18M Mod vs. Slats questions

[Birdman]

I need to double my cues and currently have three 18M mods. I'm adding 3 more positions to my show (back left, center and right). Two positions will be mirrored (back left and right). Technically I could use either three 18M mods or two 18M mods with one equipped with quick plugs and use 6S slats. I could also use an 18M with slats and use an 18S slat.

I've been debating which direction to go for months now and have yet to settle on an option, although I've been leaning towards just getting three 18M's. My questions are:

Assuming I need to run about 50 feet of cable between mods/slats, do I need to concern myself with the gauge of the wire(s) used? There seems to be a significant cost and availability difference between standard cables (thinner wire) and those like what Cobra sells (thicker wire). I've seen a video of someone using two 35' 28 ga. DB25 cables and both slats fired. So it seems wire ga. may only be an issue with longer runs or when needing to fire many MJG's across many slats.

Are there any issues using onboard cue's with series slats? I recall hearing somewhere that onboard cues are wired in parallel so it is recommended that you not use onboard cues with series slats. In my case this really only pertains to the 18M with slats mod because I do not intend to purchase quick plug MJG's, at least in the next year or so. Therefore the onboard cues on the 18M with quick plugs would be unusable in my case so I would need to wire to slats at the mod location anyway. It seems series slats are preferred because you can fire more MJG's in series than in parallel. Not really an issue for me this year but thinking ahead it seems purchasing series slats make more sense.

A couple of other questions I've had:

If I'm mirroring all of the cues in two or more mods should I just set the mods to the same channel or use different channels and script my show to fire the mirrored cues on the mod at the same time? Because I never mirrored all 18 cues in a mod I have used different channels and script to fire mirrored cues at the same time. As of now I intend to continue scripting separate cues/channels. I like to use my script as reference when I'm ordering product, setting up etc. and this method seems to spell out things more clearly without additional note taking. Minor, so if there are any benefit to using the mods on the same channel instead I will do that. The only benefit I can see is less scripting, which is already complete.

When using series slats but not all cues are being used on all slats do I need to jumper the unused cues? What about unused onboard cues? What about parallel slats?

I have attached a layout to help visualize my layout and hopefully help you make recommendations on what direction I should go.

5329

Any help would greatly appreciated and will hopefully help others too.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

So I'm not a slat expert having only used them for the first time this year. Having said that, they are a huge time and mod saver. In my opinion, buying more 18M's to mirror your cues is a HUGE waste of money. Three 6 cue slats (or whatever type you chose to buy) and RJ-45 cables are much cheaper than an 18M and don't require any scripting. When cue 1 on the 18M fires, cue 1 on the slat will fire. Simple. With regard to your question about length and gauge of wire... Yes it maters. The numbers are on the Cobra site as to what you can do with the 18M configured however yours are configured. In my case, all of my 18M's have the LiPo battery option, and my RJ-45 runs were 75'. I believe the most I had on any one cue were 6 items (three on each side) and they all fired.

Hope that helps.

[Birdman]

So a ran some numbers quickly using standard options (e.g. no case, no LiPo Battery etc.). If I'm using slats I would at a minimum want back protectors as the slats come with no protection for the back of the board. The cost savings for what I need is around $200 getting 1 slat supported mod vs. 3 18M mods. Add in back protectors and the savings drops to about $150. I did not use sale pricing or include shipping or tax.

18M w/ onboard cues 315 x3 = 945
18M w/ (1) quick plugs (1) onboard cues (same price) 315 x2 + 6s slats 16 x6 = 726 Difference 219 (w/ slat protectors 159)
18M w/ Slats 390 x1 + 315 x1 + 18s mini (included) 17 x1 (additional) 42 x1 = 764 Difference 181 (w/slat protectors 145)

I also did not include cables which depending on the types of cables I use could potentiality drop the difference even more. Using cobra cables I'd be looking at an additional $50 for a DB25 and three 75' RJ45 cables (no 50' available) would be $150. That doesn't include the additional short cables I would need coming off the mod to the first set of slats.

I think I answered my own question here although I may still opt for an 18M with (18S) slat(s). One minor annoyance I have is you have to pay extra for an 18S without quick plugs while an 18S with quick plugs is included free (just seems Apple-esque IMO). For somewhere around $200 additional I can have three 18M's instead of two and don't have to worry about all of these unanswered questions and issues involving cables, slats etc. I honestly feel slats add additional points of failure to worry about. Worth it if you're able to eliminate several mods but to save $200?

I totally understand where your coming from, Rick. I believe in your case it did/does makes sense to go the slat route, as in most cases. I know you have mods with cases, LiPo batteries and you are/were able to use many less mods by using slats. You also use quick plug MJG's (on a side note a quick plug to speaker terminal board would be nice for those of us not using quick plugs).

Unless I can get some more answers it will probably come down to a shopping day decision on Friday when I can compare actual sale prices with the options I want. It's either going to be three 18M's w/ onboard cues or one 18M w/ onboard cues and one 18M with slats. I think I've pretty much ruled out the 18M with quick plugs. Decisions decisions.....

[esgrillo]

I use a bunch of slats with my 18ms 36ms and 72m. They are the way to go if you are doing the 3 position set up. I started with 2 18ms and a mile of scab lol.

I have all 18 and 36 mini slats with the regular speaker terminals. with the exception of a bunch of 6s mini slats I ran around my pond last year.

On board is parallel and Scott recommended to me to use parallel slats if you are using onboard. I also have series slats as well on a 36m without onboard. You have to use jumpers on all open cues on the slats for series.

If i was you I would get an 18m lipo with the slat option and 18s mini slats for your other 2 stations. I use only cobra cables so I cant give a perspective on other brands. They are super heavy duty and the 25m ones are heavy as you know what. I get the covers for all my slats. They cost extra but when you look at the after photos in my and other videos you need to cover those terminals with something as crap gets all over them. The cobra covers work well, look great, and can be mounted to just about anything.

That being said I plan on adding another 18m this year and am getting one with the regular onboard, slat option, lipo, and breakout plug to the RJ45 outputs going to mini slats. I am just adding some additional flexibility in my case because I already have the capacity to mirror like you want... regular slats are perfect for that.

[Birdman]

Thanks Ed! This helps clear up the question about using parallel slats if you are using the onboard cues. I don't have cases on my mods so I know how much debris can get on them. I never had a problem getting them cleaned up but that does require some extra work. They still look like new though. The RJ45 breakout cable is a great option to have which is why I'm not even considering the 18M with quick plugs at this point. I can have both options with the 18M w/ slats and that cable. I actually have two 6S series slats I purchased to test anticipating this was the direction I was going in but messed up and didn't add a quickplug cue strip to my order. Not sure if I'll get the cue strip(s) or just get the RJ45 breakout cable when I decide to use them.

[Birdman]

So for anyone that may be interested I went with two 18M's one with onboard cues and one with slats. With options (LiPo (both), 1 charger, 50' 22AWG DB25 cable, (1) 18S parallel slat w/ back protection and antenna caps (both)), the difference was right around $150 as I expected. In the end I decided I will most likely be using more slats in the future so why not start taking advantage of that option today. I still believe three 18M's for $150 more is a better value, my hope is that acquiring the slat capability today will ultimately save me more in the end. Also, it's hard to go against the opinion of Rick and Ed.