Having trouble with two strips in series

DanJ

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Aug 14, 2013
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When hooking up my last two (of six) arches using 5V WS2811 strips, if I plug in either strip directly into the waterproof connector of the extension cable from the E682 controller, the strip works correctly. However, when I plug another strip into the first strip, the second strip doesn't do anything. As a troubleshooting tool, I swapped strips and got the same result. I am honestly tired of fooling around with these for this year and have decided to just set these to the side this season; very frustrated at this point. I measured voltages at + power, - power, and data signal. I saw 4.93 V + to - and about 0.785 V data signal on the input end of the second strip in each case. Based on some troubleshooting I did last weekend when I found a bad extension cable though, not even sure the voltages are really telling me much!! Last weekend I was seeing good voltages but was not getting correct response from strips. When I replaced the cable everything was good... I think for troubleshooting I will plug the strips directly into the controller without the extension cable to see if that makes any difference--with the strips in series the way I need to configure them. I did check my E682's browser to make sure I didn't goof up the number of pixels; that is good--no problem there. Thanks in advance for whatever ideas you can give me!! This is the shortest of my three extension cables, so I don't think length is the problem.
 

AAH

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As you seem to have checked the logical things like voltage and as the problem appears to be occurring at exactly the changeover from 1 strip to the next I'd be checking your output connector is wired correctly. I'll assume that the E682 is configured for >150 channels/50 pixels or whatever 1 strip works out to. If it was a voltage issue it is very unlikely that the issue would occur at precisely the changeover point.
 

DanJ

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Aug 14, 2013
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That is a good point. I hadn't thought about both being at changeover point. Yes, I checked my E682 to make sure I hadn't done something dumb with the channel configs. They are all properly set as 3 sets of 120, so I am good there.

EDIT: I didn't think to check that obvious thing--I will take a look at my connectors tomorrow and make sure I didn't get them backwards on the output ends. I don't think I would gotten both wrong, but it is possible. Could have had a loss of brain when soldering.....
 

fasteddy

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Do you have power injection between the 2 strips or are you running the 2 strips in series.
 

sck1ng

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Oct 23, 2013
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Make sure you reboot the e682.. Do they show up with the e682 in test mode? If they don't then it's got to be either wiring or a config issue. If they do, then there is an issue with your player..
 
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