Time to jump in

[burto51]

Well, have read and reread 101 and plenty of posts, watched videos etc, its time to get into it.
The plan is to have 7 arches using ws2811 strip and 6 spiral trees, have all the gear to go, Falcon controller, power supplies, tees for power injection, null pixels, arches and trees are made.
Did have the setup page, layout and an animation in xLights , for the whole house with more props but have decided to just concentrate on 2 props with blinky lights and different patterns so that I can get the idea of the controller and the program.
Need to find the IP address for the controller, have been given different advice on this.
Will aim for the controller to supply voltage and data to the first arch (all daisy chained together) then inject form a PSU at the arches location; do same with the spiral trees. Not sure of what cable to use at this stage (many opinions) will do a mock up in the cave then a final install.

Not even thinking of a musical sequence this year, maybe next year, will see how we go

Best to all

 

[andrewa]

To find IP addresses on my network, I Use advanced IP Scanner available from http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/

 

[burto51]

Thanks for the suggestion, will certainly help

 

[Derf]

Depending on which controller (All Falcon Hardware Controllers are normally as follows).
If you have used it before and manually set an IP address it should show it on the OLED display on your falcon. If on your Falcon it states 000.000.000.000 Plug the controller into your Internet router and the screen will update with an IP address. For example "192.168.1.23" Type that into your browser and you should be good to go.

If you are using RPI, BBB, etc plug the device into your internet router and then open your web browser and simply click the below link
http://fpp/

 

[scamper]

Just a thought on the power for your arches. If you have multiple props running off the same output and the total expected load is over what the controller can handle, ie you have an output fuse rated at 10a and you have say 15a max draw from the props, then you may want to consider doing away with powering the pixels from the controller all together.
Just run the data from the controller and inject all the power. that way if there is ever a case where the power injection fails, you won't damage the controller.
Also it gives scope to run any lights from any controller, so you can have 5v pixels on the same controller you are running 12v strips without causing problems.
Just connect the earths for a common ground.

 

[burto51]

Thanks for the responses, the falcon is new bought earlier this year in the bulk buy, I only opened it yesterday for the first time, have not connected it to power, had alook and put it back in the bag LOL, hope to get to it this week, its a good point Scamper, I had heard of doing it that way from other members, has a lot of merit.
Had 7 arches made, knew that the pixel count was out, so quick stripdown, 5 had 114 pixels and 2 had more, so now they all have 114, back together ready to go.
Had ordered 30 pairs of pigtails from Ray, set up some with tee piece for power injection, wire colours and continuity was wrong, tested all tails found 3 out of 30 females were not wired as other 27, no problem put to one side, pays to test.
Have the setup page and layout page down, passed the check sequence test, playing with effects now. Watched a video on xlights effects preset.zip file pack 1 and pack 2, seems the ticket, is this a commercial offering ?. Anyone used this?
It is back to playing with the effects and the value curves.
Again thanks to all