k6ccc Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 For what it's worth, Monday I replaced a dumb strip that has been in service for about five years. It is one of the first dumb strips that I installed. It has slowly had segments losing the red. At last count, 17 of 50 segments had that failure. This strip has been "glued" using Silicon to brick. They are in direct sun and weather. The first segment failed within a year and the failed segments count has slowly increased, but the rate has increased. A couple months ago when I did my annual Ray Wu order, I purchased a replacement strip. For my 4th of July static show, that strip was full white, and all the teal segments annoyed me, so I replaced the strip on Monday evening. I don't remember where I bought the original strip. May have been from someone on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry72 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 On 7/4/2017 at 1:42 AM, Dcroc said: My smart pixel strips have now suffered the same fate as my dumb strips. Only used 2 seasons, and they have random dead red pixels through out the strips. Way too many to repair. I believe I am done with strips. I am especially done with HC strips. I simply can not afford to replace all my dumb, and smart strips every year or 2. In fact, I am very much considering getting out of this hobby due to this. Putting out hundreds of dollars, every year, to simply replace what I already purchased is insane, and is breaking my spirit. Ditch the strips and go with nodes, my smart nodes have lasted 3 seasons now, from October 1st to January 2nd, they are up and running for the entire month of October and december. Have only had 1 bad smart pixel, and only a few dumb nodes go bad, but the dumb nodes were my fault. I live on the Oregon coast, This last year, we had more rain then we have had in 10 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcroc Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 (edited) HC just went down a notch. I order an "off spec" coro item, checked out, and paid. I then get a notice, a few hours later while at work, that they misquoted the shipping, and they wanted an additional $8. Less than 8 hours later, with no time to get home from work and respond, I get a second notice that they canceled the order due to the misquoted shipping. They really should have honored the sale. $8 is not a big deal, but the fact that it is to them is kinda disappointing, especially considering that I have been in contact with them about a couple hundred dollars of bad pixels. BTW....the response to my bad pixels was a list of things I bought that are sill under warranty. Naturally, none are. They did suggest that leaving them installed year round could cause UV damage to the pixels, which might be true....but still leaves me a bit unsatisfied. I am still gonna end up spending a couple hundred dollars to replace strips again, which I shouldn't have to do every year. Edited July 11, 2017 by Dcroc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry72 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 5 hours ago, Dcroc said: HC just went down a notch. I order an "off spec" coro item, checked out, and paid. I then get a notice, a few hours later while at work, that they misquoted the shipping, and they wanted an additional $8. Less than 8 hours later, with no time to get home from work and respond, I get a second notice that they canceled the order due to the misquoted shipping. They really should have honored the sale. $8 is not a big deal, but the fact that it is to them is kinda disappointing, especially considering that I have been in contact with them about a couple hundred dollars of bad pixels. BTW....the response to my bad pixels was a list of things I bought that are sill under warranty. Naturally, none are. They did suggest that leaving them installed year round could cause UV damage to the pixels, which might be true....but still leaves me a bit unsatisfied. I am still gonna end up spending a couple hundred dollars to replace strips again, which I shouldn't have to do every year. Dont replace them, get nodes. From Ray Wu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcroc Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 What shape nodes do you guys use? How do you mount them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I just replaced a CCR that has been on my garage almost continuously for 7 years. (I took it down for a day two or three years ago to power wash the garage.) A pixel in the middle failed entirely. Yes, I know LOR products are pricey, but in 2010 there wasn't much choice, and 7 years has served me well. I've still got two others of the same vintage working great. Not a hint of UV damage or weather damage. Just saying... Since then, I've purchased strips from Roger at Pixel Sequencing, bought some that came from CLD Kevin, and picked up a couple from Ray Wu. None have failed, although there's a pixel color out here and there in the ones from Ray. The vendor DOES matter. As far as shape(s), most of mine are the standard-issue 12 mm round bullet style. I also have quite a few square nodes, which lay flatter and work excellently in coro. (Boscoyo coro.) There's some rectangular pixels (IMO, PIA to work with) and even a few round ones for RBLs. For mounting, I use zip ties to mount them to wire frames and to anchor them in trees/bushes. Just about everywhere else, including ribbons, I'm using pixel mounting strips from Boscoyo. (Avoid cheap "off spec" pixel strips unless you don't mind pixels falling out and having the strips stretch grotesquely.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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