Mega Tree Pixel Replacement for 2019

J

jamesssydney

Apprentice elf
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
52
HNY!

Well this was my first official Christmas with the use of pixels on the outside of my house. I'd had great success for a number of years with pixels on the inside of my house (apartment living). My mega tree caused me untold grief, especially with the Sydney thunderstorms just prior to Christmas.

My display consists on 5V WS2811 (link below is 12v version) using an F16V3. @Benslights was kind enough to assist in correcting my PSI issues. While there was no rain I had some success with the megatree. 16 Strands of 38 pixels.

(link)
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.2.60b85c1fjTuAit

I'm looking for advice on moving to a 5V 2818 for 2019 and looking to see if I should move to a bullet or squared backed pixel? should I sick with WS2811 or take the plunge to WS2818. If the pixel does fail on WS2818, does this mean the whole display from the failed pixel will move by one?

(want 5V version)
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.30.c226321axbeZW3

Or
(want 5V version)
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...l?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.32.c226321aEGIfJ0

Also just another thought should I had connectors at the end of each strand, verse going up and down total 76 pixels (38X2), so it makes for easy replacement if a strand fails, with a back up strand?

Kind regards

James
 
I'm only a noob and also looking to build a megatree,

I'm thinking 12v square backed nodes myself,

I'm curious as to why u want 5v,
I believe 5v is a bigger pain and really power injection on 5v is every 50 pixels, but if your back injecting at 76 you will probably be ok (depending on brightness)

Where 12v seems more practical as you can do 100, (and if you are running separate strings per port you won't even have to power the ends??)

Sorry for the misguided question, just curious, especially as 5v seems to be cheaper per node and might be a better option for me.
 
This is a short video of the Mega Tree I made for this Christmas, frame is gal pipe and gal strip bent and welded to make a ring at the top and bottom
Has 16 strips 2m long with 60 pixels per strip using these https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ml?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.8.b4ec2c9cOk9nDO

I am using Xlights, Raspberry Pi 3B+(Falcon Player) and a Pixlite 4 to drive the LED's

12v is the better way to go as you have less current over the wiring


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMe9b2Aehhs
 
so many questions....
1. 5v for mega trees and matrices. ( depends). you get power supply utilisation and efficiency and lower power supply costs.
2. separate strands all made the same, makes for easy swap out and construction.
3. Power injection whilst a PIA is a lot easier on trees and matrices. I inject only at the bottom of 50 nodes per string.
4.Square seems to work well on trees.....
5. I can't know if it's worth the extra $ for the newer nodes as it only protects against one node failure, make extra strings and swap out.
cheers
Fing
 
Fing
Must have been half asleep last night, below is true for the PSU but not the LED's
Running the LED's at 5V is much more efficient than 12V unless you are using the pixel strips that use a switch mode PSU every meter but most seem to just use resistors to drop the voltage creating big losses

you get better efficiency running higher voltage
looking at the Meanwell PSU there is only $4 difference between their 5V 300W model and the 12V 348W model
If you were to get that 300W over a single run you need to be able to support 60A, while on the 12V model to get the 348W you only need to be able to support 29A
on my Mega Tree I only inject power every 240 pixels and have no issues going to 100% brightness - though you would never want to as it is way too bright LOL

Agreed on trying to use the same types of pixels whether they are bullets, square or strips
I currently use all WS2811 based lights being a mix of 12mm bullets, 12mm square and 30 pixel/m IP68 strips
 
Last edited:
Morning, thanks for the advice!

My entire display is 5V already, so to change just the tree to 12V, would be a pain to be honest. Unless I can be convinced other wise :)
 
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