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Pixie 16D


tbuff23

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I hook up my pixie 16D and only 1/2 the first string lights up.

I push the test button all the lights go through the test stage.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

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A little more details please.  From the test button it would appear that the Pixie is capable of controlling the pixels, so most likely there is an issue with how you are controlling it.  Please tell us how you are controlling your Pixie.

 

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15 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

A little more details please.  From the test button it would appear that the Pixie is capable of controlling the pixels, so most likely there is an issue with how you are controlling it.  Please tell us how you are controlling your Pixie.

 

 

2 hours ago, tbuff23 said:

I hook up my pixie 16D and only 1/2 the first string lights up.

I push the test button all the lights go through the test stage.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

 

Edited by tbuff23
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Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

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Do I need to up grade my  license ? I am running basic plus does it support that many channels?

Thanks

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Just now, dibblejr said:

Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

I don't think that's the issue.  He said the lights DO light when using the test button.

 

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2 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

I don't think that's the issue.  He said the lights DO light when using the test button.

 

Yes, I also had some lights. I had some in the middle and ends, and if I wiggled or touched the wires theyd all either work or not. Just a shot though since everyone with the pixies that had lighting issues, it seems to solve the problem. Just a place to start. When I first connected my strands (16) I had about 1/3 not working. Even though the wires felt tight after a few wiggles most of them could be pulled out.

I think I posted here before after I found another thread from 2016 where another person mentioned the opposite direction. I disconnected and reconnected every strand and they all worked flawlessly. 4 strands have been going through a test sequence I made 24/7 since.

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2 minutes ago, tbuff23 said:

Do I need to up grade my  license ? I am running basic plus does it support that many channels?

Thanks

The basic plus license supports four controllers - specifically 01 - 04

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Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

 

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41 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

 

I am not sure. The first time I upgraded with SS I miss counted (didn't understand) when I attempted to make a matrix seq, I couldn't did have enough CCRs covered so the instead of guessing the second time  I just purchased 60. Now I am not even sure that is going to be enough. Only time and my prop completions will tell.

JR

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I don't have the pixie but from the way I understand it is each port is similar to one CCR. So if that is the case then the OP would need to upgrade his license.

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It would be useful if the original poster answered some of the questions that have been asked by people trying to help.  That way we would not be guessing what his situation is.

With that said, I also have never used a Pixie controller, but from reading the docs that I downloaded from the LOR website, each string on a Pixie either takes one or two Unit IDs (depending on the setting of the Unit ID mode).  That would be VERY limiting with a Basic Plus LOR license level.  See: http://www1.lightorama.com/sequencing-suite-software/ for comparison of LOR license levels.

 

2 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I am not sure. The first time I upgraded with SS I miss counted (didn't understand) when I attempted to make a matrix seq, I couldn't did have enough CCRs covered so the instead of guessing the second time  I just purchased 60. Now I am not even sure that is going to be enough. Only time and my prop completions will tell.

SuperStar will tell you exactly how may channels are in a Visualization and what SuperStar license level is required.  Either select Menu > Tool > Layout or press <CTRL>-L and you get the Layout and it shows how many channels are in use:

SuperStar_Channel_Count.png

This is my year round landscaping layout (Halloween and Christmas are much larger).

Again, the OP needs to tell us what he is doing.

 

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10 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

It would be useful if the original poster answered some of the questions that have been asked by people trying to help.  That way we would not be guessing what his situation is.

With that said, I also have never used a Pixie controller, but from reading the docs that I downloaded from the LOR website, each string on a Pixie either takes one or two Unit IDs (depending on the setting of the Unit ID mode).  That would be VERY limiting with a Basic Plus LOR license level.  See: http://www1.lightorama.com/sequencing-suite-software/ for comparison of LOR license levels.

 

SuperStar will tell you exactly how may channels are in a Visualization and what SuperStar license level is required.  Either select Menu > Tool > Layout or press <CTRL>-L and you get the Layout and it shows how many channels are in use:

SuperStar_Channel_Count.png

This is my year round landscaping layout (Halloween and Christmas are much larger).

Again, the OP needs to tell us what he is doing.

 

Yes, I understand it now, but I didn't when I upgraded and went to pixels. It was actually pretty easy once I was done. LOL Also at my time I was having "SS Vis" problems. Mine was frozen since Dec 2016 and I didn't want to mess with it during Christmas. Brian made me a special file that was used to restore the SS vis. I had already upgraded by then.

That's my kind of luck.

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Jim- If he's doing what I was doing when I originally connected my strings to my pixie 16, he may be bald. I don't know how many times I disconnected everything and started over again. Each time with a different result. Some lights that worked previously later didn't and so on and so forth.

Until I spent hours going through every little post and somebody mentioned the reverse screw direction to get them to connect.

Did that the first try and my house was like daylight.

JR

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6 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

5 hours ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single, preferably consecutive, unit ID.

Edited by George Simmons
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2 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single unit ID.

First, it is from my experience, first hand. (As I typed it)

Secondly, it was an issue that others had and addressed it, hence the other comment I made "I searched and found the answer posted in a thread".

Over the past 30 days or so I shared this experience with others who had similar problems to the OP here and each of them said it corrected their problem as well.

I believe TheDucks was one of those that experienced the problem as well and when I posted I his thread, it resolved his problem.

And as far as I know I didn't buy off spec pixie16's. Off spec or not they work and work in the opposite direction. I have 2 both the same. None of the posts I read blamed LOR, we resolved the issue.

 

JR

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19 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single, preferably consecutive, unit ID.

I believe this is where I first discovered the problem I was having. After reading that, I reversed my way of thinking and my issues were gone along with the others I have informed. About the 5th or 6th post

 

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I wasn't asking what you or others did - I was asking where your info came from.  Did it come directly from LOR?

Just because something sometimes works, doesn't mean it's correct, or even the preferable way to do it.

 

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2 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

I wasn't asking what you or others did - I was asking where your info came from.  Did it come directly from LOR?

Just because something sometimes works, doesn't mean it's correct, or even the preferable way to do it.

 

I told you "first hand knowledge". And that is actually the best knowledge, not hearsay or third party. Actually experiencing it.

You asked and I replied.

In my and the others it was the only way it worked. Come on George we all cant be dummies. Bad batch whatever, it is what it is. No one whined or sniffled about it. We figured it out and moved on. Perhaps the member that wrote that in Nov received the info from LOR since he had at least 2 tickets submitted.

I only know that, his reply solved my problem and my passing that little advice on has solved others problems.

That's all I can tell you. I cant tell you who or where mfg'd the part, I could actually care less. I got my units working and only after finding that one little snippet inside a post.

Its been running since about mid Feb 24 hours a day without problems. It has been moved, unplugged, modified as I built the units from the card. No problems just as well with my cheapo pixels. Not a single problem.

JR

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6 hours ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

This is correct. The OP will have to upgrade his license level. The OP could upgrade to an Advanced License, but will miss out on the Enhanced LOR Protocol and the ability to use Intensity files and Pixel Editor currently. I'd recommend the the OP upgrade to a PRO license that way they are covered for now and be will be available to use whatever tools that are due out with S5.

Depending on the level of sequencing, you can really push a lot of data to a Pixie16. If the OP has the 50 count LED strings, that is 2,400 channels. Personally I run 1 enhanced network per Pixie16 and lag is not an issue.

To the OP, it would be handy to know what version of software you are running, Basic Plus tells us your channel count but doesn't clue us in on other issue you may be facing. Right after the Pixie's came out there was a software update to ver 4.3.16 (I think) it was suppose to make it easier to add the Pixies to Sequence Editor, however it had a bug that didn't add them properly, LOR soon after released Ver 4.3.18 which DOES add the Pixies properly to SE. Make sure when/if you update your license you also update to the latest version of the LOR software.

When you assign a Unit ID to the Pixie16, remember you will be using 16 unit ID's. For instance if you were to assign the Pixie16 a Unit ID of 01, that would mean the first port (string) is Unit ID 01. Once the first Unit ID is assigned, each port from there on - the Unit ID will automatically increase by 1.

Example
Unit ID 1  = Port 1 (1rst string)
Unit ID 2  = Port 2 (2nd string)
Unit ID 3  = Port 3 (3rd string)
Unit ID 4  = Port 4 (4th string)
Unit ID 5  = Port 5 (5th string)
and so on until you reach Port 16 (16 string)

When you get to a point of adding the Pixie16 to Sequence Editor, this is an example of the way my Pixie16 is configured in SE. (note my first Unit ID is 9) Each string after the first is increased by 1 Unit ID #

pixie16%20id.png

If you wanted to make sure all your ports and lights work, download the latest version of software ver 4.3.18. Open the Hardware Editor and click the Pixel Console Button. Plug in all your strings to the Pixie16. Change the Unit ID # to the Port (string) you want to test. Move the sliders around to see the results on the ports (strings) with your LEDs.

** Oops after I wrote this I realized that I am using ver 4.3.18 Pro and these features are available to me, they *might not* be available to you until you upgrade. ** It may still work for you, I am not sure. Give it a try.

pic1.png

pic2.png

 

Hope all this makes sense.

Alan...

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