Troubles with ECG-P2

johnson8ryley

johnson8ryley

My idol is ɟɐsʇǝppʎ
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Dec 30, 2011
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Midwest USA
I'm in the middle of trying to get my 3 2811 strips to work. Currently everything is soldered and wired but when I plugged in the PSU I got a rapid blinking light. I'm almost positive I know where my problem (connection between 2nd and 3rd strip) is but I wanted to at least get the P2 to communicate with my first strip.


Type of Strip: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-led-digital-strip-DC12V-input-WS2811IC-256-scale-10pcs-IC-and-30pcs-5050-SMD-RGB/701799_568458133.html


Current Setup:http://i.imgur.com/Fwb1T.jpg


PSU:http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/150W-Dual-Output-Switching-Power-Supply-88-264VAC-input-12V-150W-output-CE-and-ROHS-approved/701799_289599860.html


I got the P2 to communicate with my network (w/o strips plugged in) and was able to access its interface via ethernet and got everything setup. I unplugged all other strips and simply plugged in the first strip to the P2. After about 30 seconds, the wiring became VERY hot on both the connection between the P2 and strip and the strip and psu (#2 and #3 in current setup picture). After about 2 mins, a little trail of smoke was seen at connection #2 and I immediately unplugged it. No damage was done to the P2. I'm looking for advice as to why this is happening. Simple logic would say that my wiring is faulty but that doesn't explain why #2 connection did what it did. #2 connection isn't carrying any +V, just ground and data. How can data and ground heat up that hot?


My jumpers on my P2 are common combination #2 at the bottom of the PDF located here:
http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,2793.0.html
 
I would check the plug to ensure you dont have one that is internally wired wrong, I had the same issue with one of my plugs i made for injecting power and found that when connected i had lights flickering and the wires got hot. I traced this to a faulty plug that was incorrectly marked with the positive actually being the negative.
So even though you have a connection that is only data and ground, your ground is now not ground because you may have a short between the positive and negative. But hot wires definetly mean you have a short between the ground and the positive so start looking at your power. Start with one strip and if thats ok then move to the next one.
 
I can confirm from experience that the occasional Chinese connector is mis-wired - you can't always rely on the wire colour.

Dave
 
David the best I can probably do is the picture linked in my post. There are tons of cables all over the place and it would be to difficult to label everything. The setup that I was testing that caused the issue was just the psu, p2, and first strip. If you refer to the picture, if you were to get rid of the 2nd and 3rd strip, then that would be the setup I had. I was just trying to see if I could get the P2 to communicate with a strip before I went and fixed my other wiring problem.


As for mislabeling of the plugs, I wasn't even aware the plugs were labeled. I used red for +V and black for ground. After inspecting the plugs, I'd have to say I don't see any labeling anywhere on them.


Also, just for clarification, referring to #2 in the picture, I used ground with black and data with red. I'm no electrician (had assistance with electrician when wiring) but I thought I could use any color as long as I stayed consistent. So even though data was wired to red, red was connected to blue on the strip for data. It seems that if red on the plug HAS to be wired to +V and black on the plug HAS to be wired to ground, then there's my problem. I thought the same rules applied from the alarm cable and that is, it didn't matter what color you used, they were simply conductor cables that transferred whatever had to be transferred.
 
What is being said is that the red may actually be the black as the plug may have been miswired at the factory, so check your plugs as this happens from time to time due to China's excellent Quality Control (not). I have had this once this year and I know of others as well. So check that the plugs have not been mis wired at the factory as this is a very strong possabilaty that this may be your issue.
 
i would also on 7# link the negative so that it is looped all the way through from crontroller back to psu. please correct me if i am wrong
 
YAGOONA LIGHTS said:
i would also on 7# link the negative so that it is looped all the way through from crontroller back to psu. please correct me if i am wrong
Click to expand...

He does have the ground linked in #7 as he is using a 2 core plug with one core for data
 
The supplied picture doesn't tell the story correctly imo. Do a new picture (or diagram) with just the minimum pieces (all labelled) that causes the fault.

We all did our best in chat last week to help sort this out, but you have to help too. If not, all of this is speculation and guesses based on a picture that's not even a true representation of the system.
 
Alright I understand you now eddy.


I would test to make sure each strip however I can't leave anything plugged in for more then 2 minutes because either that small trail of smoke appears or it just becomes to hot. I've read these things can get quiet hot. It's not to hot to hold in the hand but I'm worried these wont last long.


I have heat shrink tubing over the connections and over that I have electrical tape. I'm starting to think the electrical tape isn't necessary and is possibly the cause for the smoke. (I have electrical tape over every connection on top of the heat shrink tubing.


David, I went ahead and made a new picture based off the old one I already had available: http://i.imgur.com/8pCy9.jpg


I'll go ahead and hook up strips 2 and 3 to the psu and p2 and see if I have and heat/smoke problems.


I should probably start a different thread for this but are there any handy dandy PDF's available or any information regarding the string config setup in the P2 web interface?
 
freebird are you trying to test the string with the test pattern on the p2 as from your last comment you have not setup up the string config.

also if it was me i would try and solve one issue at a time. have you tried another set of strip as your first one just incase the first strip is fualty

also i think david was talking about a picture of it setup not just cut from first pic as there may be something he can see in it to help you out
 
Yagoona, I wasn't aware the P2 had a "test pattern" I'm just trying to make sure my strips communicate properly with my P2. Once I've solved my wiring problem, my next step is to get the P2 to communicate with the strips. I want to make sure everything is setup properly in my P2 configuration.


As for testing a different strip as my first strip, I can't really do that as my first strip is the only one wired to accept data and ground from the P2. My 2nd strip receives everything over 3 prong which won't work with my 2 prong controller output, and I have a T on my 2nd and 3rd strip that just won't work with direct input from controller.


I did test just my 2nd and 3rd strip to psu only (no P2 connection) and I let it sit for a good 4 mins. There was absolutely no heat coming from any of the connections or cables. So, like eddy and a few others mentioned, it is most likely a poorly manufactured cable that has flipped the + and - around causing heat and that smoke.
 
free how can you test the strip off the psu if it is 2811 strip as it needs data to tell it what to do. can you take a close up pic of your strip??
 
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