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Pixie16 and placement of controller in relationship to lights


drmoon68

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I just purchased a Pixie16. Perhaps I went down the wrong direction. I was looking to put the string of lights on the house around the windows and eves. I am being told by support that the first pixie should not be more than 8 ft from the controller. This is not that great of a distance.

If I started with the wrong system, that is fine. i will find another use for them. But what system are people using to put smart RGB lights on the house?

If others are going to use the Pixie16 in a similar method that I was going to use them, how are you getting all the lights so close to the controller along the roof eves and windows?

David

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Use NULL pixels to extend the distance.  Add 1 every 15 - 20 feet and tell the controller how many null pixels you are using.

I built my own drivers/receivers for my RGB pixels - I tested them up to 1000 feet from the controller with no issues.

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Thanks. When you say you built your own drivers/receivers, I am guessing you mean that you created your own cable with a null pixel in it. Correct? If that is the case, what is a good source of the wires, connectors and extra pixels?

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No - I bought High Speed Line Driver/Receiver IC's and built small Printed Circuit boards and connected those to the controller and pixels using Cat 6 cable  (one twisted pair).     Parts cost is about $1.50.

This is only for data  --- power is over a separate set of wires.

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I don't use the pixie but most smart pixel controllers are the same. I use three smaller four port controllers to cover the front of my house so there isn't a long distance run from the controllers to the lights. The larger 16 port controllers I use for the mega trees in the yard where the lights are concentrated to a smaller area.

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Same here.  For my year round Landscape lighting, I have two SanDevices E6804 on opposite sides of the yard.  One only has 17 logical pixels on it (although each logical pixel has 33 RGB LEDs).  Much easier to have the two rather than trying to have everything come from one central controller.

With that said, for what you are doing, null pixels will be your friend!

 

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3 hours ago, drmoon68 said:

I just purchased a Pixie16. Perhaps I went down the wrong direction. I was looking to put the string of lights on the house around the windows and eves. I am being told by support that the first pixie should not be more than 8 ft from the controller. This is not that great of a distance.

If I started with the wrong system, that is fine. i will find another use for them. But what system are people using to put smart RGB lights on the house?

If others are going to use the Pixie16 in a similar method that I was going to use them, how are you getting all the lights so close to the controller along the roof eves and windows?

David

I use CCB's on my windows and roof-line and currently use 8 different CCB controllers. Next year, I plan to integrate Pixie4 controllers where it is more logistically practical to "clean it up" a little bit and put the controllers in a central point for multiple strings.

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I think I'm going to have to use a null pixel or two.  I'm running over 30' of 18AWG wire and the string works except in white it flickers a little bit and doesn't always switch color right away.  A couple of questions.  Is there a possibility that I am seeing issues with a voltage drop?  I'm running 12V pixels and have a string of 50 nodes on their own DMX Universe.  Next question is about the Null Pixel.  Do you must cut one off a string and wire it inline with the 3 wires?  I have an issue with this since the wires on the pixels look like 22AWG and it seems I'll then have a problem with voltage drop.  Sorry if this has been covered.  This is my first year doing this and luckily this is my only problem so far.  Now that I think about it I guess I could just put a meter on it and measure the voltage at the beginning of the string.  If it matters I'm running an Alphapix 16.

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  • 1 month later...

Happy New Year everybody, I wanted to add an update to this thread because I created a help desk ticket to get some clarity on the Pixie controllers and thought the info they shared with me could be valuable to others with the same questions.

1. LOR is going to have ready-to-go Pixie controllers with power supply and enclosure already assembled. Currently, this is only available for the Pixie16 tree kits.

2. My question was specifically about CCB's, but it applies to CCP's as well, and maybe other pixels. The distance your pixels can be from the actual controller vary. With "older" CCBs, they recommend no more than 7 feet, and apparently, there are newer pixels coming out this year that can be 20 feet from the controller.

The help desk technician seemed to acknowledge that the distance question is a common pain point and they plan to address it with more clarity this year.

Hope this helps someone!

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Kk6ou, you did not mention what type of pixels you are using. 30 feet is pretty long for most pixel technologies. I would add a null pixel. As for wiring it, the data must pass through the null pixel, but the power does not. You of course do need to provide power and ground to the pixel, but that can be paralleled with the 18 AWG that is running to the first real pixel. If that does not make sense, I can create a drawing and post it when I get back to a computer in a few hours.


Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

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I use the green 16 gauge extension cord wire and I have minimal voltage drop and I've gotten up to 50 feet from the controller. When going between pixels for long distances you can use a uAmp and get distances is close to what the controller can do without having to compensate for null pixels.

http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/board,47.0.html

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It's not so much voltage drop with pixels if you are using thicker gauge wire, it's the data signal. You don't have to worry so much about voltage drop until you start connecting lots of pixels.

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How do you all put your controller boards out near the pixels?  As I'm learning that they can't be too far away without null pixels for data purposes, it seems the real cost would be the waterproof enclosures, pigtails, etc.  I couldn't even find the enclosures on the LOR website other than the AC 16 controllers.  Or do you all just buy enclosures like those offered at holiday coro with the mounting board etc?

Thanks.

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One of my year round landscaping SanDevices E6804s is inside a 6x6x4 PVC electrical box, and the SanDevices E682 for my pixel tree is inside a 8x8x4 PVC electrical box. The others are inside permanent structures.


Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

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36 minutes ago, whyintheworld said:

How do you all put your controller boards out near the pixels?  As I'm learning that they can't be too far away without null pixels for data purposes, it seems the real cost would be the waterproof enclosures, pigtails, etc.  I couldn't even find the enclosures on the LOR website other than the AC 16 controllers.  Or do you all just buy enclosures like those offered at holiday coro with the mounting board etc?

Thanks.

The cable guard boxes and mounting boards from Holiday Coro and pigtails are good items to use for your controllers .

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Having your controllers near the pixels is the key. You can use anything you would like to weatherproof your controller some people even use marine battery boxes (But I'm not suggesting that) . If you really want to do a good job you can look up bud industry boxes on Amazon.  Just remember your pixel controller is an investment and if you choose to weatherproof it with a tupperware dish so you can save a couple of bucks its demise will be totally on you. I'm speaking generally of course and not pointing any fingers but I've seen some pretty dicey and dangerous setups. Make sure you use a box that's intended to protect Electronics in the weather. And even if you're certain that water can't get in still provide a drain hole just in case

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I don't like messing with a big heavy box that includes both the PS and pixel controller, so I use the slimmer CG2000 boxes for each.  IMO they're easier to get closer to the pixels with.  In some locations where I have pixie4 or pixie8 the pixel count is such that a 100w or 200w weatherproof power supply works and I use them every opportunity I can.  Those are even easier to snuggle up close to the pixels with.

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16 hours ago, Mr. P said:

It's not so much voltage drop with pixels if you are using thicker gauge wire, it's the data signal. You don't have to worry so much about voltage drop until you start connecting lots of pixels.

RIght on.  I was running all my pixels on 18awg wire this year, and I have some 35' of lead wire on one string, and about 18' of lead wire on about a dozen strings of pixels.  I also extended (voided string warranty) the Cosmic Color Pixel from a 2' lead to about a 12' lead.  No issues anywhere.  

A lot of the data/information LOR gives you will be safe operating values.  They won't give you information that *might* work.  By saying no more than 7', their products will always work.  Will they work on further distances? Yep, and I've tested it.  But they're safeguarding themselves for good reason.   

Also, www.diyledexpress.com has great prices for controller enclosures and waterproof cabling, too.  They've also got several sizes of the CableGuard enclosure products.  

EDIT: Do It Yourself Christmas has a great wiki resource for DIY RGB lighting.  You might want to check that out as a reference point for a lot of different products, enclosures and system setups.

Edited by lkcubsrule
Added DIYC link
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17 hours ago, Mr. P said:

It's not so much voltage drop with pixels if you are using thicker gauge wire, it's the data signal. You don't have to worry so much about voltage drop until you start connecting lots of pixels.

Yep It all works together and you're right you can use 22 gauge wire if you like for a single Pixel and get away with it. But if you have 40 feet of 18 gauge wire to 170 pixels you're putting resistance on both the positive and the negative, and your negative is your return path for your data line.

I've been using the 16 gauge wire with solid results where the 18 gauge failed me.

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