Failure Rate?

[Binkles]

I'm not sure if I'm unlucky or what, I've hooked up 80 pixels so for from Ray - 48 from one strip (ws2811 12v) and 32 from a second and I have 1 pixel from each string which has already failed colours.

The first one has lost Green and Blue, the second has lost blue at this stage.

The worst thing is, they're in the middle of strings, so will have to cut them out.

Could there be anything else? I've only used the test pattern on the p2.

 

[GoofyGuy]

which strip? Ive had 0 failures of the 2811 style pixels so far. 2801 I had so many I threw everything I had with 2801 on it last year directly into the dumpster.

 

[Binkles]

The 5m 12v ws2811 in the tube.

I'm using two of the 5m rolls, haven't tried the third one yet

 

[remoteutah]

Have you setup any software yet, Binkles? The reason I ask is because LSP has a controller test that will allow you to check each bank of eight pixels by rgb sliders. That way you can confirm what part of which pixels on each strip are bad. If they are bad right out of the package, I would contact Ray.

 

[fasteddy]

You need to treat this very carfully when handling the strip before mounting it to a solid substrate like conduit or corex. What can hapen if you bend the strip to tight or too much is that the solder joints can break, thus causing failiures. Have a little play around the section that has failed by pressing around on the components and if you see any the lights come back on then thats the issue.

Out of 20 strips i have had 1 failure and that is a bad solder joint that was caused when my tree had initially collapsed in the strong winds. I have actually found the 2811 to be the most reliable strip to date that i have used.

 

[David_AVD]

I had one section (3 LEDs) that had no red on one roll of 2811 strip. That was before I attached to the conduit. Wasn't too hard to replace with another section but somewhat annoying.

 

[fasteddy]

All the strip i have bought in the past has always had one or 2 sections not working correctly when bought in batches, i always put in a 5% failure rate in my equation so im not dissapointed because i know Im buying from China and quality control is sus at best so i always factor in some failures because we are getting this stuff very cheap compared to buying locally but the reality is ive never had anything even close to a 5% failure rate. But with the 2811 i was surprised I had no initial failures compared to previous strips ive bought in the past.

So if doing DIY and buying from China then you must expect some failures, its not hard to cut out and replace or to run a soldering iron over the electronics incase there are any brocken solder joints. It is DIY and the focus of DIY is saving money and with that you then have to expect that things like quality control may suffer and some things may need a little work. If there are major issues then contact Ray and he will fix it.

 

[Kaden]

Last year I had lots of minor failures on my 2811 strips

I found that if you push on the LEDs/chip/resistors individually you will find the culprit.

I unplugged the strip then touched each solder point with my soldering iron to ensure a good connection.

I did have one complete pixel failure mid season, but given my pixel count was somewhere around 800 I'd say that is pretty reliable

 

[remoteutah]

So question... if you have a bad pixel, but the chip seems to be ok... can you use it as a null pixel?

 

[fasteddy]

Yes because if its still transfering the data through to the next pixel then it would make for a perfect null pixel

 

[remoteutah]

That is kinda what I thought. So if you encased it in a piece of sealed pvc with cat5 connectors on each end (marked in and out) with power injection input (optional)... you would basically make an in-line booster/repeater.

 

[jediknight2]

I thought my failure rate was going to be low...I only had 2 pixels go out while up on the house and LUCKILY they were the easiest to get to. That was out of 700 pixels. However, the failure I did see was the result of water getting past the LED and onto the circuity board which had a bubble where the resin didn't completely cover the board. I went out last week to put up a quick show for a neighbor returning home from Afghanistan and I unfortunately had maybe 4 more pixels out for the same reason. Not sure what I am going to do about this for next year yet...

 

[remoteutah]

Based on your post, I am not sure if you are using modules or strips. I just got some of these in from Ray:


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/BLACK-PCB-5m-WS2811-LED-digital-strip-30leds-m-with-30pcs-WS2811-built-in-the-5050/684974109.html


They come in nice super flexible flat silicone tubing and I really like the dispersion the silicone gives. Other than the end caps, the stuff is pretty much immersible. If you are using strips, I would contract Ray and see if he will sell you some of this basically waterproof silicone tubing with some end caps. It can't cost much.

 

[DeeJai]

I too had some minor failuresduring the last season, our of 750ish pixels, I counted a total loss of 6 pixels. 3 had lost a certain coulour, 2 required pressure on the connection (cuttable area) to correct the issue, and 1 pixel was completely gone.

Not sure of the cause of it, im thinking for the cuttable section issues, it was just poor connection, and I know the dead pixel was from water ingress, but the others unsure of.

But to have less then .8% failure i thought is pretty good.

I was using 12v 2801 strip and modules each with silicone coating.

 

[fasteddy]

One thing i did have happen with the 2811 strip is that each section is actually part of a bigger section and these sections are soldered together. I had the solder join pull apart, but that was more my doing (well my son really) by applying to much force on the strip and stretching to hard.

Matt the section that needs to be held with pressure is easy fixes, just do a small cut long ways in the strip tube for that section so the cover can be peeled back then just run a soldering iron across the chip and components and this should resolder any damaged solder joints.

But if we compare the failure rate to our old traditional incands or LEDs then the rate is still way low.