help needed

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Kaite Clocks

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Jan 6, 2016
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Royal Park
hi, have inherited an lor CTB 16 PC controller and bunch of bullet type led pixels ( 3 wire ). can someone please advise how to connect pixels to the 3 pin plugs coming from controller. no previous experience in this field but interest growing. thankyou.
 
Hi Vespa039,

Have you got a photo handy of the bullet-type lights you mention?

The CTB16PC is a 240v controller; virtually all standard (not pixel-based) LED lights bought from within Australia are Extra-low voltage with some sort of power adapter to drop down the voltage from 240v to whatever the light set takes. Are you able to confirm whether the led lights you have came with a power adapter? Some power adapters can be used (with caution!) with the 240v board to turn on and off (but not dim) led strings.

However as i13 says, if the LEDs you have are indeed pixels (with computer chips built into each bullet or node) you'll need a different sort of controller to get them working. The technology behind controlling pixel strings is very different to controlling the kind of led strings found a retail store's Christmas section.

Have you thought about attending one of the Minis that are happening around about May/June? They are basically a weekend of lighting-related information and demos/show & tell and overall a chance to learn. I see you are from Adelaide and that one is happening on May 28/29 this year: http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,8655.0.html. :)
 
Hi all, thanks for the reply. yes , the leds are the ones with a small chip on one side , and a larger chip on the other side. everything was in a box packed " lucky dip " style, so not sure what is still operational. what type of controller would you recommend for that style of led.Also, where is the mini conference being held in Adelaide ?
Thankyou for your help.
 
The mini is near where South Road crosses the Torrens. More info on its thread (linked above) and the wiki http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/2016_Mini_%28Adelaide%29

There are a variety of controllers available but the first thing to do is work out what type of pixel they are. My guess would be WS2811 because they have 3 wires but there are other types of 3 wire pixels. You could bring them to the mini for us to work out what type they are or you could try getting a cheap WS2811 tester (IMO worth having anyway) like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Controller-WS2811-LED-Strip-Light-76-Effect-Control-2048-Pixels-DC12V-/252063020932?hash=item3ab0207784:g:xt4AAOSwHnFV1UBH
Do you know what voltage the pixels are? It is simpler to get a tester that is the right voltage. 5V and 12V pixels are better suited to different applications.

The controller to recommend depends on what you want to do with those pixels. Personally I prefer the larger controllers with more capacity because they're not that much more expensive than the smaller ones. I would choose a F16v2 or the new PixLite 16 MKII. The MKII is a little bit cheaper with a larger number of pixels supported but the F16v2 is a safer option because it supports multiple pixel types simultaneously and you don't know what type of pixels these are. The F16v2 is difficult to get hold of depending on group buys.
 
hi i13. thanks for that. there were some receipts and they indicate the leds are DC12v WS 2811 led smart pixel node ( 20AWG) purchased from ray Wu?
would like to get them to flash / beat to music as i have seen in some videos on your site.
have about 1000 of the little buggers.
 
Ok that is good to know what they are. WS2811 is a very common pixel type and they're what I use. The PixLite MKII and the F16v2 would both be compatible with them. If you choose the PixLite MKII then all of your other lights on that controller need to be WS2811, WS2812B and/or INK1003. I prefer 5V nodes over 12V but I'd still get those running if I had them lying around. The different voltages suit different purposes and have their own advantages/disadvantages. 12V strips versus 12V nodes is also different.

You'll need other items including a power supply to get these running. A good starting point is the ACL 101 manual here http://www.auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,1889.0.html

I'm also in chat right now.
 
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