I need help - Controllers, CAT5 cables, power supplies, etc

[mjroennebeck]

I need some help. this is my first year doing shows. I've purchased everything I need except for the Ethernet cables. I have a few questions in regards to power and Ethernet. I'm running a K32 newest version to two K16V5 newest versions and a Falcon32 newest version.I have a 20 foot mega tree, a garage door matrix, a 4x4 window matrix, 3 singing trees, multiple medium size candy canes, 4 arches, 4 seed pixel pipe matrixs, 2 piller matrixs, outline around the entire front house/roof/windows three 5 ft trees, 8 mini trees, a 46 in snow flake and roughly 10 smaller snowflakes.

1. how many more controllers do you suggest I need? what ones?
2. what's the best CAT cable to run to these to ensure I don't loose data?
3. how do I power everything? is it all powered from the individual power supplies?
4. do I need a CAT splitter
5. What wattage power supplies do I need to purchase

I'm new and apologize if these questions are stupid

 

[merryoncherry]

Most of these questions will become simple math once you answer a few other questions...

For each of the items above, how many pixels do they have, and what kind of pixels did you get?
Are these props assembled? After they're assembled you'll know how many ports they'll take ... add that up, and that will be a factor in how many controllers and PSUs you need...
Same question about the controllers - do you just have boards? Or are they assembled in enclosures ...
Final question - do you have a picture of your house and where these things will go? When you install it all, you'll want to locate the controllers so that the cables to the network, power, all the props are convenient to run... and that the numbers work out. Sometimes it's just easier to adjust the number of controllers so that the layout works.

1. Let's figure out how many ports you need and where they have to be, then this becomes clear.
2. Any CAT 5 or 6 cable will be fine, although most of us hate CCA, and some of the cable has a jacket that is not great outdoors in the cold.
3. It goes from A/C plugs on your house to DC power supplies ... to keep it simple let's consider the case where those are in the same enclosure with the controllers, since the controllers you list support that. The controller will supply power to each connected string of pixels
4. An ethernet switch will probably make your life easier, but let's talk about the placement question too.
5. When we add up the pixels and know what kind of controller enclosure you have, it'll be a lot easier to suggest power supplies... One approach that works would be a Mean Well per group of ports on the controller, but you can also get larger / more efficient / different brand of PSUs if you like.

 

[mjroennebeck]

Wow I didn't expect such a detailed response. I will get all of those answers to you later today. I really appreciate your help.

 

[mjroennebeck]

So I went through everything and got you the answers to your questions.
1. If I use every single property I have, I'll need roughly 36,000 pixels... 23000 bullets and 13,000 seed pixels. I currently have 7000ish bullets and 3,000ish seed pixels. So I'm trying to find the best deal out there to order them in bulk.
2. None of the props are assemble, I have to put them together. I do however know how many pixels each people will take. I know the garage matrix will take 5000, the 4x6 will need 3456, the mega tree math said 11,000 but that seems like to many for a 19ft with 32 to 40 holes and so on so forth
3. I have 4 fully built controllers with enclosures and power supplies. A K32V5 that will be my main controller running to my mega tree since my mega tree will have a bunch of lights
4. There are pictures of my house. I already have it uploaded into xlights in 2d and 3d. I haven't figured out where everything is going yet because I'm still waiting for props to show up. Once they are all here. I'll put some of them together and I'll be able to see how big everything actually is. I do have a rough idea where I'm going to put everything.
6. I do not think I will be using every prop I own. I made a rookie mistake and purchased way to many things because I was excited. So I'll be able to put new stuff out every year for a handful of years.
7. I'm about to purchase a 5 or 8 ports Ethernet switch 2.5g. I was planning on having my raspberry pi run into it and then the other things running out from it .
8.

 

[merryoncherry]

1. Nice. The 7000ish bullet pixels are 12V? Resistor? (On the assumption that you've tried to "find the best deal out there" but didn't go 5V.)
2. That's a good start. 11,000 sounds possible but more than necessary. A 32-port controller, running 32 strings, makes a lot of sense. If those are strings of 250, you've got 19' of tree (not counting the star, or any ground clearance) at 1" spacing - but that's only 8000 pixels. Easy controller setup, no power injection, no need to cut any strings, nice and simple. (A bit more controller than you need for the job, but convenience is worth a lot.) A 16-port controller for the garage matrix since you already have one. Your 4x6 could use all or part of another 16-port controller. That leaves you with a few ports free here and there, plus a whole 32-port controller to assign (maybe for the yard), and no spares.
3. Makes sense. I'd point out that you've listed 96 ports worth of controllers, and 36,000 pixels, for an average of 375 pixels per port. I would say that means somewhat careful planning. If you're not careful with the planning, don't want the hassle of power injection, and/or would prefer convenience, you might average closer to 200-250 pixels per port. But there's no need to rush out and buy controllers right now... there will be plenty for sale still in July, and at that point you'll know a lot more about how your props are coming along, where you want to place them, etc.
4. Looks like a great house to work with. You can put the props in in xLights without having them ... this is a great way to do it. Then you'll have port counts and approximate locations... and know how many things will need to be plugged in in each spot. (If you can recall where your power outlets are, that helps.)
6. Been there, done that. The good news is you've got 6 more months of time to figure it out than I did.
7. That will work. (2.5g is probably overkill, you'll probably be running 100Mbps to the controllers, but the price difference is negligible, so who cares.)

 

[mjroennebeck]

1. Nice. The 7000ish bullet pixels are 12V? Resistor? (On the assumption that you've tried to "find the best deal out there" but didn't go 5V.)
2. That's a good start. 11,000 sounds possible but more than necessary. A 32-port controller, running 32 strings, makes a lot of sense. If those are strings of 250, you've got 19' of tree (not counting the star, or any ground clearance) at 1" spacing - but that's only 8000 pixels. Easy controller setup, no power injection, no need to cut any strings, nice and simple. (A bit more controller than you need for the job, but convenience is worth a lot.) A 16-port controller for the garage matrix since you already have one. Your 4x6 could use all or part of another 16-port controller. That leaves you with a few ports free here and there, plus a whole 32-port controller to assign (maybe for the yard), and no spares.
3. Makes sense. I'd point out that you've listed 96 ports worth of controllers, and 36,000 pixels, for an average of 375 pixels per port. I would say that means somewhat careful planning. If you're not careful with the planning, don't want the hassle of power injection, and/or would prefer convenience, you might average closer to 200-250 pixels per port. But there's no need to rush out and buy controllers right now... there will be plenty for sale still in July, and at that point you'll know a lot more about how your props are coming along, where you want to place them, etc.
4. Looks like a great house to work with. You can put the props in in xLights without having them ... this is a great way to do it. Then you'll have port counts and approximate locations... and know how many things will need to be plugged in in each spot. (If you can recall where your power outlets are, that helps.)
6. Been there, done that. The good news is you've got 6 more months of time to figure it out than I did.
7. That will work. (2.5g is probably overkill, you'll probably be running 100Mbps to the controllers, but the price difference is negligible, so who cares.)

Thanks for the help. So will my K32 be able to run a mega tree at 11000 lights or will I have to drop it down to around 8000

 

[merryoncherry]

The K32 can certainly run 11000 lights. I'm just trying to imagine in my head how those 11000 lights are arranged physically, as some people get into trouble there. You could run 200 up the tree and 200 back down, for 64 strands of 200, that'd be 12,800... or if you took a few strands off and made room for the star and a couple other things, I'd see 11,000 lights. The other thing about 11,000 lights is the power usage. When I deploy a K32, I put 1400W of power in it. That's .13W per pixel if you have 11,000 ... the seed pixels, lumidots, evos, magicolours, WS2808, etc., all fit in that power profile, but the cheapest WS2811 resistor pixels do not, and regulated pixels do not...

 

[Indigogyre]