Obejohnknobe Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Thank you everyone for helping me out over the past year. I have learned a lot from you!!! The question I have is about the Hardware Utility program. Over the last couple of days I have been rewiring power, board wiring, labeling and setting up new Hex IDs for all of my Pixie controllers as well as my CTMB16. In HU, the setting of the new ID goes without hitch and use the refresh to initialize the testing as well as setting up the RGB sequence (RGB instead of GRB) and the testing of the lights will not work until I have refresh again. Most of the time the refresh will show the correct ID, however, there are a few cards that I have problems in having to go back and set the ID again. For example, I have a pixie 8 with an id hex setting of 21. It will confirm the new id setting and shows the new id when it refreshes. When I use the Config and then the Pixie config to change the light sequence to RGB, I refresh again as it will not test the lights until it refreshes. That is where the ID will switch to a different ID such as 1A. Then I have to change the id back to the original then refresh and before the lights can be tested. Is this due to an EPROM glitch issue or software glitch? Can anyone explain as my inquiring mind would like to know...please? Thank you!! John M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, Obejohnknobe said: Thank you everyone for helping me out over the past year. I have learned a lot from you!!! The question I have is about the Hardware Utility program. Over the last couple of days I have been rewiring power, board wiring, labeling and setting up new Hex IDs for all of my Pixie controllers as well as my CTMB16. In HU, the setting of the new ID goes without hitch and use the refresh to initialize the testing as well as setting up the RGB sequence (RGB instead of GRB) and the testing of the lights will not work until I have refresh again. Most of the time the refresh will show the correct ID, however, there are a few cards that I have problems in having to go back and set the ID again. For example, I have a pixie 8 with an id hex setting of 21. It will confirm the new id setting and shows the new id when it refreshes. When I use the Config and then the Pixie config to change the light sequence to RGB, I refresh again as it will not test the lights until it refreshes. That is where the ID will switch to a different ID such as 1A. Then I have to change the id back to the original then refresh and before the lights can be tested. Is this due to an EPROM glitch issue or software glitch? Can anyone explain as my inquiring mind would like to know...please? Thank you!! John M. Sounds like you are making the same mistake as many I have helped with their pixie configs, chasing your network and or the jumper setting on the pixie. The newer have the dip switches the old have jumpers. I think we have discussed in another thread. I can talk to you on the phone and try to see if its the unit or simple settings. "Testing" if you are talking about the HU internal testing, I found it hit and miss with the pixies. I stopped using it and just run a test sequence instead. If the unit keeps reverting to unit 1- that is a pin/ jumper issue. LOR ships all umtis preset for unit ID 1. You have to manually switch the pin jumper or dip switch depending on pcb generation. My original offer still stands, pm me a # and time to call we can troubleshoot this. JR Edited July 29, 2018 by dibblejr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obejohnknobe Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Hi JR, After further research I have 3 - Pixie 4s (Pixie4D V3) with no dip switches and it seems I have no problem with the id that I can remember. I will get back to you on this one as I forgot to set up how many Pixies on a string (i.e. 50, 51, 99 and 100 due to 51 on my leaping arches I was testing) and try it again. There are 3 - Pixie 8s (Pixie8D V4) in the setup and all have the dip switches, however, in the manual, it states if all dip switches are in the off position the Hardware Utility is needed to set the ID so I will look at them all to see if any were accidentally toggled on....or do I need to just set it up that way to be safer? Lastly, there are 2 - Pixie 16s (Pixie16D V2) with no dip switches to set the ID and not programmed to the new Hex ID. And the honorable mention is 1 - CTB16PCV3 light controller that also has no dip switches and I always have it set to 01 hex setting. Will update you in the afternoon to see what else I found. Thank you, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obejohnknobe Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Hi JR, After extensive programming and research here is the outcome from the ID settings in HU. I had no problems with the following Cards with ID retention: CTB16PC-G3 version 1.09 which is current, 2 - Pixie 16s Version 1.02 current, and 3 - Pixie8D-V4 Version 1.02 current...after I switched the dip switches all to off. All dip switches on the Pixie8s had position 8 in the ON position and it shows the same detail in the manual, why since the website also states the HU is the only way to program it...hhhmmm. Found in the back of the manual the ID settings for the dip switches. again, decided to switched them to off. All of these cards had NO problems with changing IDs, changing pixel count and setting the RGB sequence. Refreshed and check ID (good) and even turned it off and back on after a minute. All IDs were solid as well as tested lights from the HU and no issues. With the HU did really well to test the lights, I did not use a sequence. When it comes to the Pixie 4s (Pixie4D V3 version 1.02)...had problems keeping the IDs in the cards. 1 card would revert back to Hex 01 and the other would revert back to Hex 11. It took several times of changing it back and forth, turning it off and back on to keep the ID in the cards. Probably spent an hour per card doing this just so I had confidence the card kept the ID. There is no dip switches on the Pixie4s, it does have jumpers but nothing that would indicate keeping the ID (J2 accessory power, J3 triggers, J4 120 ohm resistor and J5 needs to be empty to program thru HU which it is) and it has the current firmware. I will be taking them out again tomorrow to see if they kept the IDs. Any idea why the Pixie4s are being a pain? P.S. thank you for the offer of calling but for now, it is a wait and see. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Not sure why your pixie 4's are misbehaving. If I recall they were the older ones. I had a similar situation with a ctb16 gen3 last Christmas. However it finally took and kept the correct unit ID. Sounds like you got a lot of your problems resolved. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obejohnknobe Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 Thanks, Persistence was the game plan and was simply dumbfounded everything worked as it should. It was very frustrating after discovering the way LOR shipped the Pixie 8 cards with #8 dip switch in the on position but states you should be using the HU to program them. I am almost completed with a sequence to test the Pixie 4s to see if they kept the ID. We shall see probably tomorrow. Thanks! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 22 minutes ago, Obejohnknobe said: Thanks, Persistence was the game plan and was simply dumbfounded everything worked as it should. It was very frustrating after discovering the way LOR shipped the Pixie 8 cards with #8 dip switch in the on position but states you should be using the HU to program them. I am almost completed with a sequence to test the Pixie 4s to see if they kept the ID. We shall see probably tomorrow. Thanks! John I have a long very funny story about those dip switches on the pixies and another forum member that I had helped for almost a year on and off. If we ever talk on phone I will share the story since it’s to long to type. I guess LOR just leaves it like that just as the regular ac controllers to identify as unit 1 on initial setup. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obejohnknobe Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 I would love to hear that one! All the dip switches fall into 2 categories, equipment and humans...LOL as in my mistakes at times! Will see if the Pixie 4s ID stuck tomorrow. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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