Distance between Controller and 2811 strip

marsh28

Apprentice elf
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Feb 7, 2012
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63
I am using a ECG P-12 for 2811 strips. The 12 outputs are split between two separate 350W power supplies. One of the power supplies will control six outputs connected to six separate strips connected to my house. The second power supply will control 4 outlets controlling 4 cut up vertical 2811 strips on a fence. These 4 strips will be at least 40 feet from the Power supply and controller. I know I'll likely need to inject power to overcome voltage loss, however, how do I ensure the data signal does not degrade as it travels the 40 feet from the controller to each of the four strips? Will I need to add null pixels? How many would be needed?
 

ԆцряєсϮ

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Dec 24, 2011
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Botanic Ridge
Everyones setups are different as size and type of wire used along with how and where the cable is run will have an effect. With my setup I need to add a null pixel for anything over about 4.5 mtrs which is about 15' so for yours I would allow 3 nulls spaced evenly along the run.
 

DanJ

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Aug 14, 2013
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Last Christmas was my first time to sequence and to go RGB. I had problems with the "second" arch in series (furthest from power/signal) that I thought was due to my lack of soldering capabilities. After the fact I figured it was more probably due to signal cable length (which was on the order of 30' or so) without null pixels, as I didn't really see any physical problems with the soldering or any signal differences. I had used WS2811 strips running at 5V. You can always "breadboard" your setup and figure out at what distances you will need null pixels, but there is probably enough info right here on this site that you don't really have to "experiment"..
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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If you use heavy cable from the power supply to the 1st pixel it is entirely possible you can get away with 30 ft. I ran about 20ft with my pixel modules and had no issues. You do need to ensure that you are applying injection regularly as voltage drop will kill the data potentially before you notice any changes to pink or any other voltage related issues. I didn't use any cable under 1mm2 for injection. The further away from the power supply I got the heavier the cable I used.
 

logandc99

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Jul 13, 2012
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I managed just over 6m ( just over 20ft) last Xmas to a few of my 2811 strips but any further and things just went wacky. Used the standard 6m cables that Ray supplies plus pigtails either end.
 

marsh28

Apprentice elf
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
Messages
63
Thank for the info everyone. Would it be more cost effective to simply buy a ECG P2 to control the pixels on the fence since I won't need to inject power or use null pixels?
 

mborg10

Michael Borg
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Dec 28, 2011
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claremont meadows
I like the P2 for running long runs as you can get 4 universes from one output. They are cheap also. The p12 is good for things like mega trees matrixes or where things start close to each other.
I'd definitely look at a p2 but don't think you can avoid power injection that easy. It's just a way of life with pixels. The p2 doesn't have fuses for the outputs either so you will have to add one of those. P2 is definitely one of the cheapest controllers $/pixel you can buy.
 

Boof63

Senior elf
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Nov 7, 2011
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585
Location
Kadina
Do the null bit and just add into your elements list of pixels and leave it blank for the sequence. this way it appears to work as the P2 doesn't handle nulls unless they are the first pixels in the line, ie 1st universe will work ,but after that p2 wont pick them up as nulls even if you allocate in the software setup for the p2.
cheers Boof63
 
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