General Pixel Questions as they Pop into my Noggin'

[fasteddy]

With polarity I meant . . . and I hope I'm explaining it right . . . does it matter which side the data/power goes in? Can you tell if it's meant to go in on particular side or the other, or does it even matter?

Yes this is also important as there is a data in and data out and with the pixels that have the clock wire the same applies, clock in and clock out. It doesnt matter which way the voltage is supplied. So you must ensure the pixel is correctly connected to eachother for the data to be passed on from one to the other.
So when you cut these then i would ensure you mark the input and output sides so you will not get confused.

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Nice. Thanks Eddy.

 

[Skunberg]

What is the limit for E1.31? Pixel limit? DMX channels? Mixture? When do we need to add a network card?

 

[fasteddy]

What is the limit for E1.31? Pixel limit? DMX channels? Mixture? When do we need to add a network card?

The actual physical limit will depend on many factors but more often than not this is not the issue as E1.31 uses little bandwidth, where the issues arise from is the controllers being flooded with information being on a multicast network as each controller will see all the data and have to decide what data is for it. This is where unicast can be an advantage which the ECG series of controllers can support. So its hard to actually put numbers and figures to when you would require an extra network. In nearly all cases currently within our hobby 1 network should be suffiecient but im sure that will change for some this year.

 

[toodle_pipsky]

Ok, I need to stop relying on my faulty memory. The PC is a Pentium D . . . not 4, sorry. 2.8Ghz and 1GB Ram.
Mind you by Phil's response, crappy old machinces won't cut it - what's a bare minimum suggestion? (I do kinda have a vague recollection hearing something about computers, was it talked about at the mini, or did I overhear a conversation about it???)

Just revisiting my computer question. I'm picking up a new lappy (tomorrow hopefully) so I thought I could use my old one to run the show instead of the previous desktop. The battery is cactus so it needs to be plugged into power all the time now so it's not very portable anyway. Core 2 1.73Ghz and 2gb ram. Any problems with this? Any possible problems with running from a laptop?
Thanks guys.

 

[Bird]

Just revisiting my computer question. I'm picking up a new lappy (tomorrow hopefully) so I thought I could use my old one to run the show instead of the previous desktop. The battery is cactus so it needs to be plugged into power all the time now so it's not very portable anyway. Core 2 1.73Ghz and 2gb ram. Any problems with this? Any possible problems with running from a laptop?
Thanks guys.

I run my show on a laptop. It's an AMD 1.60 GHz with 2 gig of ram. No issues at all. Seems running the show is much less demanding as compared to sequencing the show.

 

[fasteddy]

This will be determined by many factors some of which are channel counts, refresh rate, and length of sequence. So the best thing is to give it a go. Remember running the sequence is usually less load than when using the computer for creating the sequence.

 

[AussiePhil]

I always work on the premise that the Show computer should be at least equal to if not better than the one you sequence on, this ensures that if you have to you can edit or even create sequences on the show computer and also it is a definate to run the show.

Things like LSP's Scheduler i found to be so intensive that using a lower end computer was not an option.

The EXACT specs will be completely dependant on the software used and you personal show setup.
1k ch setups have completely different requirements to 10k setups.

Phil

 

[BillyTRichVa]

I was going to start a new thread if I didn't see an existing post that answered my question, then came upon this one and figured I'd bump the thread with my little story....
I built up my first E681 over the weekend, but couldn't fully test the unit as I made a mistake in ordering the power supply (ordered 1 12v instead of the 5v necessary for my 2801 pixels I got from Ray). I was able to get one string of lights running though, but the board would go into a reboot due to the lack of current I was supplying it with the light power supply I was using for testing (only had 1 amp of power available).
Anyway, last night I received the correct power supplies and the board ran fine with all the data I was throwing at it, so I hooked up a few more 2801 pixels to the E681, but none of them would work. It wasn't a problem with the board, it turned out to be with the way I had them wired. I hooked these up from the male end instead of the female end, which didn't work. I have been unable to find this documented anywhere. Could someone in the know please enlighten me as to why this matters, as my understanding is the data is cascaded so once the first pixel gets the data, it strps the command and sends it on down the line.
Looking forward to hearing why this was a problem.

 

[fasteddy]

The IC chip has data input and data output, the signal is regenerated before being sent down the line and the data of the channel sending the data onwards is stripped off. So this is why it is important to connect the pixel the correct way as if its the other way then you are sending data into the output of the IC which just doesnt work.

 

[fxdwg]

I have a question, i am wanting to change out my entire roofline (currently 15 channels of each, Red, Green, Blue & White Icicle LED's) to RGB smart strip from ray wu's store...

is it possible where the roof lines end, to cut off the strip attach additional wire then reconnect the start of the next strip on the next roofline? I understand that depending on distance between pixels, but if read and understand correctly, i can use J1SYS ECG-PPX (extenders) to do that, correct? (*and then i would just provide the proper power at the start of each strip...)

is that correct? sorry if this has been asked, but i have read so much in last few weeks that I can't remember if i saw this one answered or not. thanks in advance for the help, and all the EXCELLENT RGB documentation and examples.

-troy

 

[fxdwg]

figures, after i posted, i found this thread...

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,2254.0.html

i think it answers my questions for me. thank you again!

 

[BillyTRichVa]

I think what you're asking is along the lines of my inquiry. There is an IN and an OUT. Am I right?

 

[fasteddy]

I have a question, i am wanting to change out my entire roofline (currently 15 channels of each, Red, Green, Blue & White Icicle LED's) to RGB smart strip from ray wu's store...

is it possible where the roof lines end, to cut off the strip attach additional wire then reconnect the start of the next strip on the next roofline? I understand that depending on distance between pixels, but if read and understand correctly, i can use J1SYS ECG-PPX (extenders) to do that, correct? (*and then i would just provide the proper power at the start of each strip...)

is that correct? sorry if this has been asked, but i have read so much in last few weeks that I can't remember if i saw this one answered or not. thanks in advance for the help, and all the EXCELLENT RGB documentation and examples.

-troy

Yes you can cut and extend the distance between pixels. Depending on the type of pixel used will determine the distance you can get between pixels. Each pixel IC will regenerate the signal, generally you can easily get 2 to 3 metres distnace between them. The spec for 2801 is 6 metres) , the 2811 IC is rated for even longer distances.
Because each pixel IC regenerates the signal if you cant actually get the distnace you want then all you need to do is add a 'dummy pixel' which is just a pixel which you dont sequence so it stays off, you can use as many dummy pixels as you need to get the distance required.

The ECG-PPX is anither option and is used for running lights that are either far apart or far from the controller, you can get over 100 metres distance between the controller and pixel or pixel to pixel by using the ECG-PPX

So there are 3 ways to achieve the distances between pixels

• Using the 2811 IC which will give you greater distnace between pixels than other ICs
• Using a dummy pixel to regenerate the signal
• Use the ECG-PPX

Hope that helps

 

[fasteddy]

I think what you're asking is along the lines of my inquiry. There is an IN and an OUT. Am I right?

Here is a diagram taken from the ACL 101 Lighting manual showing you how the pixels pass on the data from one pixel to the other, this is why its important that you supply the data from the correct end

[attachimg=1]

And here is the pin out allocation of a typical IC chip used (2801 is shown)

[attachimg=2]


As you can see the IC chip has a data input and a data output, the reason for this is because the data is manipulated by each IC and the first 3 channels are stripped from the data then amplified before being sent to the next pixel IC.