Quick question re Candy Cane wiring

rustybiker69

New elf
Joined
May 9, 2020
Messages
31
Sorry I know this is the forum for Leaping Arches, but I have a related quick Question. I have some old Solar power Candy canes I wish to convert to pixels. I will have 4 of them. I can stuff a pixels length along the candy cane tube.
My question is wiring these do I
1. run a length of pixels along the tube, then run 3 wires back from the end of the candy can back to the beginning inorder to connect to the next candy cane. This will be like a single length of pixels, with wire breaks in between
2. Run these a single data and V, G line and tap of this to run the 20 or so pixels up each candy cane

I am using xlights so will be using the candy cane model that exists already so keen to wire so it fits that model

thanks, in advance
 
Last edited:

Snowy

Phil
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
106
Location
Perth Tas
Hi looking i Xlights if you follow the wiring model you should be ok . but being new to this stuff myself i will stand corrected. you also may need to make a custom model in Xlights.
 

OzAz

Senior elf
Global moderator
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Dec 29, 2015
Messages
997
Location
Newcastle
Maybe option 2 depending on how far away each candy cane will be from the next one. Basically consider the cable length between the last pixel on one cane and the first pixel on the next one. Too long and you'll have voltage and signal issues.
 

rustybiker69

New elf
Joined
May 9, 2020
Messages
31
OK, did a bit more digging. So the standard model is x lights has a string for each cane. Does them mean I wire like option 2.
 

tooms

12v4life
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Jan 2, 2015
Messages
208
Location
Kalgoorlie
I had 12 99 pix candy canes in the show last year, they were about 1.5 metre's apart, I more or less just daisy chained them all together with power injection every 2 or 3 canes, I used 3 pin 3 metre extension leads between each cane and hid them at the back of the prop so they couldn't be seen from the street, I did it over 2 ports off the controller. xlights will let you daisy chain them together.
 

Dreamin

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 28, 2016
Messages
382
Location
Sunshine Coast
First year myself and not sure I'm doing it right either, but I'm doing similar pixel sticks and making them myself. I used the xlights model for candy canes.
I intend to run them on one input from the controller, about 28 pixels each (using 5V strip for these) and just return data from the top to go to the next stick, and just bring power +- over from the bottom of the stick to the bottom of the next stick. I'm hoping to get away with only power injection at the end with only 84 pixels. Maybe none at all. As far as my understanding goes only data needs to flow one to the other.
 
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