John Whitaker
New elf
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2018
- Messages
- 4
Greetings everyone and a big thanks to the community for all the videos I've watched so far. I started off last year with an Arduino setup using Vixon, power relays and 8 strings of basic lights. It was awesome and my grandson loved it! Now I'm jumping in to the deep end and placed my order(s) yesterday. I plan to start with a Mega Tree with 16 X 50 pixels.
1 Falcon F16V3 (PixelController) - I was going to go with the F48 but the Differential boards got costly.
1 - 4-String Differential SmartReceiver Board (PixelController) - Going to use this for the tree
4 - F8-Distro (PixelController)
2 - MEAN WELL LRS-350-5 300W 5V 60 Amp Single Output Switchable Power Supply
1 - Tree topper from Holiday Coro, pixNode strips..
Pixels??? - I'm going to Order from Ray Wu as it seems that he's the best place to buy pixels. But - What's up with the shipping cost? I know it's coming from China but $77.99 for 20 strings to the US?
Here are my questions. I'm pretty comfortable with the Tree build. There are some other things that I need to understand. Once I get these straight in my mind I'll feel a lot more comfortable:
1. How far can data travel from the F16v3? If I plan to have power at a remote part of the display.
2. How do candy canes work (this would go for little tree props)? Let's say I have 5 candy canes:
Can I run this off one node on the F16V3? Specs say I can run 1024 pixels off each node. BUT - Let's say each candy cane has 20 pixels. How do I "skip" space in between the canes? Meaning spaced 5 feet apart? I guess the same would go for a scenario where I have 4 windows I wanted to outline. Do I use a single node on each cane? Or do I "virtualize" each item such as a cane or a window on the node? (I don't know how virtualized segments come into play with xlights or falcon boards.. I'm just guessing for now that I can segment out a 1024 string of lights)
This brings up another thought about arches. Does each arch have to be on its own node? or is this another prop you can daisy chain somehow?
(Update: I just read the 101 manual again and found Null Pixels. Maybe this is what I'm missing)
I've seen video's on daisy chaining the canes but I guess I don't get how to wire. Seems most video's I've watched don't cover this part of the plan.
Anyway - I'm rambling on so I'll stop for now. Thanks for any advice/guidance you can provide.
John
Phoenix AZ.
1 Falcon F16V3 (PixelController) - I was going to go with the F48 but the Differential boards got costly.
1 - 4-String Differential SmartReceiver Board (PixelController) - Going to use this for the tree
4 - F8-Distro (PixelController)
2 - MEAN WELL LRS-350-5 300W 5V 60 Amp Single Output Switchable Power Supply
1 - Tree topper from Holiday Coro, pixNode strips..
Pixels??? - I'm going to Order from Ray Wu as it seems that he's the best place to buy pixels. But - What's up with the shipping cost? I know it's coming from China but $77.99 for 20 strings to the US?
Here are my questions. I'm pretty comfortable with the Tree build. There are some other things that I need to understand. Once I get these straight in my mind I'll feel a lot more comfortable:
1. How far can data travel from the F16v3? If I plan to have power at a remote part of the display.
2. How do candy canes work (this would go for little tree props)? Let's say I have 5 candy canes:
Can I run this off one node on the F16V3? Specs say I can run 1024 pixels off each node. BUT - Let's say each candy cane has 20 pixels. How do I "skip" space in between the canes? Meaning spaced 5 feet apart? I guess the same would go for a scenario where I have 4 windows I wanted to outline. Do I use a single node on each cane? Or do I "virtualize" each item such as a cane or a window on the node? (I don't know how virtualized segments come into play with xlights or falcon boards.. I'm just guessing for now that I can segment out a 1024 string of lights)
This brings up another thought about arches. Does each arch have to be on its own node? or is this another prop you can daisy chain somehow?
(Update: I just read the 101 manual again and found Null Pixels. Maybe this is what I'm missing)
I've seen video's on daisy chaining the canes but I guess I don't get how to wire. Seems most video's I've watched don't cover this part of the plan.
Anyway - I'm rambling on so I'll stop for now. Thanks for any advice/guidance you can provide.
John
Phoenix AZ.
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