It’s official, no Christmas lights for me this year.
Apart from the usual lighting issues I always have (like; bad pixels, broken wires, changed prop placement, and the never-ending need to have new Sequences each year), this time I have had an issue I just couldn’t overcome before Christmas.
I have been using a Falcon F16 v3 Controller for my lights for over 5 years now. Overall, I have been happy with my F16 v3 Controller, as well as it’s Differential Receiver Boards I have been using. However, over the last couple of years, I had noticed that a couple of the Differential Receiver Boards were having some issues. I first off just purchased a new board, but eventually worked out that if I replaced the control chips (which are dirt cheap), the faulty Differential Receiver Board would work as it should again.
I then noticed that some of the Falcon F16 v3 Controller Ports were also developing issues, similar to the Differential Receiver Boards. So, I thought I would just try replacing the control chips on the Mother Board as well. I ordered some replacement chips, made sure they were the same type and also ensured they were installed the same way around. However, this didn’t fix my issue, and in the end, I just didn’t have a Controller to use this year.
So, after this long and sad story, I now come to the point of my post.
Can anyone recommend someone in the Brisbane (Queensland Australia) area who might be able to help me fix this Controller issue?
The other thing I was thinking about, was, should I take this as a sign, and change out my Controller to something else? I thought I could probably move to multiple Raspberry PI controllers, using Pi Hats? This way, I could have more individual controllers and power supplies, so the redundances should make my Christmas Lights system more reliable.
So, if anyone has any comments or suggestions on alternate Controllers, or someone who could check and possibly repair my Falcon F16 v3 Controller (which would be my preferred option, as I have put a lot of work into that control box), that would be much appreciated.
Apart from the usual lighting issues I always have (like; bad pixels, broken wires, changed prop placement, and the never-ending need to have new Sequences each year), this time I have had an issue I just couldn’t overcome before Christmas.
I have been using a Falcon F16 v3 Controller for my lights for over 5 years now. Overall, I have been happy with my F16 v3 Controller, as well as it’s Differential Receiver Boards I have been using. However, over the last couple of years, I had noticed that a couple of the Differential Receiver Boards were having some issues. I first off just purchased a new board, but eventually worked out that if I replaced the control chips (which are dirt cheap), the faulty Differential Receiver Board would work as it should again.
I then noticed that some of the Falcon F16 v3 Controller Ports were also developing issues, similar to the Differential Receiver Boards. So, I thought I would just try replacing the control chips on the Mother Board as well. I ordered some replacement chips, made sure they were the same type and also ensured they were installed the same way around. However, this didn’t fix my issue, and in the end, I just didn’t have a Controller to use this year.
So, after this long and sad story, I now come to the point of my post.
Can anyone recommend someone in the Brisbane (Queensland Australia) area who might be able to help me fix this Controller issue?
The other thing I was thinking about, was, should I take this as a sign, and change out my Controller to something else? I thought I could probably move to multiple Raspberry PI controllers, using Pi Hats? This way, I could have more individual controllers and power supplies, so the redundances should make my Christmas Lights system more reliable.
So, if anyone has any comments or suggestions on alternate Controllers, or someone who could check and possibly repair my Falcon F16 v3 Controller (which would be my preferred option, as I have put a lot of work into that control box), that would be much appreciated.
