FUD - Fear Uncertainty Doubt
Likely everyday of the year another person joins the Christmas Light Community because they wish to put on a show just like the person down the road or from that YouTube video they watched.
They generally have no idea what they don't know in the pixel world even if that have used store bought lights for years.
So they dive in and ask.
What pixels should I buy?
Who should I buy from?
What voltage do I buy?
They might even ask what issues to watch out for.
What controller should I buy?
How many pixels do i need?
Someone told me about fires tell me more?
Oh what that one may not get asked but it may pop up via FB and general discussions.
Now "we" the people of the community all have our own personal experiences and favorite suppliers and buying similar to others in your area or group ensures you get experience to go with the help.
Now for people you don't know me I started way back in 2008 with DIYC and then with RJ at DLA before forming ACL in 2009 before designing the one of the first pixel controllers used across the world, long forgotten with the avalanche of network based pixel controllers before I took about 5 years off in 2016 from the practical side of the hobby and arrived back on the scene in 2021.
In the previous couple of seasons it seems quality control had gone downhill with two distinct scandals.
Poor epoxy either soft or not filled correctly
Pixels melting or catching fire
Social media played it's part to bring this to the attention of many.
During 2021 Pixel Reports was set up with it seems some very good intentions but it may have missed the mark sadly with very limited data input from which soem very skewed outcomes can be drawn. I come back to this.
Soft Epoxy i.e. not fully cured or pixels not filled up leaving electronics vulnerable are manufacturing issues. However in my opinion the blame cannot be fully laid at the vendors though regardless of country.
THE ROOT CAUSE IS THE PUSH TO THE LOWEST POSSBLE PRICE.... The communities push to get the lowest price!
The factories making the pixels will cut corners to decrease the cost to make.... the physical component costs are bugger all in the scheme of making a pixel ... it takes time for epoxy to set and time = money.
cut 30 minutes per batch then you can make more per day lowering the unit cost. Wages have not stayed low in China but we all want pixels at the same price or better than last year.
something has to give!
Fire and melting, I feel extreme heart felt sympathy for anybody affected by more than just the pixel being destroyed and I believe this was the catalyst for Pixel Reports to be formed.
Sadly it seems though that what is well intentioned may well just be spreading FUD just by the low numbers and the presentation of the data.
I watched in their entirety both reports done about the data and in my own opinion there are far more questions than answers.
Without any idea on the consumption data, as in how many people bought pixels, analysis of faults per vendor are meaningless for one example.
This is the FUD factor as new people get directed there to answer the questions at the top of the post
Some playing with the online reporting I conclusively proved that if you order more than 7500 pixels you should only buy 5v pixels because only 12v pixels had issues when purchased in big numbers.
This conclusion is complete BS but hey that's what the data told me...
FUD again.
I am going to say i fully support the intent of Pixel Report but the data gathered has to improve.
For example
Pixel voltage - Choice 5v or 12v
Pixel type - Resistor/Reg/don't know
mmmm 5v pixels have neither reg or resistor and they wonder why people said "i don't know" to answer the mandatory question ..... D'uH
Again the intent is good but the current data is a perfect recipe for FUD.
If you have made it this far, the purpose is to improve the data and remove the FUD. Improvement not insult is intended. Send a message to the team.
Phil
Likely everyday of the year another person joins the Christmas Light Community because they wish to put on a show just like the person down the road or from that YouTube video they watched.
They generally have no idea what they don't know in the pixel world even if that have used store bought lights for years.
So they dive in and ask.
What pixels should I buy?
Who should I buy from?
What voltage do I buy?
They might even ask what issues to watch out for.
What controller should I buy?
How many pixels do i need?
Someone told me about fires tell me more?
Oh what that one may not get asked but it may pop up via FB and general discussions.
Now "we" the people of the community all have our own personal experiences and favorite suppliers and buying similar to others in your area or group ensures you get experience to go with the help.
Now for people you don't know me I started way back in 2008 with DIYC and then with RJ at DLA before forming ACL in 2009 before designing the one of the first pixel controllers used across the world, long forgotten with the avalanche of network based pixel controllers before I took about 5 years off in 2016 from the practical side of the hobby and arrived back on the scene in 2021.
In the previous couple of seasons it seems quality control had gone downhill with two distinct scandals.
Poor epoxy either soft or not filled correctly
Pixels melting or catching fire
Social media played it's part to bring this to the attention of many.
During 2021 Pixel Reports was set up with it seems some very good intentions but it may have missed the mark sadly with very limited data input from which soem very skewed outcomes can be drawn. I come back to this.
Soft Epoxy i.e. not fully cured or pixels not filled up leaving electronics vulnerable are manufacturing issues. However in my opinion the blame cannot be fully laid at the vendors though regardless of country.
THE ROOT CAUSE IS THE PUSH TO THE LOWEST POSSBLE PRICE.... The communities push to get the lowest price!
The factories making the pixels will cut corners to decrease the cost to make.... the physical component costs are bugger all in the scheme of making a pixel ... it takes time for epoxy to set and time = money.
cut 30 minutes per batch then you can make more per day lowering the unit cost. Wages have not stayed low in China but we all want pixels at the same price or better than last year.
something has to give!
Fire and melting, I feel extreme heart felt sympathy for anybody affected by more than just the pixel being destroyed and I believe this was the catalyst for Pixel Reports to be formed.
Sadly it seems though that what is well intentioned may well just be spreading FUD just by the low numbers and the presentation of the data.
I watched in their entirety both reports done about the data and in my own opinion there are far more questions than answers.
Without any idea on the consumption data, as in how many people bought pixels, analysis of faults per vendor are meaningless for one example.
This is the FUD factor as new people get directed there to answer the questions at the top of the post
Some playing with the online reporting I conclusively proved that if you order more than 7500 pixels you should only buy 5v pixels because only 12v pixels had issues when purchased in big numbers.
This conclusion is complete BS but hey that's what the data told me...
FUD again.
I am going to say i fully support the intent of Pixel Report but the data gathered has to improve.
For example
Pixel voltage - Choice 5v or 12v
Pixel type - Resistor/Reg/don't know
mmmm 5v pixels have neither reg or resistor and they wonder why people said "i don't know" to answer the mandatory question ..... D'uH
Again the intent is good but the current data is a perfect recipe for FUD.
If you have made it this far, the purpose is to improve the data and remove the FUD. Improvement not insult is intended. Send a message to the team.
Phil
