First Pixel Order – Would Love Some Advice

[XtremeEntertainment]

Hey everyone,

I’m in the process of placing my first big order of pixels and wanted to reach out to the community for some advice before locking it in.

I’ve attached a screenshot of the quote I’ve received and would really appreciate any feedback or thoughts you might have. Since this is my first time doing a bulk order, I want to make sure I’m not forgetting anything important or making any rookie mistakes. Anything would help from the type of pixels, connectors, voltage, or even just the overall pricing.

If anyone has any suggestions on things to double-check, etc. I’m all ears. I’d much rather hear the hard truths now than regret something later on when it’s all wired up and running. Any tips or insights would be a huge help.

Thanks heaps to everyone in advance.
I appreciate any help I can get.

 

[Katekate]

thats one roll of seeds, so hope you like wiring

doesn't mention if they are 3 or 4 wire

 

[merryoncherry]

I see you have a red box around this already, but double-check your spacing... 5cm is pretty tight for bullets, this will not work in coros, but would make sense for tree strips or matrix. 8-10cm more common. 21 cents is pretty normal, but what chip design is it? WS2811 resistor?

Like Kate said, doesn't give any details about the seed pixels, so that could be a reasonable price. 2.5cm... what project is it for, as that's a bit tight to work with... works for making your own strings?

Are there plenty of spares included in this order, particularly on the seeds?

 

[Indigogyre]

Do those prices included shipping or is shipping an additional cost. I've been quoted both ways before and if shipping is not included the price per pixel was lower for standard 2811 12v pixels. To be honest I did not bulk order last year so not really sure what the bulk pricing is currently at. (I did take a second look to see freight was an additional charge, but it is good advice for others that might read this)

I have found it useful to order different string lengths, while it might be easier to say only strings of 100. Unless you have very specific uses in mind it can be useful to order strings in different sizes. Perhaps 500 in 50s and maybe 200 in 25s. It was nice to be able to just grab premade strings and keep going.

If you already know you are going to have certain props that need special lengths why not order them up front. Any time and effort you can save upfront can pay off later down the line.

Also, you only showed pixels and seeds, remember they also do pigtails and extensions and if you are ordering in bulk it might be worth to have that included also.

 

[Juddge]

agree with above comments, unless using the bullets for mega trees or matrixes, would recommend 10cm spacing for the bullets
and the seed pixels, wow if thats one roll, its going to be heavy,

 

[JacksonHo]

Do you know what you want to do with the seeds? I've been using seeds for 2 years now and there is no way I would buy a roll of 2.5cm spaced pixels. It is such a pain in the butt trying to wire pigtails onto 5cm spaced ones that you would want to be excellent at soldering to be doing 2.5cm spacing. If I wanted 2.5cm spacing I would be buying pre-made lengths personally. In my experience anything more than a 300 seed run needs power injection so as a result this year I am going to be buying a stack of pre-made lengths. I'm changing my mega tree from 10cm spaced pixels to 5cm space this year, each up and down run is 300 seeds so I am just going to connect 3 x 100 seed runs together. It also makes changing issues over really quick. I've definitely evolved though, I've done this for 4 years now and this is the first year where I am not adding anything new into the show, so my money is going on making my life easier. The first year I was up on the roof in the dark scotch locking pixels as I spend all my cash on getting lights with a few repairs to do on the fly but now I just rip 100 seeds out and wire a new run in.

 

[XtremeEntertainment]

Do you know what you want to do with the seeds? I've been using seeds for 2 years now and there is no way I would buy a roll of 2.5cm spaced pixels. It is such a pain in the butt trying to wire pigtails onto 5cm spaced ones that you would want to be excellent at soldering to be doing 2.5cm spacing. If I wanted 2.5cm spacing I would be buying pre-made lengths personally. In my experience anything more than a 300 seed run needs power injection so as a result this year I am going to be buying a stack of pre-made lengths. I'm changing my mega tree from 10cm spaced pixels to 5cm space this year, each up and down run is 300 seeds so I am just going to connect 3 x 100 seed runs together. It also makes changing issues over really quick. I've definitely evolved though, I've done this for 4 years now and this is the first year where I am not adding anything new into the show, so my money is going on making my life easier. The first year I was up on the roof in the dark scotch locking pixels as I spend all my cash on getting lights with a few repairs to do on the fly but now I just rip 100 seeds out and wire a new run in.

Yeah, I was planning to use the seed pixels for window matrices. I wanted the tighter 2.5cm spacing to get smoother graphics, etc. That said, I didn’t even think how tricky the wiring would be with full rolls especially when it comes to adding pigtails or injecting power etc. Definitely starting to rethink whether I should just go with pre-made 100-seed strings instead. Appreciate the advice though sounds like saving time later on is worth the extra up front.

 

[XtremeEntertainment]

Also, Thanks so much to everyone who’s commented so far all the feedback has been super helpful and definitely opened my eyes to a few things I hadn’t fully thought through. I’ve gone back to the supplier and I’m currently clarifying all the details you’ve all mentioned: chip type, wiring, if the seed pixels come pre-made, spacing options, and whether spares/pigtails are included in the order.

I’ve also already requested to have the bullet pixels changed to 10cm spacing instead of 5cm based on your advice. Sounds like that’ll save me a lot of hassle down the track with props and layouts. I’ll update once I hear back with answers, but just wanted to say a big thank you in the meantime!

 

[merryoncherry]

Yeah, I was planning to use the seed pixels for window matrices. I wanted the tighter 2.5cm spacing to get smoother graphics, etc. That said, I didn’t even think how tricky the wiring would be with full rolls especially when it comes to adding pigtails or injecting power etc. Definitely starting to rethink whether I should just go with pre-made 100-seed strings instead. Appreciate the advice though sounds like saving time later on is worth the extra up front.

Yes, you might want 2.5cm spacing on the matrix, but you can use 5cm-spaced pixels and double the string back on itself - "alternate nodes" style... the longer length gives more flexibility to drop to the next row, easier splice, and such. This is what I did for the mini trees and spider web last year, and will do in the upcoming flag and matrixes I'm working on. If you do get 2.5cm, you might have to leave an "extra" here and there, which has also been done successfully, but then you want a custom model. All doable...

 

[Skymaster]

Paging @Kent in regards to using really tight seed pixel spacing for garage matrix, and the fun associated

 

[Kent]

My garage matrix uses 2cm spaced seeds. There was JUST enough wire between two seeds to fit and RJ12 plug on. My clear wire seeds seemed to go into the plugs slightly easier than the black wire used by @darylc and @B4IGO. (Note that black should give you better UV resistance. Mine have been on my east facing garage since last season and are still OK so far)

Alan sells small PCBs that can be used to join the seed wires to pigtails, etc.

If you know the number of seeds you'll want in each strand, you can ask the vendor if they'll make them to those lengths with longer wires at the start and end (e.g. 20mm spacing, but 100mm of cable at each end). Whilst I haven't ordered any like this, the vendor I used (knowshine) said they'd be able to do that, and I'd consider doing so on future orders.

With the roll of 16k I was cutting up, I put an RJ12 on, then connected it to something that lit up 200 seeds, then cut at that point, rinse and repeat.

 

[thewanderingpine]

I did some 3cm seeds with Alan’s joiners and could make it work - but it was very tight and that first pixel is marginal. I also wasn’t trying to line them up.

I will note that the pixel price seems a little bit high to me for regular 3 wire pixels. It’s certainly more than I paid in sept last year for a smaller order.

It’s also worth noting that it likely doesn’t include GST.

 

[Johnnyboy]

Yeah, I was planning to use the seed pixels for window matrices. I wanted the tighter 2.5cm spacing to get smoother graphics, etc. That said, I didn’t even think how tricky the wiring would be with full rolls especially when it comes to adding pigtails or injecting power etc. Definitely starting to rethink whether I should just go with pre-made 100-seed strings instead. Appreciate the advice though sounds like saving time later on is worth the extra up front.

When you are ordering that many, you can get them anyway you like. Get the seeds made up with the exact number you need with the exact length tails you need.

I did something very similar last year. I ordered 50 sets of 260seeds at 3cm spacing. I also requested 1m tails at both ends, and 2core power injection at the tail (looking back, that wasn't needed when running 540/port at 10% brightness), but they did it and saved me from messing about with soldering. I also ordered 3k seeds at standard 10cm spacing for future use, much easier to work on than 3cm spacing.

I went with 4wire (duel data), but not really sure if needed as i didn't really have any failures so regular 3wire is also fine.


I also agree with going with standard 10cm spacing on the bullet pixels unless you have a use case for shorter spacing. You can also get the bullet pixels with PI xConnects (saves on buying extra PI Tees). So many ways you can save time by ordering exactly what you want. I ordered custom length for every prop. No need to solder if you don't have to!