Introducing Baldrick8

I agree with their thinking on this. Why put 2 dumb (or one smart) receiver in the 8-port enclosure when you could just use an 8-port controller. Dumb receivers are interchangeable but you need 2 data cables for 8 ports, smart receivers may only work with some controllers and you have to work out pixel counts per stream. Same thought with 16-port smart receivers, an HE123-style BBB controller isn't that much more and is a lot more versatile.
 
One path that this thread has lead me down is daisy chaining BaldrickBoards using those mini ethernet switches, whilst it doesn't make sense at the moment for us to add them to the board, you can easily get 6 or 7 Baldricks on a single 100mb ethernet chain (and over 50! on a gigabit).

I've got some ethernet switches here to test and I'll be writing it up soon
 
Agree with that, too. I use the controller bounce port about 40% of the time, more often don't need it, sometimes much handier to branch and go, say, up the drive to the selfies and over the arch to the other side to the hedge, so a single port isn't enough.

I'm not sure it makes sense to daisy chain 50 controllers... but since the little switches I use are 5-port, I don't have to. Data starts in the basement and brances out in all directions (except down), splitting here and there on the house and in the yard.
 
merryoncherry said:
Agree with that, too. I use the controller bounce port about 40% of the time, more often don't need it, sometimes much handier to branch and go, say, up the drive to the selfies and over the arch to the other side to the hedge, so a single port isn't enough.

I'm not sure it makes sense to daisy chain 50 controllers... but since the little switches I use are 5-port, I don't have to. Data starts in the basement and brances out in all directions (except down), splitting here and there on the house and in the yard.
Click to expand...
Oh daisy chaining 50 isn't a good idea.... but I still want to try it
 
UniFi Flex Mini.
PoE in 4 Baldrick’s out.
Problem solved, 32ports and 240Amps out.
50 that will be a huge task and display, love to see and read that one. 👍
 
Hi I am a newbie and purchased a couple of the Baldrick boards with a view of driving 1200 12v 5cm bud leds. Here is a couple of my experiences and any help would be appreciated. The board has a dedicated IP address. In test mode the lights look fine with stable output and clear colours (green is green). When I send an xlight file (40% brightness) via FPP on a Pi the lights flicker badly and the colours are washed out. All leds light up so it seems to be getting power. I am running a single 12v power supply and using 2 ports (1&5). I add also that while xlights locates the board it will not upload; I am on latest version. I have tried defining the lights as a single custom model and as two 600 light matrices. As I say any ideas of what I have done wrong welcome.
 
Couple quick questions
1. Does output to lights from xLights look better than fpp?
2. Do you happen to have both xlights and the controller dimmed down, and are you using any gamma settings?
3. If xLights isn't uploading the board that would explain a lot, try a manual setting to see if the problem can be further isolated...
 
bigdave said:
Hi I am a newbie and purchased a couple of the Baldrick boards with a view of driving 1200 12v 5cm bud leds. Here is a couple of my experiences and any help would be appreciated. The board has a dedicated IP address. In test mode the lights look fine with stable output and clear colours (green is green). When I send an xlight file (40% brightness) via FPP on a Pi the lights flicker badly and the colours are washed out. All leds light up so it seems to be getting power. I am running a single 12v power supply and using 2 ports (1&5). I add also that while xlights locates the board it will not upload; I am on latest version. I have tried defining the lights as a single custom model and as two 600 light matrices. As I say any ideas of what I have done wrong welcome.
Click to expand...
At the moment there is an issue with xLights .12, we recommend using .10 until .13 is released, this should help you push to the board properly.

Flickering with pixels usually means a data issue or grounding issue, if you can push to the controller and are still getting flickering then make sure output to lights is not enabled on xLights whilst you are playing your sequence on FPP.

If those aren't the issue, post a few screenshots of your Baldrick, xLights and FPP settings and we can take a look
 
bigdave said:
Hi I am a newbie and purchased a couple of the Baldrick boards with a view of driving 1200 12v 5cm bud leds. Here is a couple of my experiences and any help would be appreciated. The board has a dedicated IP address. In test mode the lights look fine with stable output and clear colours (green is green). When I send an xlight file (40% brightness) via FPP on a Pi the lights flicker badly and the colours are washed out. All leds light up so it seems to be getting power. I am running a single 12v power supply and using 2 ports (1&5). I add also that while xlights locates the board it will not upload; I am on latest version. I have tried defining the lights as a single custom model and as two 600 light matrices. As I say any ideas of what I have done wrong welcome.
Click to expand...
When sending data via FPP is xlights "output to lights" turned off? If either the Baldrick or FPP is getting sent data by Xlights at the same time this effect could be seen.
 
Just a small update from us today

1.26.1​

  • A small release to handle people with multiple Baldrick Boards or as we call them in the office our favourite people
  • We fixed a bug that nobody discovered and whilst most release notes wouldn't even mention but we do because we care.
 
Hey @domhodgson — assuming it’s not a security bug of some sort - can you describe the secret bug? If I run into a problem - it’s really useful to see that it matches a description in the release notes and that upgrading will fix it.
 
thewanderingpine said:
Hey @domhodgson — assuming it’s not a security bug of some sort - can you describe the secret bug? If I run into a problem - it’s really useful to see that it matches a description in the release notes and that upgrading will fix it.
Click to expand...
Sure, I was told it was a "possible but highly improbable" memory issue which would cause the Baldrick to need a restart.
 
bigdave said:
Hi I am a newbie and purchased a couple of the Baldrick boards with a view of driving 1200 12v 5cm bud leds. Here is a couple of my experiences and any help would be appreciated. The board has a dedicated IP address. In test mode the lights look fine with stable output and clear colours (green is green). When I send an xlight file (40% brightness) via FPP on a Pi the lights flicker badly and the colours are washed out. All leds light up so it seems to be getting power. I am running a single 12v power supply and using 2 ports (1&5). I add also that while xlights locates the board it will not upload; I am on latest version. I have tried defining the lights as a single custom model and as two 600 light matrices. As I say any ideas of what I have done wrong welcome.
Click to expand...
@bigdave, just checking to see how you are getting on?
 
domhodgson said:
@bigdave, just checking to see how you are getting on?
Click to expand...
G'day Dom, got the same problem. With the inbuilt test mode the pixels can be changed in brightness no probs. But if I set the pixel string in Port Config to anything other than 100% I get flickering when playing from FPP or xLights. The flickering speed seems to vary with the brightness setting like duty cycle.

Otherwise great little board, easy to setup.
 
Another thing I'm noticing just running some bars effect in a sequence from FPP across a prop is that it is stalling every 20mins or so and needs a restart. The ESP chip is not warm to touch.
edt: Sorry v1.28.1 and running at 5.25V
 
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