The addiction is real!

[Sneakybadger]

Hi guys,

I recently (as I can see from a few people here as well) bought a HolidayCoro megatree. 16x50 pixel, etc. Now I have ordered it, if I were to do it again I would be getting everything in parts and saving a bucketload of money, but you live, you learn.

Being in Australia it has taken a few modifications to get it happening (ie to get a pole that suits, securing the pole into the ground, etc) but she is all up and running in the backyard. Starting to play with XLights and build sequences, all is good there. All is going well. I will need some minor adjustments for height and span etc, but the hard yards are done.

So after I finally set it all up, the missus got to see it in action. Loves it, which is great. Now, says "This is awesome! Now we need a star on top of the tree!"

So, I can put that up, there is length left on the top of the poles I used. But as a 16 port controller with 16 ports being used....is there any simple outdoor controllers (preferably ethernet, I thought of an NodeMCU or something, but would prefer to dodge that, plus would prefer to stick with 12v lights everywhere) that I could run? Even if it means running more network cables, etc.

Cheers!

 

[Cranzy]

What controller are you currently using?
You can easily make it use 8 ports with 100 pixels per port. which gives you 8 free ports

 

[BAZMick]

What @Cranzy said, was still typing the same thing when he posted

 

[Sneakybadger]

Good idea! Thanks for that guys!!

It currently uses HolidayCoro's "EasyConnect3" connectors, which look like XConnect connectors. Is there any limitations to how long they can run? 10M, google answered my question. And where is there a good place to get longer lengths of these? It opens up more options as to how I run things from this controller.

 

[OzAz]

What Cranzy said.... sort of.

If you do that you might/will need to use power injection as each port won't handle the current draw of 100 pixels (at 100% brightness).

However, there is another method if you don't want to bother with power injection for the whole tree. Run a seperate power cable direct from the power supply (with an inline fuse) out the controller to the star. Connect the star data from the end of strand 16. You'll need to purchase or make a power injection T piece. A 50 pixel star will be no issue, but you can possibly push it to 100 pixels and still be under the max draw limit of the power supply ( this will be partly dependant on if you got the meanwell or cheap chinese P/S).

ask me how I know

 

[Cranzy]

Just had a quick look on HC Website. Guessing it has an alphapix controller in there. Looked at specs and seems you can do like 340 pixels per port.
If you are using 12v, you can easily run 100 pixels with no power injection (you will not be running a megatree at 100%) If 5v, you might want to just add more power to the end of the 100.

 

[OzAz]

yep HC EasyConnect are same as xConnect ... mostly.
You may find minor difference between vendors, so some might be tight to fit for example.

Several vendors, including HC and the ones in this list, sell extension leads in 5ft/1.5m, 10ft/3m or 20ft/6m lengths; or you can make your own. Yes there are limitations how long they can be, I've not had a problem using the 20ft/6m extension lead to a prop of 50 or 100 pixels. However if you add (daisy chain) another prop then you will likely get issues. There's plenty of good videos explaining power injection and cable data loss to get around that problem.

 

[Sneakybadger]

Hi guys,

Wow, thanks for the fast feedback! I got the 12v Hinkspix Pro controller, too. (And a Meanwell 350w supply.) I shall have a read and check out some videos. Thanks again!!

Cheers

 

[connorlo]

What Cranzy said.... sort of.

If you do that you might/will need to use power injection as each port won't handle the current draw of 100 pixels (at 100% brightness).

However, there is another method if you don't want to bother with power injection for the whole tree. Run a seperate power cable direct from the power supply (with an inline fuse) out the controller to the star. Connect the star data from the end of strand 16. You'll need to purchase or make a power injection T piece. A 50 pixel star will be no issue, but you can possibly push it to 100 pixels and still be under the max draw limit of the power supply ( this will be partly dependant on if you got the meanwell or cheap chinese P/S).

ask me how I know

Hi OzAz

I'm considering doing as you have said (ie connecting the data start of the star to the end of strand 16) and am happy with injecting power to it etc. Just wondering if you know of any videos showing how to handle this in xLights at all?

 

[connorlo]

Hi guys,

Wow, thanks for the fast feedback! I got the 12v Hinkspix Pro controller, too. (And a Meanwell 350w supply.) I shall have a read and check out some videos. Thanks again!!

Cheers

Hi Sneakybader, how did you go with the star topper. Did you end up adding it to the end of the last pixel strand?

 

[mr2mkii]

I agree the HC megatree kit was overpriced. I already had a 16 SPI board with HinksPix Pro, so I bought all the other components separately from various sources for 35% less cost.

For my setup, I did the following:

-50% Max Brightness on all tree ports to reduce current draw
-4 Total Ports
- 4 lines (each line is 50 pixels/150ch) per port, but "power injected" after the 2nd string, so you are not overloading the 5A port.
- Each port has 2 universes (each with 300 channels, 2 strings)
- Each pair of string lines are connected together at the top of the string, and port connection (or power injection) done at the bottom.
-Star - 5th port - 90 Pixels - no power injection.

IMHO using a single port for each string in their kit is simple, but wasteful and unnecessary.