George Simmons

Last display in 2016 I used a Pixie8 and it worked flawlessly. This year, I connected the same 12v WS2811 bullet nodes. When I powered up the unit all pixels on all props come on white. No com cable connected. Connecting the com cable had no effect. Help please.

I think there's something abnormal going on with your setup/controller. Having 50+ strings of these, and then seeing this in my LOR feed I almost pooped my pants. Then I did some testing. I tested on two different versions of older CTB16PC controllers and also on an old CTB08D and on all three the strobes worked just fine at full on. Whew!

Got mine from my white wire vendor today. No email or anything - they just showed up. Of all the nerve... Within an hour, I got a phone message from my green wire vendor telling me those will ship next week. The timing made me laugh. They all must have been on the same boat. The strobes look totally awesome. Anyone who thinks they're not bright enough, I'll buy them from you.

Thanks for the warning. Gives me time to sharpen up my insults and snide remarks.

From the been there, done that department: Just about everything you buy from either a vendor or fellow decorator has whatever connectors THEY used. It gets real awkward real fast to have a bunch of different size/style connectors laying around. Choose your connectors and then stay with those EXCLUSIVELY. Replace everything else you might have and get rid of everything else. In my case, I settled on the 4-pin pigtails and extension cables from DIY LED Express. I use them on every RGB controller (whether pixels or dumb RGB) and every RGB/pixel prop in my inventory. It took me about a week to bring everything into compliance, but now I'm no longer held hostage having to use certain props only on certain controllers.

Both.

I had that exact same experience with a Windows 10 laptop. I went to FILE > OPTIONS > Tab 6 and way at the bottom, I UNchecked the Advanced Rendering Engine option and everything all of a sudden worked just fine.

From the been there, done that department: If you enjoy problem-free soldering, avoid copper-clad aluminum (CCA) wire, and spend a few cents extra for oxygen-free copper strand wires.

Create the random pattern manually and save it as a named clipboard. When you want to use it, paste it to background.

I've been using 18GA round 4-conductor extension cords (and pigtails) from DIY LED Express for years. I wouldn't even think of buying them elsewhere. They're the same size as what LOR uses for 10w RGB floods.

Double post.

I'm not sure what Dennis was answering either. But if it was anything to do with deleting the macro channels, I've done that with every CCR/P/B I have and each device still works just fine without them.

Actually I didn't have any return wire to deal with. I only ran one candy cane per RGB channel on a CMB24D. Had I been doing smart pixels though, and given the difficulty of getting the bullet pixels through in the first place, I probably would have run the wire on the outside. Another reason why folding over a ribbon might be a far superior way to go.

Time to maybe count your blessings - I'm 6'3" and wish I only weighed 240.

I didn't use pixels - I used dumb RGB bullet nodes. (Where I used them it would have been a waste to do it with pixels.) They were a bear to pull through but the results were worth it. I think they look great. I tried strips but didn't like the dark side look. I never thought of folding them. Now I've got another project... I haven't seen a white candy cane at Walmart for the past three years. Not even online. I'm glad I stocked up, but my spare inventory is almost depleted. The good news is that putting RGB inside the discolored old canes will prolong their useful lifespan. The RGB color blasts right through the discoloration.