Channels and Universes

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DjSyko12

New elf
Joined
Jan 16, 2024
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I am new to using Xlights and my new Falcon controller with FPP on a raspberry pi. During my initial testing I did on the bench before running any lights on the house I was able to plug in a few lights to the controller and had some trouble getting it going. After fixing my ip settings and proxy settings and output settings on the fpp I was able to get Xlights to talk to the pixels and got a basic sequence to play thru FPP.
Moving forward I mounted my first string of lights on the roofline. total of 300 pixels on one string, connected to port 1 on the falcon. I also have power injection towards the middle and end of the run (which i may not have needed).
Trying to setup Xlights I created my first model as a two poly strings and used the visualizer to select both models hooked to port 1 on the falcon. I notice that when I upload the output settings to the controller it wasn't assigning the channels and universes correctly and only half the lights were lighting up. I messed around with it a few times trying to get it to auto size and full xlights control are all checked but i couldn't get it to put the right settings in automatically. I ended up turning off the auto size button on the controller settings and manually setup my channels and universes for the one string and now it is working sort of...
When I was testing on the bench I was able to click the light bulb icon on the sequence page to see the live sequence as I was playing with it but now that i have the lights on the house and am trying to do the same thing the light bulb button doesn't turn the lights on. Is it something with the proxy thru fpp? I want to use the FPP because I will be doing a music sequence. All the videos I have watched make it look so simple now that Xlights has the auto size feature but it doesn't seem to be working for me. Any ideas? I can provide screenshots later when I get home (I am at work right now)
Thanks in advance for your help! I am very excited about this project and can't wait to get more lights on the house but I am worried I will have to manually setup all my channels if the auto size feature doesn't work...
 
Letting xLights control everything will work very well... something simple must be wrong. When you can provide screenshots, send the controller settings screen and the visualizer for it. I assume there's a path for ethernet data from xLights to the Falcon so that output to lights would work, and that something is showing in xLights to be output... if these are both true then possibly the data going from xLights to the Falcon is not what the Falcon expects due to a configuration difference... but one thing at a time.

The controller's webpage ought to open from xLights - that would prove it is reachable and that the IP is correct.
Your layout ought to look right in the visualizer.
Upload to controller ought to work (verified by looking at the web page).
Then it is very likely that a selected effect or playing sequence in xLights would show on the lights. (If not, check that the Falcon can light the lights as a test to figure out which direction to head in search of the problems.)

Once all those things work for a single string, they're likely to keep working as you build a more complex setup.
 
May I suggest as a new starter that you forget E1.31, with its universes and channels, and use DDP instead.
The concept is much more straightforward as you only have channel numbers to deal with, and they match throughout the installation.
You also don't need to contend with universe sizes (510 v. 512) and the associated colour issues that come with it.

You want Auto Size, Auto Layout models, and Full xLights Control selected.
 
OK I checked everything again and it looks "right" to me. Here are screenshots of everything and pictures of what the lights are doing. Controller settings.jpgModels.jpgVisualizer Screen.jpgFalcon Pixel output.jpgFalcon E131 page.jpgXlights Output to lights.jpg
 
continued. So as you can see testing thru Xlights isn't lighting up all the pixels but testing thru the falcon is. it has to be something wrong somewhere in xlights..Xlights output to lights results.jpgFalcon Test.jpgFalcon Test Results.jpg
 
I
Skymaster said:
May I suggest as a new starter that you forget E1.31, with its universes and channels, and use DDP instead.
The concept is much more straightforward as you only have channel numbers to deal with, and they match throughout the installation.
You also don't need to contend with universe sizes (510 v. 512) and the associated colour issues that come with it.

You want Auto Size, Auto Layout models, and Full xLights Control selected.
Click to expand...

My first comment would be to listen to @Skymaster and use the DDP protocol. It makes a lot of things easier.

My second suggestion would be to create a new sequence from scratch to see if that solves the issue. It's certainly in issue with the way the pixel, channels, and universes are setup. Once more DDP will make it easier and more efficient. Also, if you have not done so I recommend updating the firmware on the controller. Normally they do not ship with the latest version on them.
 
Agree, looks right to me.
It's interesting that 40 pixels are lighting, which could be coincidence, or could be just the first 2 universes (340 pixels, 300 go to port 1) are working and the 3rd isn't. F16V5 is brand new, wonder about any issues there.
Definitely curious about the result using DDP.
 
Just noticed that you're using a proxy. This means that the FPP instance also needs to know about all this configuration. (In proxy mode it's DDP to FPP and then the selected protocol to the controller, in this case E1.31)
It could be exactly as MOC describes, the last universe is not working because it's not configured in FPP.

Have you done an FPP connect to ensure the config is up to date?

That being said, I notice the IP of FPP and the controller are in the same subnet, thereby negating the need for proxy mode - if you can get directly to the controller, then remove the FPP proxy IP from xLights and then the traffic will go direct.
 
Thank you guys for your help! So update....I reset my Falcon. I started fresh with a new layout and new sequence in Xlights. Also switched to DDP and removed the proxy ip from Xlights. Xlights is functioning correctly and all my lights are turning on! So that is great and I was very excited to see it working.
However now I have an issue getting the sequence to play thru the FPP on my raspberry pi.
On my FPP settings I have my outputs pointed at the Falcon IP address. I also had it under the proxy settings on the FPP to add the falcon ip address as a host. I uploaded my new sequence into FPP with the mp3 that goes with it. I created a schedule for the sequence to play at a certain time to test it. The mp3 started playing thru my speaker but none of the lights outside turned on. I went back into the FPP proxy settings and removed the falcon ip as a proxy host but the output settings still point to the falcon.... I cannot get the FPP to turn the lights on now...
What can I try next? :)
 
In FPP, go to the model overlay section and delete all the overlays there and let them get recreated. I've had issues in the past between shows with some of the same props and others ones are different where the model overlays needed to be recreated to make the lights show properly. Maybe just delete all the settings and let it reconfigure it when you start up. When you upload from FPP make sure to upload all the correct items.

FPPConnect.JPG

I do not use a proxy so that check box is off.
 
Indigogyre said:
In FPP, go to the model overlay section and delete all the overlays there and let them get recreated. I've had issues in the past between shows with some of the same props and others ones are different where the model overlays needed to be recreated to make the lights show properly. Maybe just delete all the settings and let it reconfigure it when you start up. When you upload from FPP make sure to upload all the correct items.

View attachment 25412

I do not use a proxy so that check box is off.
Click to expand...
I've never seen that screen before....that is in the FPP settings? I will look when I get home...still at work right now...
 
DjSyko12 said:
I've never seen that screen before....that is in the FPP settings? I will look when I get home...still at work right now...
Click to expand...
XLights, Tools->FPP Connect will give you the bit in the screenshot above which will allow xLights to configure FPP for you.
 
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