New Revised Technicolor Pixels

Take some resistance readings on the data pad to gnd pad and see what values you have. Did the pixel just quit working as in no glowing. Was this just one bad unit? Mine was fine until the first rain and all kinds of problems occurred. They would start coming on when no signal was applied. I would take them down and let them dry out and some of them would come back to life. I had some failure due to the injection mold process. It actually pushed the pcb at an angle. The pixels would still work except missing colors. Here is the link to my Photobucket bad pixel library http://s577.photobucket.com/user/Hauvega/slideshow/Pixel%20problems

My c9 covers had moisture in them with some of them having a few drops of water. All my pixels had power applied to them. My pixels have the ws2811s chips in them. I believe the ws2811b series are the problematic ones.
The new pcb redesign helps in putting the gnd line in the middle of the power and data line. This should solve the damage to the chip data input and output. If moisture can still get into the pixel, damage is going to take longer. Need a year of testing by exposing to the elements and disassembly of pixels to see if any ingress has occurred.

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Thanks for the link Hauvega, you definitely had a lot of damage to your pixels pcb.
My lights starting doing there own thing like turning themselves on and not responding to the controller at all while others worked fine within the same string. This was after leaving the power on over night but it was a cold and dry night so I do not think water was my issue. The failures were to quick so it must of been the batch of defective chips as Ray advised me. I will check the resistance to see what readings I have as you recommend.
So far I have not had any bad pixels testing the new lights but they are in my home. Saying that they would get much warmer in the house so I think the defective chip issue is definitely resolved. Maybe the overheated chip made the plastic expand and let water in where the led reflector is?? I guess time will tell all if this helps with any water problems. I hope all will be well as I really like the overall Technicolor pixel design compared to the others!
 
I like the design too. The flexibility of being able to put covers on or not. The higher brightness. Just getting the bugs out is the problem. That is why I am now going to wait for about a year. If I can get a sample string, it will go through my quality test procedure.
 
Dinosang said:
I have finally received my revised replacement Technicolor Pixels. Since it is too late for my display I decided to at least test them out so I do not run into the same problem as the last set of strings. Apparently Ray had received a defective batch of ws2811 which was one of the main causes of all the failures. At first glance of the new strings I noticed there is an addition of some sort of PCB just before the first pixel with water proof heat shrink protecting it. I have not had a chance to chat with Ray regarding its purpose.
Ray also stated that I did not have to run them at 10.2 volts as the issues that the previous strings had have been resolved.

I have been giving the new strings a workout using Xlights for the last 4 days to see how well they will hold up. At this stage I must conclude that the new revised strings seem to have the problems resolved. I have no bad pixels and I am still testing as I am writings this.

If you have been hesitant to purchase the Technicolor Pixels because of past issues I think Ray has put a lot of resources into the Technicolor Pixels to make sure they are all resolved. Out of all the different pixels out I personally think they are the best constructed. I especially love the capability of the screw on lenses so they indeed look like Christmas lights.

I have been testing using a ECG-P12S set at 3200Kbps with two 400w power supplies with the voltage set at 11.5volts with New Technicolor Pixels with C7 lenses
Click to expand...

I was hit hard by Ray's 12V TC pixel this year, and the issues were that it was just going to be doomed to fail. Fasteddy pointed out 3 items, but it goes deeper than that. The PCB was under designed to carry the current, (not enough copper), and the LDO step down voltage regulator he used was under spec'd. The red LED was missing a resistor, yada, yada yada. He realized the deficiency and has redesigned it. Ray outlined in detail the deficiencies in his design to me, or I should say he detailed the changes he was having made in the "new" design.

What pixel number did you order? (link?)This is interesting, as Ray sent me a sample string of the new design to test. I got it on Tuesday, and plugged it in last night to throw out in the yard. The sample string Ray sent had no molded plastic item at the beginning of the string. There was some discussion that Ray was going to make the TC dual voltage, and I wonder if the picture you show is the latest with that feature.
 
zman said:
Dinosang said:
I have finally received my revised replacement Technicolor Pixels. Since it is too late for my display I decided to at least test them out so I do not run into the same problem as the last set of strings. Apparently Ray had received a defective batch of ws2811 which was one of the main causes of all the failures. At first glance of the new strings I noticed there is an addition of some sort of PCB just before the first pixel with water proof heat shrink protecting it. I have not had a chance to chat with Ray regarding its purpose.
Ray also stated that I did not have to run them at 10.2 volts as the issues that the previous strings had have been resolved.

I have been giving the new strings a workout using Xlights for the last 4 days to see how well they will hold up. At this stage I must conclude that the new revised strings seem to have the problems resolved. I have no bad pixels and I am still testing as I am writings this.

If you have been hesitant to purchase the Technicolor Pixels because of past issues I think Ray has put a lot of resources into the Technicolor Pixels to make sure they are all resolved. Out of all the different pixels out I personally think they are the best constructed. I especially love the capability of the screw on lenses so they indeed look like Christmas lights.

I have been testing using a ECG-P12S set at 3200Kbps with two 400w power supplies with the voltage set at 11.5volts with New Technicolor Pixels with C7 lenses
Click to expand...

I was hit hard by Ray's 12V TC pixel this year, and the issues were that it was just going to be doomed to fail. Fasteddy pointed out 3 items, but it goes deeper than that. The PCB was under designed to carry the current, (not enough copper), and the LDO step down voltage regulator he used was under spec'd. The red LED was missing a resistor, yada, yada yada. He realized the deficiency and has redesigned it. Ray outlined in detail the deficiencies in his design to me, or I should say he detailed the changes he was having made in the "new" design.

What pixel number did you order? (link?)This is interesting, as Ray sent me a sample string of the new design to test. I got it on Tuesday, and plugged it in last night to throw out in the yard. The sample string Ray sent had no molded plastic item at the beginning of the string. There was some discussion that Ray was going to make the TC dual voltage, and I wonder if the picture you show is the latest with that feature.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply I have not been around. I originally ordered the 100 node 12 volt strings which started to fail immediately. I waited over a month for replacements so it was with original order not new link. Ray told me about the pcb redesign and chip flaws that needed to be addressed and that is why it took so long to get replacements. I asked Ray about the insert at the beginning of the string and he said it was just a resistor on the data wire to act as some sort of filter. I just taken his word for it as there is no use cutting it open unless the lights fail. but so for so good no failures.
 
So the question I guess I still have is that... I received my Technicolor strings at the end of November (probably fabricated 11/21). Because they arrived so late, I didn't get to put them out on the house. I am planning on putting them on the house here in the next few weeks, so that I can see if they fail... but, if these were your lights, would you be going back to Ray now and just asking for replacements or waiting for the failures? If it is well-known that there was a problem with whole batches due to design or substitution of components, shouldn't that warrant a demand for all the strings to be replaced with or without failure?

-Louie
 
nutz4lights said:
So the question I guess I still have is that... I received my Technicolor strings at the end of November (probably fabricated 11/21). Because they arrived so late, I didn't get to put them out on the house. I am planning on putting them on the house here in the next few weeks, so that I can see if they fail... but, if these were your lights, would you be going back to Ray now and just asking for replacements or waiting for the failures? If it is well-known that there was a problem with whole batches due to design or substitution of components, shouldn't that warrant a demand for all the strings to be replaced with or without failure?

-Louie
Click to expand...

Throw your lights into the shower and run for a period of time and see if you get any issues, i wouldnt wait until the end of the year
 
It would figure that the day AFTER I get finished screwing 1000 @#$%'ing bulb covers on my Technicolor strings that I ordered in October and received in late November with the special request to have the bulb covers screwed on FOR ME that didn't arrive that way... Ray starts offering them on his site (now in green!) with the bulb covers screwed on...

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/50nodes-DC12V-WS2811-LED-technicolor-pixel-with-C9-cover-waterproof-RGB-full-color-in-GREEN-color/701799_1655471902.html

@#$%@#$5 #@$%@#$% @#$%@#$%

I can hardly feel my fingers at this point, after 10 days of my wife and I screwing all those damn bulb covers on!

;)

I'm gearing up to start zip tying them to poles to put on the roof for Christmas in March... that way when the fail I can get in touch with Ray earlier in the year about replacing them...

-Louie
 
Just got these WS2811S samples from Ray. I am thinking about ordering 6500. I'm planning to create a matrix that covers the entire front of my house with the frosted globes at 3" spacing.

I'll do a sample order of enough for one section first before I go crazy.
 

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