Ramblings of an Old Man - 2020 Hardware

[kevr]

I am going to consolidate my controllers into 2 central enclosures (2 pixlite 16's per box) for 2020 and am now scratching my head on what connectors to use. I have used rays white screw connectors in the past but would prefer black and found these options - just a capture for reference, so has anyone used any of the other types and how did you find them, I am leaning to the larger of the 3 types. I have used the automotive connectors this year but not entirely happy with them, they are a little fragile for my liking.

I seem to be making lots of work for myself every year so this time I want to make it solid and future proof for hopefully many years to come.

I used scheduler again this year and have had no problems it has been great but am considering going to FPP for 2020 - not sure?

I am using the HP 1200w server power supplies with Jdeation breakout boards this year and they are great for output and small form factor.

1. Central enclosure
2. Additional power for power injection - F8 Distro
3. HP server power
4. FPP - maybe
5. Inbuilt car radio and transmitter
6. ??

 

[AAH]

I have used the Ray Wu style for about 7 years now and have very little issues with them. Try to ensure that you get 0.75mm2 or 1.0mm2 cable on them if you can so that you have the highest current capacity and you're not being limited by the smaller wire sizes. I originally used white pigtails but have been using black now for years. The white ones tend to develop a bit of a suntan after prolonged exposure.
If your show has no interactivity and just plays your pre-programmed show I'd go with FPP pretty well every time until you hit a very large channel count where you're starting to need very high speed ethernet and data throughput. If your show has audience interaction then xlights scheduler is definitely worth pursuing further.
I use a FM transmitter going to an old radio/cd stereo. That way I have plenty of noise available to me and I also know that the transmitter is transmitting. If you're talking about using a 12V radio then you could bump into a few problems. The 12V that you will typically have available will be very close to 12.0V whereas in a car the voltage is typically around 13.8V while the car is running. The extra volts make a big difference to the available power output without distortion. Car radios are also typically used with 4 ohm speakers because of the 12V limitation. If you try using typical stereo speakers which are usually 8 ohm then you may find that they are very quiet up to the point where you start getting distortion.
A shameless plug for my Power8 compared to the F8 distro. The F8 has 1 30A input to 8 5A outputs which can actually only supply an average of 3.75A before they hit the 30A limit. My Power8 has 2 30A inputs to 8 7.5A outputs. There's also 1 of my null buffers inbuilt to it and it has power on and fuse blown led indication.

 

[tooms]

I dont have a whole lot of faith in any of those connectors, I always use a half decent vinyl tape to seal them completely, I've had them pull apart on me on a hot summers day when the leads have been pulled a bit tight, also found the nut to sometimes not screw on properly and be malformed. They are good for the price though so cant really complain.