My light Spread Sheet

Baf05

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 15, 2012
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Hello all, when I started this last year, a very kind person helped me with a spread sheet so that I could address everything correctly.

This spread sheet has proved EXTREEMLY valuable. So a massive thanks to that person (yes I have forgotten who it was, I am a bad person ;) )

So its come along way and I have learned quite a bit, and decided to add to it, but I think there is an error, and I wanted so advice.

I do hope I explain it correctly.

Given that we have 512 channels to work with in each universe, each column should there for start at 1 and finish at 512, meaning that column one is channels 1 to 512, then your next universe would start at channel 513?

I have attached the spread sheet, I think it is wrong. (cant upload it)

Lastly, I am by no means having a go at who made this for me, as I said, I believe this little spread sheet saved me HOURS trouble shooting, I simply want to make sure as my display grows I don't get errors.
 

Baf05

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 15, 2012
Messages
249
Location
Canberra
I tried to edit the above post, seems I am having all sorts of issues today :p

-----

Hello all, when I started this last year, a very kind person helped me with a spread sheet so that I could address everything correctly.

This spread sheet has proved EXTREEMLY valuable. So a massive thanks to that person (yes I have forgotten who it was, I am a bad person ;) )

So its come along way and I have learned quite a bit, and decided to add to it, but I think there is an error, and I wanted some advice.

I do hope I explain it correctly.

Given that we have 512 channels to work with in each universe, each column should therefore start at 1 and finish at 512, meaning that column one is channels 1 to 512, then your next universe in column would start at channel 513?

Lastly, I am by no means having a go at who made this for me, as I said, I believe this little spread sheet saved me HOURS trouble shooting, I simply want to make sure as my display grows I don't get errors.

I tried to upload it but its the wrong file type.
 

mborg10

Michael Borg
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Dec 28, 2011
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claremont meadows
The spreadsheet was not loaded so we cannot have a look at what your talking about.Keep in mind that a DMX universe has 512 channels and you use 3 channels per pixel. 170 pixels per universe is equal to 510 channels with 2 channels we just don't use.So universe 1 starting at pixel 1 channel 1 would finish at pixel 170 channel 510Universe 2 would therefore start at pixel 171 channel 511 and finish at pixel 340 channel 1020
you don't have to fill the universe completelyIs this what you meant. Excel sheet would be handy or sen a snapshot of it.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
Community project designer
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Depending on what sequencer you use the way in which channels is listed is different. In LOR which I use the channels are configured as whatever with each channel having the network type, network ID or universe and channel number on that network. There is no requirement for the channels to be in any order according to channels. i personally group them according to prop types and location in the yard. In LSP the channels are arranged something like 1-512 is universe 1. 513-1024 is universe 2.

If you have a dropbox account you can dump the spreadsheet into there and post the link for it into the message.
 

BundyRoy

Dedicated elf
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The other option is save the spreadsheet as pdf and then upload it. At least we can see what's in it then. You can save it as a pdf straight out of excel.
 

Baf05

Full time elf
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Dec 15, 2012
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Canberra
I didn't know I could save it as a PDF, so here it is attached, with how I think it should be.
 

Attachments

  • Lights Spread sheet_V2.pdf
    2.6 MB · Views: 108

mborg10

Michael Borg
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It just seems like a really long way to go about it thats all. Listing every single channel of the 512.
eg
p12r universe 10 eaves c1
start pixel number 1537
end pixel number 1542
pixel count 5
channel start 4609
channel end 4626
Thats basically the info you after to setup up the p12r in config page and to setup element "eaves c1" in LSP
I think the spreadsheet can be simplified a lot.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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FYI Michael I think you may end up with power problems if your spreadsheet has mostly correct info. You have the wattage per pixel for 12V 2811 pixels as 0.3W. When I work it out using 12V x 3colours x 8.5mA I end up with 0.666W/pixel. Just on the 1st line of the spreadsheet that is a difference of 110.88W vs your number of 50.4.
You also have an extraneous A in voltage in the column.
That's basically the way I have done my pixel props too. For my LOR and DMX ones I have each channel listed and the individual controllers are collapsible.
 

mborg10

Michael Borg
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The watts per pixel were straight off ray's site. Ws2811 bullet style pixels working consumption of 0.3w working current of 0.3mA

If I use your 0.666w for my 2016 pixels I would need 4 x 350w power supplies to run it. I ran it off 2 x 350w last year fine???????


Volatage it's French for more power.

I want to add more columns for amps so I can calculate cable size and fuses too but haven't looked up that info yet
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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Rays info always has to be taken with a grain of salt. Sometimes the info is correct but often the info is wrong as the info has just come out of a template. I generally work on the assumption that the pixels are going to be driven at the full current that the 2811 spec specifies which is 18.5mA per colour. This can be user adjusted when making the pixels but it is also often likely that Ray uses the 5V pixel node rating of about 0.28W/pixel when the 12V pixel actually uses 2.4 times the power with the balance being waste heat.
 

DrNeutron

Just starting in this crazy hobby
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Oct 19, 2012
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Glace Bay
I thought it would be 8.5ma x 3 = 25.5 ma/1000 = .0255a x 12v = .306w/pixel
I'm new at this, so take it with a grain of salt, but that is how I worked it out and the same for the 12v modules that say they are .72w, working with 18.5ma x 3 = 55.5ma /1000 = .0555a x 12v = .666w which is shy of the .72w they seem to be rated but close enough.
;)

I like your spreadsheet BTW, it is pretty close to how I laid mine out for this year.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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It is possible that the 12V nodes are under driven from 18.5mA to something somewhat lower but as the brightness is fairly directly proportional to the current the only way that you would get a comparable light brightness would be to use a high efficiency LED like the CREE ones used in very top of the line pixels. These are horrendously expensive in comparison to the cheap and nasty that we typically get sold.
Whilst it is possibly that Ray and co are dropping the current to sub 10mA and maybe using higher quality leds on the 12V nodes I'd be dubious unless it was proven otherwise.
The 18.5mA that 2811 uses is on page 3 of http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki_source/images/b/ba/WS2811.pdf if anyone feels like having a look at the data sheet. As I said I prefer to work off the data sheet rather than Rays website as it is often wrong.
 
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