to a multi-system integrated theme park experience, Pharos RIOs provide Designer controllers with eyes and ears on the world.
