Newbie Controller Question

[BrianZ]

Hello all. I've been doing some reaching, watching, and reading. Especially the 101 manual. I love Christmas and looking forward to starting for this coming year. My confusion comes with what controller to use for my first display. I plan on running icicle lights along the front roof line (approx. 35ft), so about 600-700 pixels daisy chained and power injected, the garage outline, four windows, and the front door. I'm estimating approx. 1500 pixels total. I plan on putting the main controller in the garage and from there, I can come up to the roof and the garage outline. I'll have to then go 15-30ft away for the windows. My question comes in should I use the Falcon F16v3 with extension cabling for the furthest windows, but then data my be an issue? Or an F4v3 to run the roof icicles and garage and data out to another F4v3 or smart receivers? I do plan to expand out to several trees about 20-30ft away in the future. Sorry for the questions, but it's hard to decide the best course of action. Thanks for any input.

 

[Katekate]

I run 20ft extensions off my F16 with no problems. You could make the distances you need with famps no worries.

 

[BrianZ]

OK great, that's what I wanted to know because my furthest window is about 30ft away, now what is an famp? The first I'm hearing about it. And based on my post, do I need to increase the power supply from 350 to 700w? Or will the 350 run the pixels with power injecting as well?

 

[Katekate]

depends on what brightness you want to run. 1500 pixels at full white at 30% brightness will max out 350w

if you get 2, you can either build them both into your main controller, and use one for each side of the f16, or dedicate it to injection.

 

[BrianZ]

What do you think about using an F16v3 with receivers for the furthest away windows and trees? I ask because my roof line will take about 600 pixels, the garage and closet windows and doors will take about another 400. So, that's 1000 pixels and I'll have all those ports open, but won't be able to use in the future because of the 350w supply? So, is it better to get an F4 to power these sections and send out to receivers for the other sections?

 

[OzAz]

now what is an famp? The first I'm hearing about it.

" The Falcon F-Amp is a line buffer designed to boost the data signal that controls 3-wire pixels. " You can also buy them with pigtails pre-attached. Also sold as null buffers - that vendor's listing has some useful info and a demo video on their use.

 

[BrianZ]

This is a great idea because I don't have super long distances, but I have to think about the total power my lights will use. I'd like to use all 16 ports in the future, but what confuses me is, the controller has 16 ports, but the power supply doesn't power all of them. So, I guess if I expand to all the ports, I'll have to add power supplies?

 

[Katekate]

the f16 has 2 power inputs, each one goes to 8 of the outputs. you can connect them both to the same psu, or to separate ones.

 

[Katekate]

What do you think about using an F16v3 with receivers for the furthest away windows and trees?

This is basically what I'm doing. My F16V3 is on my roof and directly runs everything that is attached to the house. I have the differential expansion board and used a single receiver to run my megatree. as I expand I plan on using more receivers to run ground level props.

This is before I had most of my roof props up, and you can see the controller box hiding in the corner above the porch roof but below the main roof.

 

[i13]

You're right that Falcon controllers suppport way more pixels than a single power supply can power. Injecting power with a second power supply is how we get around this. There are videos in this thread that explain it: https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/13315/
I confess that I've only skimmed the second one.

 

[BrianZ]

This is basically what I'm doing. My F16V3 is on my roof and directly runs everything that is attached to the house. I have the differential expansion board and used a single receiver to run my megatree. as I expand I plan on using more receivers to run ground level props.

This is before I had most of my roof props up, and you can see the controller box hiding in the corner above the porch roof but below the main roof.

View attachment 16380

This is a great pic!!! Thank you for this, because this is similar to my idea. Did you have to power inject at the end of each icicle string or did you inject all the way at the other end of the roof? Did you add a power supply to your F16?

 

[BrianZ]

You're right that Falcon controllers suppport way more pixels than a single power supply can power. Injecting power with a second power supply is how we get around this. There are videos in this thread that explain it: https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/13315/
I confess that I've only skimmed the second one.

OK, perfect, thank you. Did you attach the second power supply to the board or did you use it for power injecting?

 

[BrianZ]

I also have a question about fusing...the ports have a fuse attached to them...So, if I use said port for 200 pixel lights in daisy chain and power inject at the beginning of the 2nd light string, do I need to fuse that injection? I ask because the port for the original pixel string connection has a fuse already. Or should I add a fuse adapter for each power injection?

 

[uncledan]

Its recommended to fuse all power injection. You would break the V+ at the end of first string and inject V+ and V- at that point with a fuse/power distro board.

 

[BrianZ]

Its recommended to fuse all power injection. You would break the V+ at the end of first string and inject V+ and V- at that point with a fuse/power distro board.

OK, thank you. I know Falcon has some nice fuse boards that I would connect the power supply to the V+ & V- then out to the injection wiring?