Falcon expansion boards aren't really as expected?

[OldMarty]

Hi all,

I was looking at some articles and videos about the Falcon F16 expansion ports, and to my disappointment they're not really "expansion" boards at all.
The F16 has 16 pixelports on board that control 1024 channels/LEDs per port. Multiply this by 16 ports and you can control 16,384 channels/LEDs.

However, adding 1 or 2 more 16port expansion ports does NOT offer 32,768 or 49,152 channels/LEDs as i'd expect.

All these boards do is simply allow the user to spread/share your props across other physical ports and offer some wiring de-clutter and improve power sharing to avoid loading ports with too much current requirements.

I understand now that if i want more than 16,384 channels, i'll need to network multiple Falcon controllers to achieve more than 16,384 channels/LEDs.
I'm sure the ARM processor is probably very busy with controlling 16,384 channels, and going beyond that will certainly degrade speed & performance.

The expansion boards should be renamed to distribution boards as they don't really expand the number of channels, they simply redistribute channels onto "other" physical boards.

I hope i fully understand this expansion concept and i hope it helps other newbies from buying boards that they don't need ;-)

 

[Katekate]

The features of the falcon controllers are well known.

the expansion boards expand the number of ports. the total number of pixels you can process remains unchanged.

v4 controllers don't have quite as tight restrictions with support for 1024 pixels on all ports with 1 expansion, and up to 704 with two. however you can't put 704 pixels on every port as there is not enough supported input channels. the 192 universe limit gives you a total of 32768 pixels.

check out the spec sheet daryl posted in your other thread.

 

[darylc]

I was looking at some articles and videos about the Falcon F16 expansion ports, and to my disappointment they're not really "expansion" boards at all.

I disagree with this assertion. Worse case, they expand the number of ports and power capabilities of the board. The actual detail depends on which controllers you are talking about. F16v4 they also expand the total number of pixels the board can do.

 

[franky_888]

I guess their use of the term 'expansion' lends itself more to the footprint of your pixel outputs rather than the shear number of pixels you can drive. Keep in mind also that that 1024 number is for a 20fps refresh rate, at 40fps your number is lower as well (around the 680 mark).

Another pointer though, just because the board is capable of 1024x16 pixels, doesn't mean its necessarily a good idea to do so. If you're constrained by budget, then sure, however after your first couple of pixel failure's you'll learn why having 1024 pixels strung off a single output is a bad idea.

The 1024 pixels per port should, in my opinion, speak to the F16's (and other similarly capable boards) flexibility.

 

[i13]

Your description applies to the F16V3 but not the F4V3 or the F16V4. Also note that the number of channels does not equal the number of pixels; Every pixel is three channels.

franky_888 makes a good point about the frame rate too.

 

[OldMarty]

Your description applies to the F16V3 but not the F4V3 or the F16V4. Also note that the number of channels does not equal the number of pixels; Every pixel is three channels.

franky_888 makes a good point about the frame rate too.

Gosh, i'm lost again, i just raised the 1024 channel versus pixel numbers in my other thread as i thought 1024 divided by 3 (RGB) allows only 341 physical RGB LEDs per port, but i was assured and sent documents that states 1024 "pixels" per port.

am i not understanding "channels" correctly?

 

[BooY]

It says it the quoted line you stated. 1024 PIXELs per port aka CIRCA 3k channels

 

[franky_888]

Gosh, i'm lost again, i just raised the 1024 channel versus pixel numbers in my other thread as i thought 1024 divided by 3 (RGB) allows only 341 physical RGB LEDs per port, but i was assured and sent documents that states 1024 "pixels" per port.

am i not understanding "channels" correctly?

I guess so?

Each Pixel has 3 channels, one channel for Red, one for green, one for blue.

Each output is good for UP TO 1024 pixels, so 3072 channels.

Have you had a read of the 101 manual yet? It outlines these definitions, it might help to have a refresher if you haven't read through it recently. Admittedly it took me a while to get my head around some of these concepts too.

 

[OldMarty]

I guess so?

Each Pixel has 3 channels, one channel for Red, one for green, one for blue.

Each output is good for UP TO 1024 pixels, so 3072 channels.

Have you had a read of the 101 manual yet? It outlines these definitions, it might help to have a refresher if you haven't read through it recently. Admittedly it took me a while to get my head around some of these concepts too.

I'll read it (again , again) lol ;-)

 

[Mark_M]

I was looking at some articles and videos about the Falcon F16 expansion ports, and to my disappointment they're not really "expansion" boards at all.

What articles and videos did you find on this?