My first attempted layout with RGB

sck1ng said:

Anyone want to chime in on what do use? This year I just am going to do patterns and now really a show.

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Nutcracker/Xlights is going to be your friend. This is the right tool for the job

sck1ng said:

Well I'm annoyed now.. I was planning to have everything finished and ready to put up this weekend but the place I ordered the waterproof pigtails and extensions from didn't put the pigtails into the box so I couldn't finish my strips this past weekend. So I emailed him and he sent me out the pigtails but couldn't ship till Tuesday as he was away on vacation. Well he shipped them Tuesday but only sent them UPS ground and now I won't get them till Tuesday of next week. So now I won't be able to get everything finished for another two weeks. Anyone know of a US retailer that would have pigtails at a local store? Home Depot or Lowes?

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You could check, Holidaycoro, adafruit, diyledexpress. I'm sure you could expedite shipping. I've never found them at box stores

Just noticed your power wires to the controller are sorta on the thing side, you may want to beef them up a little bit.

I currently have 18awg from the PS to the controller. Should I have 16awg?

Adam007 said:

Just noticed your power wires to the controller are sorta on the thing side, you may want to beef them up a little bit.

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So I am going to try something this year to see how it works. I bought a wireless 802.11n adapter that plugs into the Ethernet to see how it reacts. Seems to work smoothly but I need to test it more when my sequencer is set up. I used Luminaire on my iPhone and it worked pretty good and didn't seem to delay. Since I won't be working with music this year I am thinking this would be a good solution. The adapter is made by iogear.

Ok.. Live and Learn.. The wireless adapter doesn't work too well.. Will have to run an ethernet wire out to the controller.. Looks like I will be using XLights since it will work with both my Mac and Windows machines (Mac being my primary machine).. Getting closer.. Hope to have them up next weekend.

I had some issues with my e6804 yesterday and I could not get it to work. The ethernet would light but nothing else. I emailed Jim at Sandevices about the problem and I am going to send him this board back and he is sending me a replacement. I also ordered two more e6804's and he already has them in the mail. Jim has been great.



Well I have updated my schematic with my new plan.. Weird how things keep evolving. I need to stop changing or I could go bankrupt.. I got a Raspberry Pi today and will be putting Falcon Player on it to run the show. I also am going to setup a second box as to shorten my distances of wire and to add some RGB floods. So far I have been able to run the strips directly connected to the e6804 without any power issues. I am not sure at what voltage I should be worried at the end of the line. I was getting more than 8.5 DCV at the end of the 75 pixel strip at full strength. None of the LEDs seem to be having any issues. I will test again with the exact wire configuration before putting the strips up.


I also got a Wireless 802.11n nano USB adapter for the Raspberry Pi so I can update it from my iMac.
Feeling more comfortable with this setup than I had before.

Well I got the new e6804s and they run great. I also finally got my pig tails in and I installed them on the strips. Soldering them on has been a frustrating learning experience but I think I have a technique I am comfortable with but not very pretty. My preliminary tests show that on the 80px strip I either have to inject power or break up the strip. I will be closer to a conclusion tonight when I unroll all my strips and hook them all up and see how they look. The down side to breaking up the strip is that I will eat up a channel on the second e6804, the downside to injecting power is that I have to run a wire about the full length of the strip to inject power. I have not had time to play with the Rasberry Pi yet. My goal is to have the strips all soldered up and weather tight by Saturday night so I can install them on Sunday, then I will start working on the software side. I am waiting for my second power supply and CG-1500 to arrive on the 26th and I really hope Ray Wu gets my 10W floods shipped today. I hope to get them before Thanksgiving so I can have everything complete by Thanksgiving weekend and running. Its running close. We shall see.

Well after not be able to figure out how to get my strips into new silicone tubes I almost gave up.. Someone mentioned PEX so I decided to take a look. Looks like a great alternative so I picked up a 100ft roll for $30 at Home Depot (cheaper than the silicone tubes) but the fittings can get expensive. The 1/2" PEX works great. I am doing the final seals on the ends of two runs. I am going to finish up the next couple pieces over the next couple nights.

I know they say the UV light can degrade the PEX over time but obviously most are referring to its original purpose of keeping pressurized water in and no mention of keeping unpressurized water out. My main hope is that is that it holds it color at least.

Wish I could find somewhere to get that PEX from in Australia, it looks great.

Same problem here. Nothing like pex in south Africa and no real alternatives either.

Might have to take the plunge and just order a couple of meters to try.

Well I got all my strips up on the roof line. Feels like I been working on this forever. The PEX looks great with the strips in them. Few things I would do different though. I would use all 90deg elbows where the wires come out. I would also drill and rivet the fittings onto the PEX and not rely on silicone to hold the fitting straight as well as seal the pipe. They would end up spinning like there was not silicone there at all. It compromised all my seals I had done. I hope spray on electrical tape will seal these ends up. Another thing I would do different is not wait till last minute to get this done. I would have put them up in September or Early October instead of the end of November. The PEX will straighten out but its not easy.


Well my next step is to get my second PSU and e6804 up and running as well as my Rasberry Pi. Hope to have that done on Sunday and have all my other lights up and get everything running. Too bad I have to work tomorrow and Saturday..

My second PSU and E6804 are put together with a fused power injection set up. Now I have to redo the first setup to look like this one.

First box is now redone.. Time for bed and tomorrow morning and put together the Raspberry Pi and start putting things together outside. Feels good that things are progressing.