lost on this

[USCS31]

well, this post may or may not belong here. if it doesn't, I do apologize! I have my lor pixel tree up and running (woohoo)! I had purchased two sandevices ps1 units along with rectangular modules. I tried reading the instructions but I'm lost as I'm new to that aspect of thing and I'm trying to learn it. I'm not looking to get them up and running for this years display but I'm hoping to learn and be ready for next years display!!!! I connected one SD ps1 unit via cat5 into a switch. the lights blinked the way they described once a connection is made (inside the ps1 unit). I wanted to run a test to see if my modules would work accordingly but that did not happen! I have pigtails attached to my modules. I am / was trying to use the modules for corostars. I cut sections of 3 modules for each corostar. I soldered the modules at different distances (not exceeding 12 feet) so I could place the stars at different distances when laying them out. I do want to mention that these are "smart" rgb modules. the pigtail that I soldered onto the lights has four wires and the smart rgb's have three. they both have red, green, and blue wires but the pigtail has a black wire (I believe it's the ground). I soldered all the wires except the black wire. when I connected the rgb's and booted the system, I could see the very first module light up faintly. the rest of the modules did not light up. can someone please help me and guide me to what I have to do or tell me what I'm doing wrong? like I said, this is new to me and I'm trying to follow what I'm reading but it's not working too well for me! thank you for your help!

[dgrant]

What exact type of intelligent strips/nodes do you have or purchase? They sound like dumb strips instead which use a totally different controller.

[k6ccc]

A couple of notes:

 

Smart pixels have a specific IN and OUT.  If you wire them up backwards, they will not work.  Look for either an arrow indicating the direction of data flow, or lettering at the wire connections.  Often the letters "DI" and "DO" for Data In and Data Out.  That is in the perspective of the module itself.  In other words, the data from the controller or upstream module gets hooked to the Data In.  In the case of an arrow, the Data In is the tail of the arrow and the point is the Data Out.

 

Some smart devices use three wires and some use four - it depends on the chip technology used.  A lot of pigtails have four.  If you have three wire RGB modules and four wire pigtails, you are correct that you can just ignore the extra wire.  All of the pigtails I am using are four wire, and mostly used on GE Color Effects bulbs which only use three wires.  Also note that there is NO standard for wiring pigtails. DO NOT assume that pigtails you bought this year will have the same colors or the same color assignments to the connector pins as pigtails that are bought from another source or at a different time (different batch).  In fact some people have reported that even within a given batch of pigtails, they were not all wired the same.  Verifying that with a ohm-meter is a good idea.

[Steven]

You can get more correct, and certain, help if you give us a link to the modules you purchased. As k6ccc said, some modules use 4 wires (ground, power, data, and clock), and others use 3 wires (clock is derived from the data). The E682 board inside the PS1 can drive many different module types, identified by the chip inside the module. When driving a 3-wire module, the clock output from the E682 is not connected.

 

The modules usually have the inputs and outputs labeled, but the colors of the wires are not standard.

[USCS31]

Ok, this is what i had purchased off holidayc××o. Ive had them for a year now and haven't tried anything with them until now. They are no longer listed on that website. This is the description in my purchase history: Smart / Pixel Rectangle RGB LED Waterproof Module - 12v 2811. Hope that helps!

[dgrant]

That helps a lot. WS2811's are 3-wire devices... +, -, data. Look on the back of them, you'll see an arrow which points the data direction going it and continuing to the next one. You should be able to make out a 5v or 12V on one side and a GND on the other or similar. Doesn't matter what the color of the wires is but connecting them to the controller, you must insure your cable is wired exactly correct. So make sure the beginning of the strip or set of nodes, the + goes to the + on the controller port. minus to minus on the controller and of course, data to data. As stated, there are no wiring or connection conventions in place so you must verify each. The controller needs to be set up with the correct power supply and carefully jumpered so that it doesn't fry...example, connecting 12 volts to it and its set up for 5vdc. Trust me, I made that mistake which cost me $235 in an instant and puff of smoke.

[USCS31]

okay, I will definitely look at that when I get home from work! I'm just upset and frustrated. I hope I didn't fry them! it sucks that you lost out on your lights and money! that's a lot of cash to lose out on! thanks for your help! i'll be looking when I get in today!

[dgrant]

That loss was just the controller. The lights survived just fine. The smallest of errors can be costly so don't hurry. Look with a magnifying glass at the backside of the nodes/strips. You'll see the designations along with the data flow arrow. Tail of the arrow, data goes in and comes out going to the next pixel.