Heres One for you PIXEL Guru's

[orlandoal]

Hi Everyone,

I hope your Holiday lights went well?

For my first year with pixels, I was pretty happy I must admit. Although I did spend a fair bit of time swapping out bad nodes.

Here is a problem that happened this holiday season, I managed to quickly fix by putting each prop on it's own channel, but the problem still exists..... Let me explain and do any of you maybe have an answer or any thoughts on this one. This is my first season with Pixels, so I bow to you guy's superior knowledge.

I made 2 Disney props, one Mickey, one Minnie, Micky is 50 pixels, Minnie is 75 pixels (she has a bow). Originally I had the two props connected to the same channel, however when I plugged the Minnie into the tail end of the Mickey, the Minnie would not light up and the very last pixel on the Mickey either died or flickered.

I can plug any other prop (even greater than 75 pixels) into the Mickey and it powers up no issues, but the Minnie ALWAYS drags it down. The Minnie does NOT drag down or fail to light if I plug it into any other prop either.

This fault makes no sense at all, there seems to be power and data passing through the plugs on any other props I plug in, so where do I begin to fault find this one?

Adding a few pics for reference.

As usual, any help, thoughts or pointers, greatly appreciated.

 

[Notenoughlights]

Check continuity on pins are correct between the two props, i.e data goes to data V+ goes to V+ and V- goes to V- across your pigtails/connectors

 

[merryoncherry]

This can happen even when the props are properly wired (and it seems you have checked). When it does, it can be frustrating and make you think that if it doesn't work when you do that, then you shouldn't do that... after all what can you really change without a lot of invasive work?

Are the pixels in Minnie and Mickey the same kind (brand, design, etc.)? What controller is it? Are they 12V? If so, have you tried a data amp between them (or, perhaps, in front of the first one on the port, or both)? Have you measured the voltage and current at each connection? Does it matter how bright the test pattern is (will it work on dim patterns)?

 

[stooged]

I had a similar issue with 3 spiral trees i made(80 px each), i tried all sorts of things including power inject and every time the second prop failed like it was faulty then i got a f-amp and put it between the 2 and like magic it worked even without the power inject.

On separate channels they worked fine but together on a single channel they didnt work without the f-amp.
I have heaps of things daisy chained without f-amps but those 3 trees needed 1 between each tree.

EDIT: Oh and the candy canes i made did the same thing.
12v resistor pixels ray wu

 

[orlandoal]

@stooged

Thanks for that, actually I had a similar thing with a couple of other props, which the F-Amps cured, I did not think of using an F-Amp to try to cure this issue. I will give it a try and see what happens.

To @merryoncherry & @Notenoughlights all good pointers, some of which I have tried and some not yet tried, time being the main issue, I will post back how I get on.

Thanks all for the feedback.

 

[merryoncherry]

I don't understand it perfectly. One thing I've been curious about is how much the pixels "reshape" vs. "regenerate" the signal. I have had the experience that data stops behaving properly half way through the second prop, and the solution was to put the amp before the first prop... thus suggesting that the signal properties coming out of the pixel are partially dependent on the input.

 

[orlandoal]

@merryoncherry

I was thinking along similar lines, in nearly all cases, unless you purchase pixels with a ray-wu or xconnect already on the ends, we solder on our own pig-tails, I don't like to use the iron on too hot a setting, so as to not melt the outer covering, iffy soldering could be an issue, even if you have a good iron and the perfect temp for the solder melt.

I have been soldering for over 50 years on and off, so I am reasonably good at it, but part of the issue could be dry or iffy joints.

Only way to really check that is for voltage drop ect. as continuity check alone does not always show the problem.

 

[merryoncherry]

These did have factory connnectors on the ends. The drivers on that particular controller brand are now known by me to be weaker than others, amp right at the controller fixes a lot of things. But weird that it affects the prop mid-way, rather than right at the start. Pixels must not fully regenerate the signal.

 

[orlandoal]

Thanks for the replies, FYI, if anyone is interested, the F-Amp solution worked, both props lit up and no issues at all.

Still not sure if it was bad signal coming from the Mickey or the Minnie was the culprit, although saying that, it was only ever those two together that caused an issue.

Thanks to @stooged, @merryoncherry & @Notenoughlights for their thoughts and feedback, much appreciated

 

[bluzervic]

I have seen issues when the LED are not of the same vendor/type. Orientation like RGB VS GBR or your channel count if off. I had one of my spiral trees act that way until I corrected it on the controller.

 

[orlandoal]

I have seen issues when the LED are not of the same vendor/type. Orientation like RGB VS GBR or your channel count if off. I had one of my spiral trees act that way until I corrected it on the controller.

This was a strange one, yes the two props were different manufactures lights, yes the channel count was initially off ( I needed to resend the prop details via the visualizer) pretty much everything i have had to be changed in the controller ports setting to RGB, but having done all that those two props would still not play with each other..... go figure.

I had to use the F-Amps in another three or four props in the end, but that was I am pretty sure due to cable lenghts and chaining, I also had to insert power injection on those few props to get them to work properly.

Seeing as this was my first year with Pixels, I guess it was not actually too bad. I learned a lot and had some good feeback for you all when I had problems.

Going to spend this weekend packing them all safely away in the garage (mainly to stop the wife moaning at me really)