Cutting CCR strips

[Bird]

Looking for someone in the Cincinnati area that is familiar with cutting and soldering CCR strips.

These old eyes and shaky hands just not going to get the job done.

Willing to compensate for time. Have soldering station etc.

Now looking at this for 2016 season but would like to get started soon.

Have the CCR's for house roof outline but of course roofline does not come in convenient 16 foot lengths so need to do some modifying.

Modifications will consist of cutting a strip and adding a length of wire in the cut.

[George Simmons]

Ribbons and pixels are great fun to use. Working with them, especially doing stuff that voids warranties, is another story. The soldering operations pile up in a hurry. And if you leave the LOR reservation and visit the DIY world, soldering starts multiplying like rabbits.

Nerds used to carry pocket protectors. In this hobby it's soldering irons.

[Mr. P]

And shrink tube.

[BMurray]

And hot glue and silicon

[PaulXmas]

Zip ties!

[Vince4xmas]

Patience!

[mwilson6192]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but this represents my basic question I can't seem to grasp.

Yes, a newbie question. How is one to stay in the LOR fold and use the new CCR-II ribbons (which I want to do), and outline a roof or windows for that matter and not cut ribbons? There are no 90-degree or other angle "connectors" that I can see from my research.

Short of going to a DIY / non-LOR solution (which I don't wish to do, even if that makes me stupid in the eyes of some), how does one go about this task? I read and reread and reread again the HolidayCoro.com blog about how to outine a roof, and I'm trying to adapt this logic to a LOR CCR-II ribbon solution (as I've chosen to use this solution).

Can anyone offer a newbie some guidance and point me to some additional answers that deal with LOR CCR-II ribbons and power layout distribution of roof/window outlines? And how to avoid voiding warranties (if that is possible)?

Thank you kindly.

[Mr. P]

You can't cut LOR ribbons or it voids the warranty, that may be why they don't offer them. You could always go with a Pixie4 and after market ribbons that you can cut, the ribbons would be cheaper but won't have a warranty.

[ItsMeBobO]

Four maybe five years ago I cut 4 CCRs to build a matrix.  This was before the CCP/B were available.   That matrix is still in use in my show with almost no problems.  This is because the ribbon is fixed mounted.  Generally the ribbon style is more fragile and bending it can damage it.  I dont know about the CCR II as I have not used it.  But I have and still like my 16 original ccrs which are all permanently  mounted and dont bend much.   If you are building removable frames for windows with attached ribbon that might work well.   Other removable mounting by clip or staple will make it more likely to need warranty so I advise against cutting. 

 

Rummaged the archive and found I cut them for 2011 show.  2017 will be the seventh year using them.  Time flies!

Edited November 19, 2017 by ItsMeBobO

[mwilson6192]

Thank you Mr. P. and ItsMeBobO for your replies. The reason I wanted to use RGB ribbon was to better achieve a "neon" look if you will, versus CCP (pixels) or CCB (bulbs). That is a good thing to me from a design perspective. And as I stated earlier, I wish to stay fully LOR compliant. Unfortunately, as the HolidayCoro blog noted, ALL roofline and window outlines are custom by nature. Using the LOR CCR-II ribbons (WS2811 3-wire based) and a LOR controller (PixieXX or PixCon16), it would be at least recognizable to the LOR controllers and S5 Showtime suite. There would still be cutting of CCP or CCB strings required as well, so there is soldering no matter what type of RGB one chooses - right??

Maybe being new I'm overthinking things, but this concept seems critical to me to understand such that when I am setting up my Preview in the S5 Showtime Suite, I won't be creating something that is not possible in the physical world versus the virtual world. So, here is what I'm thinking from a logical perspective. Each CCR-II ribbon is 150 LEDs, 50 pixels per string. Let's say across the roofline I have 4 sections as follows:

1. First section is 40 pixels (120 LEDs) - each pixel is 4-inches in length, so this will accommodate the first roofline section.

2. Second section is 22 pixels (68 LEDs).

3. Third section is 60 pixels (180 LEDs).

4. Fourth section is 15 pixels (45 LEDs).

How would I go about this is the physical world (never mind LOR warranty)? I would connection the first section to controller port 1, the second section to controller port two. The third section is too long so I would have to break up the section into two sections, right? The fourth section would connection to controller port 5.

Can a LOR Pixie controller handle a string of just 40 pixels? 22 pixels? MUST it always be 50 pixels? And how would this be represented in the S5 Showtime Suite? The same way (e.g. 40 pixels, 22 pixels, etc.). 

By the way, LOR supplies for purchase additional power supplies for their dumb RGB ribbons, but what about the smart ribbons to handle power injection, which I will surely have to do (that makes my head explode at the moment). I'm just trying to design my layout appropriately so that the virtual layout matches the physical layout. I don't intend to actually do anything physical with the CCR-II ribbons by cutting them apart haphazardly until I know that the physical matches the virtual.

Thank you again ... I appreciate any help!

[Mr. P]

I believe when adding the Pixie controllers to your device it only has the option of adding 50 or 100 pixels. If you only want 40 pixels then just tell the software 50 and it will add 50 pixels to that port but you will only need to program the 40 that you need and leave the rest blank. I don't know exactly how it is represented in S5 as I am waiting until after the Holidays before I get into S5 since I already had most of my show completed in S4 this year.

As far as the power supplies, it doesn't matter if they are smart or dumb pixels just as long as you get the correct 5v or 12v and you meet the power reuirements according to the pixels you are using.

[mwilson6192]

New question. Premise: I have a roofline segment that is exactly 2 pixels longer that a full 50-pixel ribbon string (e.g. 52 pixels in length).

The question is: Can I extend the LOR CCR II ribbon (second generation) controlled with a Pixie 2 II (second generation) controller, with an additional two (2) pixel section of CCR II ribbon without power injection and not have a problem? This is the longest section of my roofline (e.g. the rest of the rooflines are under the 50-pixel maximum). I'd hate to have a 2-pixel length of CCR II ribbon to physically mount on this one roofline outline run. I will be cutting CCR II ribbons all over the place to accommodate my custom length roofline runs and smaller arches (so I've already accepted violating the LOR warranty).

Depending upon the answer on power injection, this brings to mind a question as to whether the LOR S5 software can handle a 52-pixel section of CCR II ribbon, when defined as a prop that is exactly 52 pixels in length (the roofline in question above)? The answer to a CCR II pixel length less than 50 was answered earlier by Mr. P in the affirmative , and I would guess that the LOR S5 software would not care that a CCR II ribbon is longer than 50 pixels.

Thanks again!

[Dennis Laff]

I don't know if your can extend the regular CCR,s. But the ccr-2.  Are. 2811 strips should not be a problem. And no injection should be needed