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Pixie Controller Questions


Little_b

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I've been searching, but haven't had all my questions answered so I thought I'd ask a couple of them here.

1. I bought a Pixie 4, 8 and 16 last year but have yet to try them out.  I am looking to add a few Pixel Props along my 60' fence for 2018 and figured I'd use them since I have them.  My question is what is the distance the props need to be from the controller before running into issues?  (Running 12v ws2811 nodes) I would center the controller so it only needs to run about 25' in either direction.  Or use 2 controllers to make it even shorter.  I know on my Pixcon16's, I've only been able to run about 10' before having to add a null pixel, so when the manual for the Pixie controllers says you can run up to 40' with Gen 1 and 80' with Gen 2, I thought I'd ask those who have actually tried it.  (pretty sure mine are gen 1 since I bought them shortly after they came out) 

2. I've been reading the user manual and got a little confused as it states you can connect up to a max of 170 pixels per string, but the description states only 100 per output.  Which is it?

Edited by Little_b
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The big issue for the data is not total length, but distance from the controller to the first pixel, and also from one pixel to the next.  Most pixel controllers these days can drive a longer distance than a pixel can, so there are different numbers.Best answer is to test the devices that you will be using.  My recommendation is to test a longer distance than you will actually be using.  For example, if you plan to run 20 feet and you test to 20 feet, you know it worked (the day you tested it under the exact circumstances that you tested).  What you don't know (hypothetically) is that the extreme range in your setup is 20 feet 1 inch.  That means that any sort of degradation and it no longer works.  If you test it to 25 or 30 feet, you know it will work and has some room for degradation.  Much better that you figure that out in March, than do the 20 foot test in March only to find that it does not work a couple days before your show opens.

I don't have either Pixie or Pixcon controllers so I can't help you with a direct answer.  All of my pixel controllers are SanDevices and all are less than five feet except a bunch of GE Color Effects lights that use a very low data rate and are known to be able to go long.  The longest of those are about 35 feet and worked fine last year.

The other part of the equation is power and voltage drop.  If you have low voltage at the ends of strings, power injection will take care of it.

 

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