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Connecting P10 LED panels to LOR?


brichi

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20 minutes ago, dkulp said:

Both FPP on the Pi and on the BBB have options to set a brightness level of the P# panels.   For the P# panels, there is a big advantage of doing it via the FPP setting instead of in xLights or LOR.    When you do it in the sequencer, you reduce the number of shades of color that can shown.   For example, at 50% brightness, you get 0 to 128 for each channel instead of 0-256.  

When doing it via the FPP setting, for the P# panels (this doesn't apply to the ws2811 outputs), FPP can control the width of each "on" pulse so it dims by shortening the On pulse for each "bit".  Thus, you can retain the 256 shades for each color.   Thus, images and such can look a bit better.   

Thanks.  I would completely agree that any such adjustment should be in the device driving the lights, not in the sequence.  Glad to hear that it is there in the FPP software.  I had not gotten far enough to look for that, but will aim to do so.  A quick look though the manual did not find that capability.  Where is it?

 

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3 hours ago, k6ccc said:

Yesterday my two PiHats actually made it to me (only took two days to get from the mail room to me - 100 yards away).  So did the second Raspberry Pi 3.  So last night (to keep the story short), I configured the second Pi and hooked up two panels and after some parameter changes, I got the panels to light both from the test lights utility in FPP and from LOR!  WooHoo!!!

Tonight I will hook up more of the panels and do some more testing.

BTW, in the useful information department for people planning P10 panels, I measured the current draw in full white.  Came out to about 2.1 amps per panel.

 

Congratulations!!   Exciting news in "Pi and P10s" department.   Loading FP and booting the Pi into FP is is not enough excitement -- you had to go ahead and get the P10s connected and flashing.  

Any detailed pix of the Pi, Hat, and ribbon-connected-to-Hat assembly that you can share?

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7 minutes ago, Ed K said:

Any detailed pix of the Pi, Hat, and ribbon-connected-to-Hat assembly that you can share?

I can this evening.

 

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3 hours ago, k6ccc said:

BTW, in the useful information department for people planning P10 panels, I measured the current draw in full white.  Came out to about 2.1 amps per panel.

That's good information to know.   For my puny P10 prop just 6 panels, I can power them from excess capacity of a nearby 12V 30amp PSU.  I promise, the message prop will never by all white and 100%.

BTW, k6ccc, I agree 120% on your comment in another thread about S5 going backwards for us who ONLY use SuperStar (ok, maybe one PE sequence).    

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3 minutes ago, Ed K said:

I can power them from excess capacity of a nearby 12V 30amp PSU. 

Remember that you need 5V for the Pi and P10 panels.  Yes, you can regulate the 12V down to 5V, but directly connecting them would let the pretty blue smoke out :(

 

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6 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

Remember that you need 5V for the Pi and P10 panels.  Yes, you can regulate the 12V down to 5V, but directly connecting them would let the pretty blue smoke out :(

 

I have seen that happen!! 

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10 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

Remember that you need 5V for the Pi and P10 panels.  Yes, you can regulate the 12V down to 5V, but directly connecting them would let the pretty blue smoke out :(

 

Thanks for warning.  I'd forgotten about that. I have a spare 5V PSU I've never used - now I will.

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caniac,

Thx for the backside picture.  Shows power and ribbon "schematic".  Do you have any close up of that Pi assembly at the middle right of your football stadium ready assembly (err, large prop)?

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hey guys, I have a quick question, I have my last output on the octoscroller running 12 panels and the rest of the outputs running 6, is this why my bottom 2 rows are lagging a little? I would think if they added the ability to run up to 12 panels on 1 output that it would run smooth

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9 minutes ago, brichi said:

hey guys, I have a quick question, I have my last output on the octoscroller running 12 panels and the rest of the outputs running 6, is this why my bottom 2 rows are lagging a little? I would think if they added the ability to run up to 12 panels on 1 output that it would run smooth

I have always been told that you should evenly distribute the panels.

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A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Thanks very much for the close-up.  I see Ron's matrix hat, and three ribbons off the hat.  

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4 minutes ago, Ed K said:

A picture is worth a 1,000 words.  Thanks very much for the close-up.  I see Ron's matrix hat, and three ribbons off the hat.  

each ribbon goes to a group of P10's.  My matrix uses Ron's PiHat and my P10 Marquee uses the PiHat from Crockett.

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1 hour ago, caniac said:

My matrix uses Ron's PiHat and my P10 Marquee uses the PiHat from Crockett.

Very nice. 

Last week, I ordered one PiHat from Crockett, and one from Hanson Electronics (Australia).  In the scheme of this hobby, these are not wallet busters at all, and they provide an alternative/backup.

Step by step.

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9 hours ago, k6ccc said:

I assume you mean adjusting brightness of an entire prop with one setting - since you absolutely can control brightness of RGB channels in LOR.  One of the "playing around" that I did in LOR last night was ramping and shimmer of some effects.  Worked just fine.  I expect to have between 8 and 12 panels up this evening. 

As for total power draw, I expect to have both matrix Tune To signs (12 P10 panels in one and 6 P5 panels in the other) plus between 50 & 250 GE Color Effects bulbs, and a SanDevices E682 powered off one 70 amp power supply.  The Pi 3s will be powered separately from a battery backed up source.

 

how are you adjusting the brightness when using a "movie" in effects generator? im not doing effects and fades where I want control like ramping and shimmer, I want to control the gamma, brightness and stuff like that to dial in the video picture better

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Here is a quick test of 8 of my P10 panels being driven by two Raspberry Pi 3s controlled by LOR S5.  Each Pi is controlling one row of the matrix.  I'm doing it this way because I have not receive the required longer cables to connect the rows together.  Note that the panels are not connected together because I have not received those parts yet - the panels are just laying on the floor...

Yea, it's a crappy cellphone video :)

 

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4 hours ago, k6ccc said:

Here is a quick test of 8 of my P10 panels being driven by two Raspberry Pi 3s controlled by LOR S5.  Each Pi is controlling one row of the matrix.  I'm doing it this way because I have not receive the required longer cables to connect the rows together.  Note that the panels are not connected together because I have not received those parts yet - the panels are just laying on the floor...

Yea, it's a crappy cellphone video :)

 

It looks like you got a panel with at least 3 dead pixels. 

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