Pixel and channel confusion

[Madko]

Hello all,


I have recently received all my orders of lights and controllers. In setting up and reading more i have seem to have gotten into a twist with pixel and channel understanding.


Here is my understanding of it all, so can it please be confirmed or corrected. Cheers


1 universe = 170 pixels = 510 channels
In practice however 1 universe = 150 pixels = 450 channels
Now I'm using the 2811 5 meter 30LED/meter 10 IC / strip. This equals 50 pixels ( 3 RGB LED's being controller at the same time)
Therefore as I'm using a ECG-P12R controller, then I can connect 3 of these 5 meter 2811 strips in series to one universe output of the controller. Making a total of 450 channels


Also when power injecting can I power inject at the beginning of the 5 meter strip and the end only? So if I join in series 3 x 5 meter 2811 strip I would have 1 data and power at the beginning, power inject at the end of the first 5 meter strip, at the end of the second and at the end of the third 5 meter strip? Is this sufficient for power injection?


Hopefully I can get some confirmation or correction.


Cheers

 

[AAH]

Hi Madko
A universe is defined by the dmx standard as 512 channels. However when you are dealing with pixels which each take up 3 channels then you can only fit 170 pixels into a universe with 2 channels left over.
You can power inject at any point along pixels but because of voltage drops it is fairly normal for them to be done at the start and end of 50 pixel strings. The most common reason for this is the fact that strings are sold in lengths of 50.
I haven't got any of the J1-Sys gear as yet but I believe you can do some snazzy stuff with it like attach all 3 of your strips inline, assign the channels in the P12 and just inject at the ends/joins. The P12 has power and fusing for the pixels onboard I believe so I don't know how that affects your wiring.

 

[GoofyGuy]

Hi Madko
A universe is defined by the dmx standard as 512 channels. However when you are dealing with pixels which each take up 3 channels then you can only fit 170 pixels into a universe with 2 channels left over.
You can power inject at any point along pixels but because of voltage drops it is fairly normal for them to be done at the start and end of 50 pixel strings. The most common reason for this is the fact that strings are sold in lengths of 50.
I haven't got any of the J1-Sys gear as yet but I believe you can do some snazzy stuff with it like attach all 3 of your strips inline, assign the channels in the P12 and just inject at the ends/joins. The P12 has power and fusing for the pixels onboard I believe so I don't know how that affects your wiring.

The P2 you can attach upto 680 pixels in one long string and run them. The P2 has 2 outputs, each one can output up to 4 universes each. The power injection will come into play at this point but you can run the strings what would seem is forever. If you used the pixel string and not strip. Lets have fun with math here for a minute. If each pixel is spaced 4" then in total you have 2720" or 226 feet of pixels. Thats a lot of distance. The rules of universes are going away quickly with the newer generation controllers. The P2 is a great example of bank for the buck in out pixel world right now.