LOR Pixie 4 Complete Enclosure w/Power Supply

[mwilson6192]

I am looking for a LOR provided complete enclosure with 12V power supply and dangles for the Pixie 4, but I don't think they sell one (unless I missed it in their online store).

This would be the exact equivalent to the LOR Pixie 16 controller enclosure fully populated with 12V power supply and all dangles - I would like the equivalent but sized for the Pixie 4. This would eliminate having to buy multiple Pixie 2 complete enclosures.

Are these available?

Thank you.

[dibblejr]

Not from LOR, you will have to build them yourself. It is simple and I did a writeup on building the pixie16 along with a pixie16 and 8 combined. Parts and all are included in my build.

Just search the forums.

JR

[robigd]

I emailed LOR earlier this year and asked if they would have pre-assembled Pixie4/8 packages  and they hinted they would be available this coming year, but who knows if that will be a reality. 

[Mr. P]

Would be a lot cheaper to put them toether yourself and it only takes about 15 minutes.

[dibblejr]

4 minutes ago, robigd said:

I emailed LOR earlier this year and asked if they would have pre-assembled Pixie4/8 packages  and they hinted they would be available this coming year, but who knows if that will be a reality. 

I do not see it happening that close in the future if at all. I could be wrong since I am not part of the LOR food chain for them.

They are very easy to build yourself and the LOR props are based on 16's and 8's in the past several months. If I was the OP I would just start building because if he needs 4's and 8's and waits until the last minute I will be very busy helping new people set up there pixies again. Also while building them yourself you get satisfaction and learn a little about it as you go along.

CG1500 boxes are about $20 or less, ps for those about $35 or less, adapter plates I use just regular plexiglass from lowes already cut in 8X8 $10 those riser blocks from online or radio shack (if you have one around) about $5, company's on ebay sell bags of 100 low heat pre soldered bullet connectors 18/22 gauge for a lot less than anywhere else. Then just need the pig tails based on the prop. I have built 6 pixie16's and adding 4 pixie4's to zone my roof line this spring as well as my 2 8's.

OP- when you get ready to set these up shoot me a PM and I will walk you through the process. Most people just starting out with pixels and the pixie series controllers get confused about the setup. I have done a write-up and have discussed the procedures in a lot of the "help me" threads but most don't read and eventually I stumble across theit threads and we get on phone and set them up.

OP- pretty close to where I grew up Corning area and retired from Fort Drum. LOR is practically in your neighborhood.

JR

[dibblejr]

One more note for OP

You do not indicate which version software you are using. For the pixies must be .18 or newer. Pixies are not recognized in the previous versions.

If you buy the pixies you can now add the dongles to your order. The last I knew once ordered you can ask but probably will not get approved to purchase later.

JR

Edited January 1, 2018 by dibblejr

[mwilson6192]

Fort Drum is 90 minutes due north of Syracuse. LOR is almost 2-3/4 hours due east-northeast of Syracuse (outside of Albany).

I use the S5 Beta Release of all components (including SuperStar). I have the Pro level license of S4 (but started with S5 to be at the forefront of the "new paradigm") and also purchased a 60_CCR SuperStar license.

Thank you JR for the offer. I'll need to get farther along to see what I would like to do, and I'm sure it is cheaper to build an enclosure and fully populate it, but I was willing to spend additional $$$ if available and warrantied. I have read quite a bit on these and other forums, and the search engine on this forum is not that good in my opinion. That and/or the search terms I am using are just bad.

I'll have to investigate building an enclosure for myself. I do like the look of the forthcoming HC 2500 enclosure that is supposed to be imminently released. I have enough things to keep me busy though, and building an enclosure fully populated was not one of them, because of my list to accomplish:

1. Learn about computerized Christmas Lights. Get overwhelmed. Re-engage. Get overwhelmed again. Repeat 500 times (and counting). <Check>

2. Put together an initial static display for this Christmas. <Check - bought a LOR Commercial 1602MP3G3 with MP3-Director. Bought some LOR sequences. Set up initial LED lights on 16 channels. This actually went well.>

3. Decide I want to immediately start with S5 beta software including SuperStar. Did item #2 fairly well with S5, but the LOR sequences had to be turned into PLAY files with S5 to build a show. Once this was completed, I turned my attention to RGB's (or is that BGR's ... oh wait that's the ordering of lights) and thought "Wow, RGB's are cool". So I started sequencing and landed in SuperStar, and immediately got overwhelmed with everything including scenes, morphs, images, spirals, fans, etc. And we can totally forget about Pixel Editor. By the way, I'm still having trouble with images in SuperStar but I am getting decent at sequencing with SuperStar (but still have a LOT to learn). <Check>

4. Did I mention that I decided I want RGB from the beginning, so I can compound my confusion right off the bat. Why be partially lost when I can be completely lost? <Check>

5. Purchase some RGB basic components to begin to learn the physical aspects of RGB ribbons (I like ribbons) - Both LOR CCR-II Pixie 2 controller and CCR-II ribbons and HC ribbons to use with LOR controllers. A few props with bullet pixels for variety. Which brings up a question ... does anyone know if LOR sells a fully populated enclosure for their Pixie 4 controller w/power supply? 

6. Decide to outline the house and window frames with CCR ribbons because I absolutely need to immerse myself into custom cutting and soldering ribbons from the beginning; getting WS2811 ribbons to play nice with different length extensions; and getting into power injection because it is so fun. <Check>

7. Decide to build a large pixel tree for CCR ribbons (I like ribbons, okay?). Reading through 1,500 posts across multiple forums on how to design a tree; what materials to use (by the way, has anyone found a source for square aluminum tubing in 18-foot lengths that isn't aircraft grade T6061 and costs as much as building a Boeing 787 wing?); flat or 180 or 270 or 360 degree base; JUMP / ASAP / xyz center pole; and designing a tree that is able to withstand multiple setup and takedowns without damaging the components. Get overwhelmed. Again. And again. And yet again. <Check>

8. Tell myself this is a cool hobby. Explain to my wife what I want to do and have her just stare at me. <Not checked>

*** Note that most of my list begins with "Decide to ...".

The one thing that has been consistent is the willingness of many members on this forum to help out.

Thank you all for that!!!

[dibblejr]

19 hours ago, mwilson6192 said:

Fort Drum is 90 minutes due north of Syracuse. LOR is almost 2-3/4 hours due east-northeast of Syracuse (outside of Albany).

I use the S5 Beta Release of all components (including SuperStar). I have the Pro level license of S4 (but started with S5 to be at the forefront of the "new paradigm") and also purchased a 60_CCR SuperStar license.

Thank you JR for the offer. I'll need to get farther along to see what I would like to do, and I'm sure it is cheaper to build an enclosure and fully populate it, but I was willing to spend additional $$$ if available and warrantied. I have read quite a bit on these and other forums, and the search engine on this forum is not that good in my opinion. That and/or the search terms I am using are just bad.

I'll have to investigate building an enclosure for myself. I do like the look of the forthcoming HC 2500 enclosure that is supposed to be imminently released. I have enough things to keep me busy though, and building an enclosure fully populated was not one of them, because of my list to accomplish:

1. Learn about computerized Christmas Lights. Get overwhelmed. Re-engage. Get overwhelmed again. Repeat 500 times (and counting). <Check>

2. Put together an initial static display for this Christmas. <Check - bought a LOR Commercial 1602MP3G3 with MP3-Director. Bought some LOR sequences. Set up initial LED lights on 16 channels. This actually went well.>

3. Decide I want to immediately start with S5 beta software including SuperStar. Did item #2 fairly well with S5, but the LOR sequences had to be turned into PLAY files with S5 to build a show. Once this was completed, I turned my attention to RGB's (or is that BGR's ... oh wait that's the ordering of lights) and thought "Wow, RGB's are cool". So I started sequencing and landed in SuperStar, and immediately got overwhelmed with everything including scenes, morphs, images, spirals, fans, etc. And we can totally forget about Pixel Editor. By the way, I'm still having trouble with images in SuperStar but I am getting decent at sequencing with SuperStar (but still have a LOT to learn). <Check>

4. Did I mention that I decided I want RGB from the beginning, so I can compound my confusion right off the bat. Why be partially lost when I can be completely lost? <Check>

5. Purchase some RGB basic components to begin to learn the physical aspects of RGB ribbons (I like ribbons) - Both LOR CCR-II Pixie 2 controller and CCR-II ribbons and HC ribbons to use with LOR controllers. A few props with bullet pixels for variety. Which brings up a question ... does anyone know if LOR sells a fully populated enclosure for their Pixie 4 controller w/power supply? 

6. Decide to outline the house and window frames with CCR ribbons because I absolutely need to immerse myself into custom cutting and soldering ribbons from the beginning; getting WS2811 ribbons to play nice with different length extensions; and getting into power injection because it is so fun. <Check>

7. Decide to build a large pixel tree for CCR ribbons (I like ribbons, okay?). Reading through 1,500 posts across multiple forums on how to design a tree; what materials to use (by the way, has anyone found a source for square aluminum tubing in 18-foot lengths that isn't aircraft grade T6061 and costs as much as building a Boeing 787 wing?); flat or 180 or 270 or 360 degree base; JUMP / ASAP / xyz center pole; and designing a tree that is able to withstand multiple setup and takedowns without damaging the components. Get overwhelmed. Again. And again. And yet again. <Check>

8. Tell myself this is a cool hobby. Explain to my wife what I want to do and have her just stare at me. <Not checked>

*** Note that most of my list begins with "Decide to ...".

The one thing that has been consistent is the willingness of many members on this forum to help out.

Thank you all for that!!!

While I grew up and stationed in Fort Drum a 4-5 hour drive was nothing. It still isn't really, I drive farther than that to go play with lights. 

3- Very easy to import images. Even easier as of the latest SS release since you no longer have to set each slice of a GIF X,y while importing slices of the same image. Huge time saver. The key is to either create your own pixelated images in paint or other software based on your matrix size or try finding and importing from free images online. This is easier said than done but it makes it easier if you have the actual prop and not relying on the SS preview alone. Some things look great in SS but horrible on the prop while others will look very distorted in SS but when played on the prop are tolerable.

4- Doesn't matter RGB and controllers or AC controllers and normal lights - most are overwhelmed in the beginning. There are some that will say they were born with the knowledge and never got any help or used a free, purchased or shared sequence to get started. To that I call "BS". Gotta love the guys that I helped that said "I'm an IT guy, I got this".

5- Same answer - no, and may not ever. Take the  "unofficial LOR facebook people" at face value, with a grain of salt.

6- Get the low heat, pre soldered bullet connectors 18/22 and make that job simple. Keep in mind, marine grade heat shrink tubing should be applied. What I do is Strip both wire ends, place a small enouuh gauge of heat shring tubing over one end, keep in mind that the hs tubing needs to fit over the bullet connector. Take a 2nd piece of heat shrink tubing that will fit over 3 bullet connectors and slide it over the first wire as well. Solder all three wires. Pull all three small heat shrink tubings over their perspective connectors and heat. Put some silicone on the 3 bullet connectors. Slide the larger and longer hs tubing over the three and heat. Stop heating once the silicone starts coming out the ends. Now you have a waterproof connection.. NOTE- it will make it easier if you offset the splices so that all bullet connectors are not touching each other. Less bulgy. It will also prevent a possible short is a wire gets pulled out

7- I did a write here on making an easy ccr tree (just to get up and running) using 2X4's and emt and then the improved version using emt. I felt the need to do this for those on a budget and wanting to get something built very quick and improved for someone not in a hurry. The cost difference is marginal.

 You should be able to find square al tubing in 20' lengths. Search for al tubing wholesales I am sure you will find some. That comes back to that drive time. Save $ and drive since S/H if available would far exceed a good price. I am luck I have a warehouse / mfg less than 25 miles. No brainer. However emt is much easier to find, not very heavy and stronger than most commercially available hollow al tubing. Not to mention it is easy to flatten the ends to attach to whatever material you use for a frame as in my write-up.

8- If I had it to do all over again my mega tree (normal LED lights) would be a JUMP tree. However I have a tower and it serves its purpose. I would however improve on the JUMP tree by using some easy and affordable military Cammoflauge screening poles instead of the steel pipe. Lighter weight, already have couplings (1 piece), very heavy guage al, painted green, and affordable on ebay. I paid $50 and s/h for a kit. You could build 3 or 4 trees with 1 kit depending on height. There is also a guy that makes stands for these poles (2 dif types) also on ebay, so another option is buy the bag of poles and the stand, and some guy wires and a hook head. My latest hook head is a frying pan and "s" hooks. (emergency repair when my hook head broke due to age and weight of 6400 lights. Then you have a tree that is easily stored and set up.

And yes, many people here that have a lot of their own money will tell you how and where to spend yours and beat you up for doing the same thing they are in reality doing. Finding ways to save $.

If you don't have a pixie4 they are very small cards. A CG1500 box is more than able to host a pixie 4 or pixie 8, power supply and cables. I am not sure if I mentioned this in another thread of yours or someone elses but if you plan on using pixies to control multiple props unless they are very very close together it is best advisable to get smaller pixies and move them close to the prop itself rather than getting an 8 or 16 thinking you can rum a ccr tree and arches or circles or whatever in another area. Just probably not work out in your best intrest. Prob experience lag or no lights at all if they are to far apart.

Once again if you have questions just ask. 

JR