Totally Stuck

[DaveRNZ]

I've been struggling with this for days, hoping someone here has some insight.

I've got an 18 string and a 20 string of bullet lights that someone gave me for testing/mucking around. Also a rPi-28D+ sitting on a Pi.

Installed and running FPPv5.4 and xLights on my Mac.

The main issue, is I can't get any lights working using either FPP testing mode or xLights testing mode.

Here's a picture of my setup - I have a 300w ATX PSU, 2x GND going to the 28D inputs for WS2811 and 2x 12v going to the 28D inputs for WS2811. I have 5a fuses on the 12v rails. The Pi and 28D are powered off the Pi's USB/AC adaptor:



I can get 12v (11.97) all the way through the circuit. Every now an then, one light will light, for example when I turn the PSU, it flickers on.

Here's my setup in FPP - I've no idea if it's right, every manual, post etc that I read seems to have different settings. It seems these days xLights auto-configures FPP, which is what I've done. Everything I've read says I should need the E1.31/ArtNet/DDP/KiNet screen configured as that is for external controllers?:



And here's my setup in xLights:



I'm hoping I've overlooked something silly.

 

[thewanderingpine]

I've never used an rpi28d -- but aren't those power *outputs*? From looking briefly at the doco -- I thought the *input* was the one on the right. (Also -- You shouldn't need to separately power the Pi)

 

[Skymaster]

Does the cape need to be powered? Or will it power itself from the Pi?

I'm thinking you should connect something to the very right hand power connector, 5 or 12V and ditch the usb power.
At a guess the electronics in the cape are not correctly powered and so the data buffers are not passing the data through to the lights.

 

[Skymaster]

I've never used an rpi28d -- but aren't those power *outputs*? From looking briefly at the doco -- I thought the *input* was the one on the right. (Also -- You shouldn't need to separately power the Pi)

Those are definitely inputs, which flow through the fuse to the output ports and nothing else. One for one with the outputs.

 

[Skymaster]

Does the cape need to be powered? Or will it power itself from the Pi?

I'm thinking you should connect something to the very right hand power connector, 5 or 12V and ditch the usb power.
At a guess the electronics in the cape are not correctly powered and so the data buffers are not passing the data through to the lights.

Ok I'm wrong here. You can use the Pi power too

From the manual:
The rPi-28D+ can be powered from either 5V DC or 12V DC although the 12V is actually tolerant of any voltage in the range of 9V to 24V. The connected Raspberry Pi is powered from the same power source. You can power the rPi-28D+ off the Raspberry Pi’s power input if absolutely necessary or desire

 

[Skymaster]

Looking at the screenshots from fpp and xLights, i see no issues. I would concentrate on getting the test function in fpp working first, until that does, nothing else will work.

That should just be the string outputs needing to be configured which you've got.

 

[DaveRNZ]

Thanks, that was my thinking as well. I may yet try powering the Pi off the PSU, I need to get a 1a fuse for that hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Zuseleets]

Does the cape need to be powered? Or will it power itself from the Pi?

I'm thinking you should connect something to the very right hand power connector, 5 or 12V and ditch the usb power.
At a guess the electronics in the cape are not correctly powered and so the data buffers are not passing the data through to the lights.

Yeah ditch the usb power and power the rpi28d and the pi via the power connectors on the cape. You should get some luck then

 

[Skymaster]

Thanks, that was my thinking as well. I may yet try powering the Pi off the PSU, I need to get a 1a fuse for that hopefully tomorrow.

You'd want bigger than that.
The rPi 4 needs 3A to run.

You could use one of your existing 5A fuses that you have from the PSU to the pixel input and put that to the board input.
Just run unfused to the pixel input, as it has the fuse onboard already.

 

[Indigogyre]

As some others have said stop trying to power the board thru the PI. I might have missed the exact version but the power requirements for the PIs change and keep going up with each version. I run the Rpi-P10 on a Pi and I power everything thru the cape. I'm not sure when the docs were last updated but the new Pi 4 is a power hog and the 3 can be somewhat twitchy powering devices with a power supply meant only for a pi. a lot of pi issues come down to how they are powered.

Check that the cap is put on correctly. It's sometimes easy to start to be one set of pins off, I've done.

Again, others have said this, focus on the Cape and getting one set of strings to work properly. Double check your string connections. Make sure you are on the correct side of string. Strings have an input side and an output side. When I first started I had mixed up my ends and was trying from the wrong side.

When all else fails. Go back to beginning and reduce as many variables and test from there. A cheap item to have on hand is a pixel tester so you can verify the strings will work when you test them.

When I was new someone gave me some p10 panels and during my testing I grabbed the wrong power supply and forgot to double check it. I fried the P10 panels instantly. It's harsh but was a very good learning experience. We all make mistakes, we all had to start somewhere, we all get better.

Good Luck.

 

[DaveRNZ]

According to the manual you need a 1a fuse when running 12v to the 28D to power it and the Pi, unless I’m misunderstanding that?

also the power input for the 28D is not fused according to the manual.

 

[Skymaster]

Oh i wasn't even considering using 12V into the board at all. But yes at 12V a 1A fuse might still be undersized. If the Pi pulls up to 3A at 5V, that's 15W, which translates to 1.25A as 12V, even more because the regulator is not 100% efficient. (at 80% this translates to just over 1.5A, so a2A fuse would be better)

Ultimately if there is a direct short in the very small length the 12V travels between your fuse and the regulator, it's likely that the power supply over current protection will kick in before the first blows anyway.

Personally, I would Use a 5V output (red wire) from the computer power supply. There's no point in feeding 12V into the board which is just just stepping it down to 5V using an onboard DC regulator for the Pi and board electronics, when you already have 5V available. It's one more thing to go wrong.

 

[DaveRNZ]

Yep 5v is an option. The manual states a 2a fuse for 5v. I’ll swing my the shop today to get some fuses. I think the non USB option might be best as you say the Pi’s are known for power issues.
Will let you know how I get on.

 

[AAH]

The setup looks correct with 1 BIG exception. No real issue running off a usb adaptor when you're doing your testing.
The BIG exception is that the IP 172.10.1.2 is a public IP that may be in Columbia. The usual IP ranges used are 192.x.x.x and 10.x.x.x and you should be using 1 that is in the IP range of your home network.
If that FPP setup doesn't allow the display testing within FPP to run the pixels my first guess would be that the pixels potentially have the data direction wrong. Check that the output of the rpi-28D+ is definitely going to the Di pins on the pixels. A fairly simple test to confirm data direction is to disconnect the data pin and tap the wire with your finger. The stray voltage that your finger will pass through should be enough to put some "data" into the pixels.
The Xlights setup won't allow testing or running the lights until the IP of the rpi-28D+ is in the right range for your home network.

 

[Skymaster]

172.16.x.y thru 172.31.x.y are also private ranges but yes 172.10 is public and shouldn't be used