Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

Dying Pixels??


DisneyMatt10

Recommended Posts

looks like I am in the same boat, half my strips on my pixel tree are gone as well as the ones for the house.  Good news for me they are still under warranty with HC until the 19th of October.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, caniac said:

looks like I am in the same boat, half my strips on my pixel tree are gone as well as the ones for the house.  Good news for me they are still under warranty with HC until the 19th of October.

Sad to hear you are having issues too. But glad your's are still under warranty!! I don't even know how to find out if mine are... :unsure:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

UGH!! I am about to write of HC forever!! Now that we have fixed the pixel issue... We are having controller issues. We need to replace 6 fuses, and a few other elements. This controller is right at a year old, and it's always been kept inside. (Even during the show!) I don't understand why we are having such issues!!! 

Are Holiday Coro products usually this bad?? :unsure:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, DisneyMatt10 said:

UGH!! I am about to write of HC forever!! Now that we have fixed the pixel issue... We are having controller issues. We need to replace 6 fuses, and a few other elements. This controller is right at a year old, and it's always been kept inside. (Even during the show!) I don't understand why we are having such issues!!! 

Are Holiday Coro products usually this bad?? :unsure:

Not as a rule but had fuse related issues last year on a controller only 6 months old.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, DisneyMatt10 said:

Are Holiday Coro products usually this bad?? :unsure:

Now you have gone and done it, you had to open that can of worms.  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have 8mm bullet node pixels throughout my display. They are 3 years old but starting last year I hade nodes going out.  This year I have about 8 nodes in various places that are bad.

I was lazy and left my strips up on my gutters and around my garage. Thought for sure they would have an issue somewhere.  No issues on the strips.

I am just leaving the rogue nodes in the display. I plan to replace all of them anyway next year with lights that have covers (my pixels are in the bushes and trees).

 

But don't get your hopes up on bullets.  They fail too.

 

I have strips from LOR, Ray and HC. 

I have the strawberries from HC lining the yard borders.

All my bullets came from Ray.

 

Only my LOR CCRs have never had a fault...5 seasons old and never removed from my eaves.  Never a fault.  I keep expecting a pixel or 2 to be bad but nope.  All good.

Strips, bullets, squares and rectangles...dumb or smart...have all failed in some way.  Power supplies...have lost 2 of the 10 in the display in my 5 seasons....including one this year.  

Controllers...have had issues related to my connectors where the pigtail gets pulled out of them....but never a failure.

I have HC entecpro compatible v1 for my DMX channel....LOR 24DC board (2), Ray 27 channel DMX board (4), LOR CCR (3), Sans 6804 (3), Sans 682 (1), LOR AC (6), LOR servodog (1)-connected not in use.  Didn't get the props waterproofed in time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got Ray's strips as well as nodes. I've had failures of both types. Usually just a single node or set of three led's on a strip where the three are actually one. I greatly try to avoid having to cut open a strip although I just did on one as once again, water got in from the end. I had to drain the water and dry it out, then seal it again. China's idea of waterproofing is not our idea. The water gets in from the wires at the end, between the individual wires. I've had better luck by adding extra silicone II on each end but I missed one and sure enough, it had issues. Also, strain-reliefs are very important on these as the solder connections are very delicate and break easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I swear, every time I turn around there is a new issue with the display for this year. I learned a VERY valuable lesson this weekend, and that is... ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER!! I had NO idea we were expecting a storm with 68 mph winds!!! (68 mph is actually what the recorded winds were during the storm, so I'm not exaggerating.) Of course, me being me, in the middle of a freaking thunderstorm find myself OUTSIDE trying to save the props for the Halloween Light Show, as they are literally FLYING around the neighborhood. :blink:

Needless to say, lesson learned. 

All the issues we have had so far have made me REALLY consider going dark after this year. . . :( Does it ever get any easier/less hectic/less of a pain in the rumpus?

Edited by DisneyMatt10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear you about the weather!  I spent this morning on my roof working on new roofline lights. What was the weather?  Forecast high today is 103.  Not the day to be on the roof!  Had to stop when the roof was so hot I could not lay down on it - even with three towels under me to insulate it - burning my leg!

But I really want to get it done - these lights will get used for Halloween, and I plan on turning that on Friday evening...

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, DisneyMatt10 said:

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I swear, every time I turn around there is a new issue with the display for this year. I learned a VERY valuable lesson this weekend, and that is... ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER!! I had NO idea we were expecting a storm with 68 mph winds!!! (68 mph is actually what the recorded winds were during the storm, so I'm not exaggerating.) Of course, me being me, in the middle of a freaking thunderstorm find myself OUTSIDE trying to save the props for the Halloween Light Show, as they are literally FLYING around the neighborhood. :blink:

Needless to say, lesson learned. 

All the issues we have had so far have made me REALLY consider going dark after this year. . . :( Does it ever get any easier/less hectic/less of a pain in the rumpus?

we are having the same issues though not 68mph yet.  we use a lot of inflatables and just had to pull the plugs on all of them, including our 15ft Godzilla.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, k6ccc said:

I hear you about the weather!  I spent this morning on my roof working on new roofline lights. What was the weather?  Forecast high today is 103.  Not the day to be on the roof!  Had to stop when the roof was so hot I could not lay down on it - even with three towels under me to insulate it - burning my leg!

But I really want to get it done - these lights will get used for Halloween, and I plan on turning that on Friday evening...

You will get there!! Work on the roof in the late evening! That's what we've been doing. Mainly because the roof got to hot for us too! I've got my fingers crossed that you can get all of yours done in time!!

2 hours ago, caniac said:

we are having the same issues though not 68mph yet.  we use a lot of inflatables and just had to pull the plugs on all of them, including our 15ft Godzilla.

Hopefully you will be able to get the inflatables back out soon!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, DisneyMatt10 said:

You will get there!! Work on the roof in the late evening! That's what we've been doing. Mainly because the roof got to hot for us too! I've got my fingers crossed that you can get all of yours done in time!!

Hopefully you will be able to get the inflatables back out soon!!

Wednesday for 8 hours then take them down Thursday and then backup Friday in the cold.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, caniac said:

Wednesday for 8 hours then take them down Thursday and then backup Friday in the cold.

That does not sound like fun at all! But... The show must go on!! Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, DisneyMatt10 said:

That does not sound like fun at all! But... The show must go on!! Good luck!

it's worth it to see the kids smile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, DisneyMatt10 said:

You will get there!! Work on the roof in the late evening! That's what we've been doing. Mainly because the roof got to hot for us too! I've got my fingers crossed that you can get all of yours done in time!!

I prefer not to work on the roof after dark, but may do so this evening.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings are shot for me because my Dodgers will be beating the Astros in the first three games of the World Series.  Although I CAN solder up the strings of GECE lights while watching the games.  Next weekend is still supposed to be around 90.  Push comes to shove, it's not critical that I get the new roofline lights up for Halloween, but they are in the sequence so it would be nice to have them working.  The lights on the eves are up and working as of last Saturday as well as the year round landscaping lights.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same here for me. Windy the other night in the storm. I had shut down the inflatables so they were fine. Today its blowing again so I don't know if I'll turn them on again or not. 25-40Mph so its doubtful unless it slows down. Out there in S. Calif. sure hope those SantaAna winds don't help burn down everything. Seems to happen every year and I know, I grew up out there!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, caniac said:

More of my HC pixel strips are failing!!  This ain't good. :(

Some people like busting my chops when I critique HC, not that I care.  I've been around this hobby for over a decade and have long ago gotten used to seeing a steady stream of HC complaints.  They're never-ending...  But dam, I don't recall ever seeing anything even CLOSE to the number of HC crappy product complaints as this year.  Seems like the old axiom "You get what you pay for" has never been more true.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, George Simmons said:

Some people like busting my chops when I critique HC, not that I care.  I've been around this hobby for over a decade and have long ago gotten used to seeing a steady stream of HC complaints.  They're never-ending...  But dam, I don't recall ever seeing anything even CLOSE to the number of HC crappy product complaints as this year.  Seems like the old axiom "You get what you pay for" has never been more true.   

it get's even better, he had us prepay for our replacements (9 strips) and we ship back our dead ones for credit.  Sounds good right?  The box he sent with the label will only hold 4 strips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, caniac said:

it get's even better, he had us prepay for our replacements (9 strips) and we ship back our dead ones for credit.  Sounds good right?  The box he sent with the label will only hold 4 strips.

Make them fit by any means possible. 

I can think of a few radical Solutions:D.

Wood chipper, blender, heavy duty paper shredder, 10 ton press. 

By sending a small box he set the goal. 

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...