Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

Sandevice E682 VS Pixel lite 16


NEWTOUR

Recommended Posts

I have an E681, 2x E682, 6x e6804, 3x ecg-p12, 4x ecg-p2, 2x stella e16's, pixlite 4, and soon HC 16 and they all have there pluses.

 

personally I like the J1sys as they have better control of each port, but the sandevices does have it's good points as well with the number of Universe supported and configuration. As I was building out my display last year with this mix of controllers it did get a little tough deciding which controller an element would go on due to the limitations of both of the controllers. I ended up needing to reorganize some of the elements and controllers to make the best use of the 5V/12V power requirements and port assignments. I think going the 4 port makes more sense for smaller elements and 16 port good for the megatree. just needs more ethernet ports to hang the 4 port controllers from.

Edited by neilric99
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the P12S which I like a lot. I also just bought an E682 card. The E682, initial testing worked fine after I figured out to turn off the self-test feature correctly. However, its a bit confusing when they've got a 1-1 thru 1-4 connectors, then repeating 2-1 thru 2-4, 3-1 thru 3-4, lastly 4-1 thru 4-4. Makes no sense at all to me why they did it this way. I do understand them assigning dmx channel numbers to these but then you toss in the mix of 7 universes or 12 depending on how you connect to it...once its configured correctly, I get the feeling its not something you ever change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

However, its a bit confusing when they've got a 1-1 thru 1-4 connectors, then repeating 2-1 thru 2-4, 3-1 thru 3-4, lastly 4-1 thru 4-4. Makes no sense at all to me why they did it this way.

 

Probably because that bank of 4 outputs can only control one type of pixel...so in theory, you could control four different types within the 16 outputs, but only one type per bank of four...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ron, I would be interested in the other forums threads you mention. I have 5 E6802s but am also talking to Luke at Advatek about the Pixlite16 to augment what I have. Also looking at his pixels too which is prompting the consideration for the controller......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I couldn't begin to remember where I saw it. DIYC had this thread: http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?36427-How-many-times-can-a-PixLite-16-crash&highlight=pixlite

 

If memory serves, some of the Facebook pages I frequent had posts of setup problems also.

 

I really didn't follow the posts, since I do not own one of these boards. I read a few posts and moved on. It seemed though that there were a lot of setup problems. 

 

Since I didn't follow the posts, maybe my previous comment should not have been made. If that's the case, then I apologize.

 

I still like the Sandevices boards out of all I have and use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't speak on any of the SanDevices, but I have several boards from Advatek, purchased from HolidayCoro, and have had zero problems. I thought setup was a breeze, there's only 4 tabs to deal with. It would be nice to have an import/export function to quickly save and restore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After you wrap your head around what you're trying to accomplish (some networking knowledge helps), the SanDevices cards are quite easy as well. I have helped quite a few people get going, and generally the issues are trying to figure out what they are trying to do, and not how to do it. I am more than happy to talk to anyone on the phone if needed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any E1.31 controller/bridge is going to have its idiosyncrasies. It takes time to understand how they need to work in your environment. A cursory understanding of networking is certainly a must.

 

My concern is underlying problems, of which Sandevices, J1sys, Advatek, Stellascapes and others have had in the past.

 

The testament is how quickly those companies reacted to get resolution. From all the research and experience I have had, I think it just comes down to a personal choice, because there clearly is a wealth of choices.

 

Ron thanks for your clarification.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I wanted to bring this thread back up because I'm dealing with an issue right now. I currently have one each, P12S/X card, E682 card and a new AlphaPix16 card. My P12S seems to have suddenly caught an issue and the first 5 outputs are non-functional and yes, output 6 is on the same side of the board, works fine. It was going to run one of my pixel trees this coming season. The other pixel tree is configured with the AlphaPix16 and as soon as I receive some TEE connectors, it'll be ready to test formally. There's no issue configuring either the P12S or Alpha with LOR. However, the E682 card, as nice as it is, its a pain in the posterior to match up to LOR, all in that LOR's requirement to have each universe "begin" on channel 1. The E682 card automatically forces universe jumping at whatever channel its on. He does this so that he's using every available channel which is a good idea, however, its not working with LOR's requirements. Maybe some other system, it would be fine.

 

Yes, many people in here are using the E682 card and apparently without issue but its not working for me....so far. All I need it to do is run a 16 string pixel tree. Either 16 individual universes each starting with channel 1 or each universe with 150 pixels and the next universe beginning again, so a total of 6 universes for 16 strings total...5 groups of 3 50 channel strings=150 channels each group till the 16th string which is by itself. No matter what I do, I can't configure it to work. I've traded emails with San Devices and he's working on a firmware update to resolve some of these issues but didn't offer when it might be available. If anyone has a secret hint on how to configure it, I'd be happy to hear it. Whatever configuration, it has to work with the visualizer.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look in the samples folder inside the visualization/editor folder. Brian has drawn a 16 x 50 with continuous universes. Universes 1-4 at 510 channels and universe 5 at 360 channels. He named it "packed" it takes care of the spanning universe problem. I also have one set up as a 180 degree tree I'll be happy to send you if you like.

Edited by Ron Boyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought you might have sent that too me already but I can't find it anywhere. I was unable to export and paste back together, one string at a time from Brian's sample file. What I need is a single prop file that's configured like this so that I can paste the entire prop into my lee file. I can configure the SE to match and of course the E682 then but without making a mess of things, I had given up on trying to use the E682 because of the channel/universe limitations. I was planning on using the P12S and the Alpha for the two trees but now the P12S has decided not to cooperate.

 

Never mind on the prop file. It was in front of my face the whole time...duh on me. Now to try to configure the E682 card again and finally the SE

Edited by dgrant
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well...that wasn't so great. Got the visualizer to work along with programming the E682 to work however....the implication is now I have to cut apart the ribbons and put data connections between them as opposed to on the end(s) where it would be normal and all because of the limitations of the E682. Hope he comes out with an improved firmware so that I can use it easier. Back to waiting on word from Ed or buy yet another controller.

 

For all those newbies...this is exactly why we start planning, fabricating and testing, in January!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well...that wasn't so great. Got the visualizer to work along with programming the E682 to work however....the implication is now I have to cut apart the ribbons and put data connections between them as opposed to on the end(s) where it would be normal and all because of the limitations of the E682. Hope he comes out with an improved firmware so that I can use it easier. Back to waiting on word from Ed or buy yet another controller.

 

For all those newbies...this is exactly why we start planning, fabricating and testing, in January!

Maybe I'm not following correctly, but why are you going to have to cut the ribbons?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You shouldn't have to cut the ribbons. Just put your data line at the bottom. As long as your SE config is right and 682 is right, it should flow properly. My tree was set up exactly like this last year using a 682, 1 output for each string.

The reason the visualization is like this is, as LOR has said, only 170 pixels to a universe and all universes need to start at pixel 1. Even though the visualizer shows a string starting somewhere in the middle, the 682 will continue on from pixel 170 to the next universe and pixel 1.

I was actually thinking the same as you when S4 was released, but I found the sample tree and it all fell into place.

Edited by Ron Boyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just PM'd you the problem but for everyone else here, the first port wiring connection to the first 170 pixels, would come to an end at pixel 170. The next port wiring connection from the E682 would start at 171 and this would happen several times on a 16 string tree. So either I'm totally missing something in my head here and over-thinking this or its in front of my face and I can't see it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I answered the PM. I do believe you're over thinking this a bit. Don't worry, I do it all the time. 

 

For those who may be having the same problem, Here's how I have mine set up:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/st70lweeebdd9t5/Pixel%20tree%20set%20up.pdf?dl=0

 

This worked for me last year and will work again this year. I just had to get the visualizer set up. Fortunately, Brian had already done the work for us. His Viz file in the samples folder has several new props including a 16 x 50 and a 12 x 50. 2 files for each tree.

 

The "Packed" vis, sets up the universes continuously. The other file for each tree, sets it up as 1 universe per string, so only 50 pixels per Universe. 12 for the 12 x 50 tree and 16 for the 16 x 50 tree.

Edited by Ron Boyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Any thoughts on the Falcon F16_V2 which just came out ?  I need to get another board, and this one looks promising... 16 strings (up to 680 pixels each) or with the expansion board, 32 strings (up to 340 pixels each). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't say since I haven't played with one, but I put my order in for 2 of the F16v2's.

I know that the f16 mimics the SanDevices design, comes with 4 rs485 ports for bridging, and all the code for it is open sourced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any thoughts on the Falcon F16_V2 which just came out ?  I need to get another board, and this one looks promising... 16 strings (up to 680 pixels each) or with the expansion board, 32 strings (up to 340 pixels each). 

Only issue i see with the expansion board is that it has to stay very close to the mother board. I though about that board, and would have gotten it had they made it so you could run the expansion board say 20ft away using a cat5 cable, it would have been a great board for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...