Power Injection Issue??

[Callaidyn]

I am using a P2 with power injection. The first 75 RGB lights work OK but from where the power injection is, no more strips/pixels will light up. Could something be wrong with the T-Pieces I am using?

I have 1 x 350W 12V power supplying the P2 and the first two strings, then a second power supply injecting after 75 RGB strips/pixels. Using T-Piece between the strings and to the power supply.

Any suggestions on what could be happening?

 

[Superman]

I will say "T" pieces. they can be notorious of having shorts and all sorts of things in them.
One order of 10 i got once had 7 failures in it, Got the whole lot replaced but I choose not to use them.

 

[PaulVernon]

I will say "T" Pieces too unfortunately the 10 i got from ray I am seeing failures of about 70% as well. I will make my own now until I can get reliable ones.

 

[Karob]

I agree sounds like your T has failed, if you want I can send a whole batch of them over to you, oh wait lets not do that they dont work, I have just made my own for my mega tree instead of using the T from Ray, atleast with your own you can pull them apart and re solder them

 

[Gilrock]

Ah man I have 10 of those coming from Ray today also. I sure hope they work because I already have enough soldering to do so these were going to save me a lot of time.

 

[fasteddy]

Im surprised at the large amount of failures from these, What is the rated current of these Ts because 70% failure rate is appalling and im wondering if these are being overloaded or if its just cheap un-tested low quality Ts from Ray

 

[AussieDoug]

I ordered 10 too. Seems like the thing to do and every one of them had a short & melted within a couple of seconds. That was just the Tee piece plugged into power with no lights. Be very wary of them.

 

[Jamie]

I dont have any of the T's. However at the the bris mini Superman was demonstrating the use of the multimeter and showed us clearly the faults in these t items.. If you have them - check them before using to aviod damage..

 

[Callaidyn]

Thanks everyone - looks like hubby will be making three T's from scratch for us today!!

 

[Callaidyn]

On the off chance that it is not a T-Piece (although from the responses this seems the most likely source of the issue) any other suggestions on what could be the problem? The T-Pieces seem to test OK but hubby said he will make up three from scratch (or at least one and we'll test that first).......

 

[fasteddy]

Is the +V isolated between the two power supplies through the T or is the T just a straight through T with the +V going through.
Because using 2 power supplies the I would ensure that the +V is seperated between the two.

 

[Gilrock]

That's a good point. I was planning on using the T pieces to inject from the same power supply.

 

[logandc99]

I've got quite a few of those T pieces and have had some failures and one that I think shorted and destroyed a few pixels. However I would say my failure rate is about 10%. Does pay to check them with a multimeter though.

 

[Callaidyn]

Ok - so it's not the power that is an issue and we've found that the first two lights of the next string in line light up. It is not a problem with that string (swapped out and the same happens). So I'm thinking it must be the way I've set up either the P2 or the LOR. I have re-watched videos from Phil and Andy and everything seems to be as per their instructions (which are very easy to follow!!). Any suggestions on what may be wrong?

I've attached screen shots from my J1Sys and LOR.

Set up is:
Universe 1 has 1 x 50 pixel arch, 1 x 25 pixel fire stick, 1 x 50 pixel arch and 1 x 25 pixel firestick (lights stop on third pixel of 2nd arch)
Universe 2 has 1 x 50 pixel arch, 1 x 25 pixel fire stick and 1 x 50 pixel arch.

P.S The Ray Wu strips have GB backwards hence whey they are changed in effects......

 

[Gilrock]

Ok - so it's not the power that is an issue and we've found that the first two lights of the next string in line light up.

I don't think you can draw that conclusion. That's exactly what happens when power is the issue. The pixels die at the point where the power is no longer high enough to run the next chip no matter where it falls in the string.

By the way I tested all my T splitter cables and they all measured good. In fact I've ordered a ton of stuff from Ray in the past few years and I guess I'm lucky because I haven't found a single bad pixel or cable. Only issue I've had is a power supply marked as 12V ended up being a 5V supply.