Starting from scratch: Controller Plans/Recommendations

[BigRedNole]

I just took my lights down for the year and as expected they did not make (uv and dry rot). It was not a big show, but does require a complete restart. I plan to make the show as modular as possible and easy for storage. Here are my ideas and could use guidance on controller direction (12V). I am open to any brands and models. Ease of use is important as well, but want it to last.

1. Get a 48 Differention Controller and just add SmartReceivers as necessary
2. Get a a 4 or 8 port controller to manage groups of props as necessary

Setup Plan

1. Permanent lights on my eaves (~150 linear feet total of ~325 puck led lights)
2. 5x Leaping Arches (2.5m 60LED/m strip lights per arch)
3. 4x Mini Trees (480 pixels each)
4. 6 window frame outlines (total of ~1000 pixels)
5. Another cutout that at most would be 500 pixels

 

[merryoncherry]

A lot of people like smart receivers, that strategy will certainly work, but I prefer the network of smaller controllers. At the end of the day it's a bunch of stuff connected together with CAT cables either way, but the controller approach is a lot easier to think through, and more flexible, no need to figure out if you divided up the ports evenly, etc., and the cables will carry much more data as Ethernet than they will as differential pixel data. Of course at this point the controllers in various places have enough ports and pixels on them that receivers from a single controller would not support the setup...

 

[Juddge]

so far i have only had 1 christmas with pixels and controllers
i did go over board buying heaps of controllers , but ended up just using the 2 large controllers with 16-48 ports each
havent used diff recievers yet, but there are a few places were it would be easer to just use power and diff recievers instread of long pixel runs

it would all come down to the layout of the property and the layout of the lights along the property
as all my props and lights that needed the controllers was all within 5 mtrs of each location i just used my 2 large controllers, and had no issues

my biggest issue was at the beginning when i was finding out i needed power injection more then i thought i would

my plan is to put lights on the other side of the property is run diffirential cables to smaller recievers and just power them from close by where they are

or i could run ethernet to the same location and run an individual controller at that location


( below is my person views on pro and con for each)

pros with diff recievers
smaller boxes
more power available at all locations due to extra power at each reciever location ( unless you do very large DC cabling to take DC straight to recievers)
if issue at reciever only reciever fails not entire controller

Cons of diff recievers
if the main controller fails then the diff recievers all fail too so a larger section is out
extra costs for cables and extra power supplies at each reciever
testing is harder as testing will usually power entire controller and recievers not just a small section

pros of seperate controllers at each location / group of lights / props
if contoller fails - only that small section fails
easier to fault find as each controller can be tested seperately from each other

Cons of controllers at each location
Costs
Extra equipment
more firmwares / software to maintain
more network to maintain ( IP's and DDP Communication)
requires networking cables and switch to each location

interestingly , they each have their similar pros and cons


i plan to have a mix of both, smaller controllers where i see issues arrising, or need to seperate disagnostics
and diff receivers where they are still part of the same group of lights, but in a distant location

i can see that for ease of connection and use i may go the Diff Recievers more often than most going foward for next year as its easier to connect a diff receiver to the controller then try and have multiple network cables and a switch outdoors for multiple ethernet cables


Thats just my 2 cents on the topic

 

[BigRedNole]

@merryoncherry So, this is more from lack of knowledge with Xlights and my simple initial lighting experience. In my small example of initial plans without maximizing pixels and channels. I could use 1 controller each to run each of the 5 sets props. Then in Xlights I can setup all 5 controllers in a single show sequence for Xlights to manage?

 

[thewanderingpine]

Yes. XLights (and adjacent tools like FPP) will happily manage multiple (different) controllers.

 

[tooms]

I'm currently looking to replace smart receivers with the 8 port baldrick boards, it's a shame Falcon stopped making their 4 port controllers. In my opinion and as others have stated, you can drive more pixels over IP on top of an ethernet cable then what you can with receivers, given that you run ethernet & power to every smart receiver already, might as well just use a controller, and as a bonus it's easier to diagnose an ethernet connectivity issue then what it is to diagnose a smart receiver connectivity problem due to the cable being damaged (this happened to me this year)

 

[merryoncherry]

I'm currently looking to replace smart receivers with the 8 port baldrick boards

Agree. And this brings up an important point... even if you don't like your initial choice it isn't impossible to change, as you may be able to swap the board but keep the enclosure, PSU, pigtails, and all that. I swapped over a couple 2x dumb receivers to 8-port baldrick controllers, and all of my 16-port smart receivers to WB1616 FPP-based controllers. I am glad I did. Particularly, the 16-port smart receivers were hard to work with, with a limited pixel count. The dumb receivers aren't quite as hard to work with, but instead of 2 data cables for 8 ports you only need one, and by putting a cheap Ethernet switch in there, you can chain them.