overeazy Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Ok I have been trying to figure out what I have been missing. You can build a CCR tree out of 12 ribbons that have 150 leds in groups of 3 so really 50 lights. I know some people have been building them outof the CCR pixels and the sets come with 2 sets of 50 lights. I am going to assume that each of those nodes has RGB in them so the same as the ribbons. The nodes are not nearly as fragile as the ribbons, and do not cost that much more. and since each of the pixel sets have 2 strands of 50 you would only need to purchase 6 of them for a 12 leg tree. Am I not understanding something correctly here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCas4380 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 that is correct but the ribbons and bulbs will give you a slightly differant look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Nope. You have it right. It's a personal preference, nodes vs. strips. CCPs or CCR's you get 100 pixels CCR are 50 pixels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I have a ccr tree 12 strips and also a pixel tree the ccr tree has the strips mounted to 1/2 square steel tubing so they look perfectly straight the pixel tree strings are mounted to wire rope so pixels lay randomly on the cable the ccr tree I think looks much neater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overeazy Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 If I only want to use dumb nodes for my stick trees can some tell me the difference between the 5v and 12v. I have been looking and looking and have seen nothing that tells me anything about the differences in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Ok I have been trying to figure out what I have been missing. You can build a CCR tree out of 12 ribbons that have 150 leds in groups of 3 so really 50 lights. I know some people have been building them outof the CCR pixels and the sets come with 2 sets of 50 lights. I am going to assume that each of those nodes has RGB in them so the same as the ribbons. The nodes are not nearly as fragile as the ribbons, and do not cost that much more. and since each of the pixel sets have 2 strands of 50 you would only need to purchase 6 of them for a 12 leg tree. Am I not understanding something correctly here? Overeasy, I want to correct something about what you said. A CCR is 50 pixels, each of which is 3 RGB LEDs so there really are 150 lights. Each "pixel" contains 3 RGB LEDs spread over about 4 inches of the strip. When you control one "pixel" you turn on all 3 of those RGB LEDs. Therefore, when viewed from a distance, the CCR looks more like a solid strip of light whereas a CCB or CCP looks like individual points of light. As with everything in life, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Yes, the strip lights are more fragile, but the pixels and bulbs can also be damaged from abuse. If you are trying to build a tree with 12 strips of 50 pixels each, the CCR based tree will have a larger cost, but you get more light sources per strip (150 vs 50). Personally I could not justify the cost of 12 CCRs, so my pixel tree is using 12 strings of 50 pixel nodes that are Ray Wu specials and controlling them with a SanDevices E682. Total cost for the lighting was less than $500.00 and maybe $100.00 for the structure to hold it up. Had I done that with CCRs it would have cost about $3,000 just for the 12 CCRs and there is no way I could have done that. As for the difference between 5V and 12V, a different power supply... Actually as a general rule of thumb, MOST (NOT ALL) 5V nodes are a single RGB LED and 12V nodes are 3 RGB LEDs per pixel. I am using both in different places. For my pixel tree and star, I wanted to control each RGB LED individually and I am using 5V pixels. For the accent lighting in front of my roses, I wanted about 2 1/2 feet of strip to light up the same so there was no advantage to 5V, and because the power cable runs are pretty long, the lower current of 12V reduced the voltage drop in the power cables. The strips that I will install shortly along a walkway and a planter will also be 12V as again there will be several feet of strip that lights up the same. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerrymac Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 It really come more to what look you want and what application. Ribbons from a distance tend to look more like a continuous line of light (neon'ish), While pixels look more bulb like (small spots). Ribbons are VERY delicate and break easily. The bend fairly well front to end but do NOT bend very well side to side (along there horizontal axis. bent with all pixels facing forward). Ribbons will have more led's in a shorter distance than string pixels ribbons generally have 100 (100 (actually 50 sets of 3). 150, 300 and 600 and 144 in a 5 meter ribbon - vs- 50 leds in a pixel string in a 5 meter string.The connections between led's tend to break). Pixels generally loose some of there waterproof rating if left hanging on there own weight (each pixel supporting the weight of the rest of the pixels hanging below them (progressive weight). As a result need some support strapping to carry the load.Strings are easily cut and soldered together, Ribbons are more difficult to solder together.Both have very different appearance and work better than the other in some situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robocrash Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 K6CCC:Do you have part numbersfor the pixels and controller from Ray Wu? I'd love to look into this for next christmas. Thanks!dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Sure. The pixels on my tree are:http://www.aliexpress.com/item/RGB-full-LED-pixel-module-WS-2811IC-DC5V-input-50pcs-a-string-IP68/563831930.htmlThe E1.31 controller is from SanDevices:http://www.sandevices.com/E681info.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csimmon5 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 K6CCC:Do you have part numbersfor the pixels and controller from Ray Wu? I'd love to look into this for next christmas. Thanks!dave Here is what I bought from Ray Wu and they worked great ( http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/249965060.html ). I controlled them with a 12V Sandevices PS1. You can check out my videos here: https://vimeo.com/user2723843/videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csimmon5 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Here is what I bought from Ray Wu and they worked great ( http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/249965060.html ). I controlled them with a 12V Sandevices PS1. You can check out my videos here: https://vimeo.com/user2723843/videos Don't know what happened . Here is what I bought from Ray Wu and they worked great ( http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/249965060.html ) . I controlled them with a 12V Sandevices PS1. You can check out my videos here: ( https://vimeo.com/user2723843/videos ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 csimmon5 Your links do not work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 k6cccI have been reading as much as I can on the RGB stuff and I have a couple of newbie questions.I run my show with 1602Wg3MP3 controller using the SD card. Does the E1.31change how I control/run my show? When I program with LOR what changes do I need to make to control/program the lights? Thanks sorry for the basic questions. I read about everyone using these but I want to make sure I understand before I purchase.Grinch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T17443 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I did the same as you my first year and ran my show from the mp3 controller using an SD card. I added RGB elements this year and had to run my show off a computer. I switched to a primary network and my RGB lights (12 CCB controllers) run on two separate Aux networks. The single network could not handle the sequence running all of the RGB commands at the 500k speed. I did all of my RGB programming using the Superstar software from LOR and imported into Sequence Editor to run the show. You can see the results below. The 25' 360 degree megatree in the center of the display uses all of the CCB's. Hope this helped. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9WhbQsbm55o 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I did the same as you my first year and ran my show from the mp3 controller using an SD card. I added RGB elements this year and had to run my show off a computer. I switched to a primary network and my RGB lights (12 CCB controllers) run on two separate Aux networks. The single network could not handle the sequence running all of the RGB commands at the 500k speed. I did all of my RGB programming using the Superstar software from LOR and imported into Sequence Editor to run the show. You can see the results below. The 25' 360 degree megatree in the center of the display uses all of the CCB's. Hope this helped.http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9WhbQsbm55oWhat did you use for the strobe in the yard at :36? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 T17443 You got a perfect setting, when those large trees light up, WOW I can only imagine how many hours it took to wrap them.Nice effects on the Mega tree also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T17443 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Curtain strobe lights, see link below.http://www.christmaslightshow.com/mini-strobe-light.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Does anyone have video of CCR's and Pixels running the same sequence side by side? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Benedict Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Does anyone have video of CCR's and Pixels running the same sequence side by side? Might be able to find a Youtube video somewhere, but they look pretty much the same. The CCRs are generally a 6803 string with a custom controller that gives you Macros and smooth color fades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyD Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 T17443, I agree with the Grinch - great job and I wonder how you wrapped those trees. Did you have a lift or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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