Feeling disheartened

[bbayjohn]

I went from

to this

As you can see it all worked before the weekend. Then we had a 40* day followed by rain. I will take it down tomorrow and see what went wrong.

Even the p12s failed. It turned on the lights when powered up and then after the reset it didn't power down the lights. Ran in test mode via both toggle and computer test mode. Still wouldn't shutdown. Tried resetting everything and still light would only turn off after ps was turned off.
:'( no time to reorder

 

[David_AVD]

Sounds possible that the pixels powered up in a random state and were not listening to the P12S at all.

How many outputs on the P12S are feeding the pixels?

 

[bbayjohn]

Only 50 pixel nodes are connected to each of the 12 outputs.

 

[Benslights]

could it be water getting in as I had that last year when some got water in them. when it dried out all fine

 

[bbayjohn]

I hope so

 

[Boof63]

same thing on my seizure star/ rain in and several nodes went out . took it down and used hair dryer on everything and that seemed to fix it, Haven't ahd any more rain so not sure if we will have same problem, but another 40 degree day would help!!
best of luck, cheers Boof63

 

[ShellNZ]

I feel for ya John

We have had rain every day for the last 2wks, some not too heavy, some total downpours all day.

Its well and truly testing my waterproofing abilities.

Im finding its the stuff that I used last year (like you) that is suffering.

 

[bbayjohn]

Thought it may of been that I had not configured the board correctly. Compared it to another p12 and the setting are the same.
Still having the same issues hasn't dried out yet maybe.

 

[BundyRoy]

I know what you mean about being disheartened. When I blew up a heap of my new pixels I felt pretty bad and couldn't even get the motivation to have a crack at fixing them for a few days. Mainly because I know my fixing skills weren't that good. Anyway did some sequencing for a while and then got back into the repairs. Nearly every time the repairs have been easier/less time consuming than I expected. Here's hoping yours turn out to be the same.

I ran my whole show as one unit for the first time last night. That gives you a big buzz, to see it all actually working. The only hiccup was I had removed a null pixel and when I changed the controller set up instead of changing the 1 to a 0 I changed it to 10. Things didn't line up so well there for a while.

I hope all goes well for the repairs John and that you don't need any replacements. Good luck. I've got my fingers crossed.

We had 44C here on Saturday. Hopefully my lights don't see too much more of that. Another double dose of 40 predicted for Friday/Saturday. Hopefully it doesn't bring much wind either.

40C would be unheard of in the bay wouldn't it.

 

[bbayjohn]

40deg days are rare here. If we are going to have another hot weekend, I best get up on the roof before my shoes melt on the tin. Thanks for the kind words. I will give it some time to dry out before I take them down.

Boof63 what nodes type of nodes failed. The ones I'm using that failed are http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100pcs-DC12V-WS2811-LED-pixel-node-with-transparent-wire-with-good-cold-resistance-ability/825473159.html

 

[damona]

Take photo of the ones closest to the end of the roof.. These pixels should be water proof. Given they are clear you should be able to spot water or damage. Ray will replace them, if they are not ok.

 

[Boof63]

Hi bbayjohn, yes they are the same (wire colours different but ws2811, 12v - same shape) . Have them up again this year and so far so good )no rain either yet either (6mm for last three months- dry!!). So I do expect yours will sort themselves out. may be run them and use hair dryer where the pattern breaks down (check node before breakdown) and see if that helps, but I am confident they will work again ok!!!

cheers Boof63

 

[fasteddy]

Your lights are definetly suffering from water ingress so you definetly need to add some additional protection to these as the original main design for these was not for Christmas lights but instead for signage. So even after all these years we still see people getting stung as soon as the first rain comes and the strings start to die as the design is primarily the same. I doubt the controller has failed as the lights will act this way when there is water issues. You need to make sure they are dried out before use again because if there is still some moisture in them then you can also have a situation where electrolysis occurs due to the DC voltage and the different materials and corrossion can occur very quickly, permanently damaging the lights

The resin filled ones do offer better protection but again water can also gain access through the front moulding of the LED casing, it seems like it is hit and miss for many with some having no issues and other having lots of issues and this is where consistancy in a product in vital.

This is why there are differences in a DIY light from Ray and a product specially designed and tested for the purpose like Minleon Lights, but of course the price is different as well because with DIY time is not a cost for most so a few failures can be managed easily, but in the commercial world time costs a lot and to replace a bunch of lights due to low quality would most probably cost more in labour charges than the lights themselves cost.