Raspberry Pi reliability

[logandc99]

Just wondering how reliable and long lasting people have found the Pi.
I am running my XL4 sequences off the Pi using the Pi player and when I initially got it all going, it happily played my sequences smoothly about the first thirty or so times I tested the sequences. Now I am finding that I can get a sequence to run properly about 20 percent of the time. The rest of the time, the pi plays the music part of the sequence ok but seems to only spit out the odd effect to the elements every few seconds so currently I am looking at either a new Pi or going back to running off a PC. I need reliability when it comes to Christmas time. I have replaced the ethernet cables, replaced the network switch etc but still have the same problem with the Pi working fine sometimes but most of the time it's not. For example, tonight I started everything up and ran all sequences several times perfectly. Then I shut everything down, went and had dinner and then decided to run the sequences again after. This time however, I have not been able to run a single sequence for the last hour despite rebooting things, allowing more time to warm up etc.
Any thoughts welcome.

 

[dpitts]

I ran my show for last two years without a hiccup. If you are running unicast to your controllers you need to make sure all controllers are powered and on the network or you will be brought down by ARP requests.

 

[Superman]

The only problems I have had with the 5 Pi's I run here is crappy usb sticks and SD cards, get the good ones and no problems here.

 

[logandc99]

I ran my show for last two years without a hiccup. If you are running unicast to your controllers you need to make sure all controllers are powered and on the network or you will be brought down by ARP requests.

Ah ha! thanks, I didn't know that. I do have a couple of controllers not connected.
When I run the show with all controllers connected am I better running multicast or unicast?

 

[gerry]

Hi Logan,


Please don't start ! Use whatever u are comfortable with ...

 

[damona]

Use Multicast, less overhead.

 

[i13]

The multicast vs unicast question depends on what you want to do with the E1.31 data. The wiki article for the DR4 configuration has quite a clear explanation in the introduction section; just be aware that what it is saying is likely to apply to all E1.31 controllers and the Raspberry Pi simply replaces the show PC
http://auschristmaslighting.com/wiki/ECG-DR4/Configuration

I would still be surprised if you had issues with multicast with modern controllers but you'll know what the problem is if it occurs. Unicast would be essential if you don't have your lights on a dedicated network.

 

[logandc99]

I've run unicast the last couple of years but that was from s PC. I never ran into problems testing sequences without all controllers hooked up.
So would it be tight to say that when using the Pi with only some controllers attached ( as in testing) is should either use multicast or unslelect the unattached controllers in unicast and the problem should go away?

 

[dpitts]

Yes. If the controllers are not hooked up disable them or unselect them in the E131 output section of FPP.

 

[DrNeutron]

I had this same issue over the summer running Christmas and Halloween displays at the campsite (1st time using pi).
Everything ran and tested fine at home with all controllers powered up and when I took it all to campsite and started things up I found weirdness in the show until I clued into the fact that my bridge/E682/LOR/Renard controllers had to be up before I powered on the pi. Once that was done it ran like a rock.
Lesson learned I guess...

 

[logandc99]

Thanks all. That is a relief to know. I thought my Pi was going off .

 

[jeffl]

I ran my show for last two years without a hiccup. If you are running unicast to your controllers you need to make sure all controllers are powered and on the network or you will be brought down by ARP requests.

Would the Raspberry Pi 2 have enough processing power to deal with the ARP requests and not show this issue? Not that I want to try but I'm wondering if the additional cores would help?

 

[damona]

e131 for multi cast sends a single packet per universe. If you use uni-cast and two controllers share the same universe then its two packets.


Given the source data for the Pi is a compiled show, I would hope that it stored as a single data set DMX/E131 per universe.