Guidance on leds... Huge issues this year 😭

[Bigfoot]

Hi All,
I started my display last year. Started with a mega tree, 3 mini trees and some snowflakes.
I bought all my leds (12v ws2811 ray wu bullets) from lightitupleds in 2022.
Last year I got the mega tree and mini trees done in time for Christmas, I left the snowflakes due to work commitments.
I noticed some issues with my mini trees, but the mega tree worked without a hitch.

Fast forward to this year, all props tested as working before deployment (even my slightly faulty mini trees). Now they are on the lawn, they're dropping like flys...
I've got blue flashing/stuck pixels everywhere and then they seem to be dying sporadically taking out whole chains.
Given the widespread issues with much of the display I came on here and saw other members having issues....

I'm pretty stubborn, so going to replace most of my props rather than throw in the towel and give up the hobby, but would like some advice as to if this is normal?!
Is the general consensus that the new ws2811 batches from lightitupleds work (I think I read they changed to scottled)?
Or are people changing to different leds entirely (GS8208)....

I'm really sick of soldering from this year so would really like some bulbs that work longer than 1year

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Isaac

EDIT: This is in no way a reflection on the guys at lightitupleds. They ship super fast and have great service (had a lost shipment and was replaced). More a query if their supplier issues seem to be resolved from others experiences

 

[Kimbo3000]

From my experience.. LED's stuck on a particular colour is due to no data signal (colour stuck from what ever signal it received previously).. and flashing LED's is probably due to a crappy data signal (normally from a bad connection or too long distance between controller and pixel - or pixel to pixel)

Its a good idea to either get a pixel tester (I have one from Hanson Electronics, its pretty cheap and displays voltage as well as a pixel) then you can go and plug it in around areas where you are having trouble to find possible problems. If you dont have a tester.. you can bench test a string of 6 or so pixels and plug them in in place of the tester mentioned earlier.

Other problems we have had over the years is:
- bad batch of LED strips (noticed straight away during 2nd season of use) - colours dropping out ie not displaying blue, but green and red ok.
- green plugs in controller making bad connection (you can buy spares)
- faulty ray wu pigtails (pin not protruding enough, or wire broken where cable joins plastic moulded part)
- bad data connection to controller - faulty network cables or connections (can't access controllers from pc)

I'm sure there are others problems we have encountered over the years.. thats what I can think of right now.

Good Luck
Kimbo

 

[Kavenci]

Yes, Same here. I originally had a batch of the horrible ray wu's Paul sent out in 2021? (Not Blaming Paul, he's been great). They were replaced early 2022 with ETOP Pixels from memory and worked perfectly that year and thought everything was perfect with them.

Set them up this year working fine testing over a week, worked every night. Got a slight bit of rain last night and bam they all start failing, 2 of my horizontal outlines are completely gone I've tried replacing pixels but as quickly as I'm replacing them more fail and its tedious getting on the roof - All due to seemingly cracked epoxy with hairline cracks which water then gets into... although this is only on the ones with direct rain and zero sunlight protection (Roof Outline) my others in props and the icicles are fine.

I'm not sure what to do now, im simply running my display with everything else on and replacing as I can but it's getting very annoying...

 

[Bigfoot]

Thanks both - yep I've tested the cable runs with a voltage/signal tester from Allan. I've also tried the props on a standard pixel tester I used before deployment as well, and they're now cooked. I have props on longer runs that were created with second hand pixels and they're still going strong. I'm assuming I just got a bad hand with a bad batch of pixels, unfortunately comprising most of my display
All good. I've put in an order for another 500 pixels to get a few props back up and running. Hopefully the others will hang in until after Christmas and we can re-assess in the new year!

@Kavenci - I feel your pain. I'm not sure if you're in Brisbane, but the storm the other night really did a number on the display (even though it was off).

 

[merryoncherry]

The one benefit of running a Halloween show is I knew this was coming . I got absolutely terrible batches of 2022 pixels from 3 distributors I thought were reputable. One has told me that I'll get warranty replacements, but the factory is completely overwhelmed with warranty work, so good thing I ordered a few crates back in October...

The pixels from one batch will stick on blue / evil grey (see below) and then die and take the rest of the string out with them, or the other batches will just die. I don't see any cracks in the epoxy, they were all stored dry. You can't possibly repair them... before I started restringing props completely, I realized I'd repaired the same string of 100 in 4 places, and the same string of 50 in 3 places... rip and replace is the only way to enjoy your show again.