Flickering CCPs

[Pecacheu]

I've got a set of LOR Cosmic Color Pixels that won't stop flickering. I've tried all sorts of things, wiring in another capacitor to the power supply contacts (a huge one we found in an old data center air conditioner), even plugging it into 3 electrical-noise blocking power strips in series. I used my UPS to see if it was causing electrical noise and found that it was drawing massively fluctuating wattage (+/- 25 watts), but fairly consistent amperage. The CCP strings are modified to extend the cable, but I've already checked and re-checked the wiring. It's very secure. It usually only flickers if half a string or more is on, but it can flicker randomly at any time (or rather it sometimes stops flickering randomly for a few seconds). It will flicker with either of the strings attached, or both. When I put on my main network, sometimes it causes other LOR controllers to flicker. It especially freaks out the 16-CH 120V Controller (so do some of my motorized DMX lights). The CCP controller also seems to make this weird buzzing noise, which none of the other controllers do.

 

Can the flickering be fixed? Is it normal? Do the jumper pins inside the box do anything?

[George Simmons]

Did the CCPs flicker and buzz BEFORE you started modifying things?

I can't think of any reason for LOR to put those jumper pins there, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did nothing at all. Who knows? Moving the jumpers around might well take care of your flickering problem.

A bad comm cable can also cause what you describe.

[Pecacheu]

I know they've always flicked. I think it's always buzzed, but I never really paid attention before. I've already tried multiple Ethernet cables. Bending the cables at the joints has no effect on the flickering, by the way.

[Ron Boyd]

How far did you extent the cable. I used a 3 meter extension last year and the only problem I had was the first pixel of each of the 4 strings was a dim blue. I tested after they were down without the extension, and the dim blue was not there. 

 

Just something to check.

[Pecacheu]

I've extended the cables by 8ft and 6in. About 2.5m. I'm going to try to remove the extension, and see if that fixes the problem.

[Pecacheu]

Hmm... It seems to flicker whenever the cable is extended longer then about 5ft. Maybe I need thicker wire? My wire is about the same thickness as the CCP's wire. Does anyone know if there are pre-made extensions with the correct connector on them?

[CLD Kevin]

I'm thinking part of the problem when extending is the type of cable used....specifically for the data signal. Either use a special type of cable that has power and data in the same or use 2 separate cables. 2 wire for the power and cat5 for the data. Sounds ugly but the length of the CCD are what they are for a reason. Not sure what I'm suggesting would even work, but read that others are getting 10ft extension.

[Pecacheu]

I have now put up about half of my lights. I tried different types and lengths of wire, but I found that the only time there was absolutely no flickering was when the CCP's wires were at their original lengths.

 

So, I've reworked my design plans in order to put the 2 light strings closer together. With a change of the channel configuration file, and a bit of modification to some of my sequences, I now have a work-around for the CCP flickering problem. Not what I originally planned to use them for, but they still look cool where they are now, so who cares!