First order

[Madko]

Thanks heaps YL for your input. Was worth another look. I am now considering the P2 but need a bit more reading up to do.
As for the pig tails, is alot of ACL member using the 0.5 mm core size? If so do you know the current rating? As the 12v 2811 pixel strip pulls 3.2amps per 5 meter length. Is this sufficient? Surely the 5v strip that pulls 11.3 amps can't be supplied using 0.5mm core pig tails? Or am I wrong and can you explain or provide a link to explain? Do pigtails come in larger core sizes?

Cheers

 

[Benslights]

all the details you are looking for are in the 101 manual and all about the plugs also and many have been using them for 5v. i know alot of lithgows items are 5v and he uses alot of those plugs

 

[Gilrock]

I'd be interested to hear if someone is using those pigtails with the 5V strings. I was trying to look this up to see what those wires should handle. 0.5mm is about 24 gauge and most tables list the limit around 2 to 3.5 amps. A lot depends on the temperature you operate in and the distance you run the wire to the load. These are rough numbers but if you used 10 feet of 24 gauge wire to run to one of the 12v strips that is listed as a 3.2 amp load lets look at what happens. 12 / 3.2 = 3.75 ohms. The total wire there and back is 20 feet so at 20C the wire resistance is about 25.67 ohms / 1000 ft. (25.67 / 1000) * 20 = 0.51 ohms. So your total load would be 4.26 ohms. 12 / 4.26 = 2.8 amps and 2.8 * 3.75 = 10.5 volts. So you end up with only 2.8 amps in your wire and you drop about 10.55 volts across your strip and you lose about 1.45 volts dropped across the wire. So the longer you make the wire run the lower total current you end up with in the wire but at some point you will not have enough volts left to operate the strip.

Gil

 

[Gilrock]

Yeah I just checked out the Power Supply and Cables section in the 101 manual and its got some good info there...pretty much the same thing I was trying to say above plus more.

 

[fasteddy]

This is one of the reasons 5vdc requires a lot more injection. You have both the higher currents and the higher % of voltage drop to deal with compared to that of 12vdc. Thats why my display is 95% 12vdc strip and modules. The only 5vdc in my display is for the strobes and my pixel spiral tree, and for 100 pixels in each spiral i have power supplied at the beginning, the middle and the end to compensate for the voltage drop and high current demands.
What people get caught up in is more is better and for pixels this may not actually be the case because the additional cost on controllers and wiring may not make your display any more effective to the audience then using a 12vdc strip over a 5vdc strip.

 

[Gilrock]

Well I just placed an order yesterday for 4 of the 12v 2811 strips and a couple strings of the 3 pixel modules to try to make candy canes with. If everything goes well I'll be ordering more but wanted to make sure I got the steps down first.

Eddy I was wondering what type of pixel you had in your matrix? I thought I read you had it documented somewhere but I didn't find it.

Gil

 

[fasteddy]

Well I just placed an order yesterday for 4 of the 12v 2811 strips and a couple strings of the 3 pixel modules to try to make candy canes with. If everything goes well I'll be ordering more but wanted to make sure I got the steps down first.

Eddy I was wondering what type of pixel you had in your matrix? I thought I read you had it documented somewhere but I didn't find it.

Gil

The matrix was built over 3 years ago when RGB lighting was still in its infancy, back then i used 4 LOR CCR controllers and strip. The CCR strip is actually a 5 bit 6803 strip, so now ive retasked my CCR controllers to run 6803 modules in my candles and the CCR strips are now being driven by a ECG-P12R. If i was starting new today then i would be using the 2811 strip and is what ive used for my mega tree last year.
You can get more info on the matrix build from this thread http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,148.msg712.html#msg712

 

[Gilrock]

Yeah but would you use the 2811 strips that have single pixel control or groups of 3? I thought the groups of 3 might not look square enough. I saw this video of a nice matrix but the guy never answered when I asked what type of pixel he used: COTB
I know it was 2811 pixel but not sure if it was individual bulbs or strips.

 

[fasteddy]

Take a look at my matrix in action. One must remember that the more pixels in a matrix the harder it is to create any animations. I do like the cheesy low res look, but for others this may not be what they want

All my pixel strip is 12vdc 3 LEDs per pixel
Fasteddys 2012 Colour Christmas Show on Vimeo

 

[Mcas4380]

Yeah but would you use the 2811 strips that have single pixel control or groups of 3? I thought the groups of 3 might not look square enough. I saw this video of a nice matrix but the guy never answered when I asked what type of pixel he used: COTB
I know it was 2811 pixel but not sure if it was individual bulbs or strips.

this might help
http://forums.planetchristmas.com/index.php?/topic/50784-pasting-effects-and-timings-from-one-sequence-to-another/?hl=%2Bcut+%2Band+%2Bpaste#entry586181

 

[kel]

The COTB one looks like a screen and projector were used

 

[drakky]

Take a look at my matrix in action. One must remember that the more pixels in a matrix the harder it is to create any animations. I do like the cheesy low res look, but for others this may not be what they want

All my pixel strip is 12vdc 3 LEDs per pixel

that so called cheesy look is good it looks like old arcade machine graphics

 

[Gilrock]

The COTB one looks like a screen and projector were used

He said it was a WS2811 48x80 pixel matrix...here's a link to where I first saw it:
http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/25801-3840-pixel-screen-ultimate-mega-tree-at-the-happyholidayhome/

I think he's more proud of the tree than the matrix. I asked for info about the matrix and he responded with info about how to make the tree...lol.

 

[thebaronn]

My apologies on the response, or lack there of. I just signed up here to apologize!
Here is the information: http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,3809.0.html