Timc31610 Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hey guys, this is my 3rd year with this setup. I have a pixie 16 using channels 5-16 on a 12x50 pixel tree, channel 1 is a 50 pixel star, channels 2 and 3 are straight lines of 50 pixels each leaving 1 open port. I purchased 2 HolidayCoro 12 RGB floods to run on the empty channel. This morning I plugged the first one in (controller turned off) and got nothing. I had all lights set to 100% red in the HU. All other pixels were working. I turned off the controller and plugged in the other flood light, turned on the controller and nothing, all lights off. Now in the HU it doesn't even recognize the USB485. I have the black and the red. Neither are recognized. I have a separate laptop that I run my shows from. On a completely different I installed S5 and attached the USB485 and it doesn't recognize them either. On startup of the HU I get the first message below. After clicking Auto Configure I get the second message. I did press the test button on the pixie and the lights work as they should (the floods do not work at all). I should also mention that everything has been up and running perfectly since the day before Thanksgiving up until I killed everything this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Did you reboot? The COM # may have changed (or a Windows recent update stomped it) Open Windows Device Manager. Down in the USB section, you should see an entry for (Each attached) USB serial converter It might be simpler to just grab the Install disk that came with the most recent (all drivers are on the disk). DISCONNECT both dongles while installing drivers. Run the installation on the disc (or download from LOR) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Timc31610 said: Hey guys, this is my 3rd year with this setup. I have a pixie 16 using channels 5-16 on a 12x50 pixel tree, channel 1 is a 50 pixel star, channels 2 and 3 are straight lines of 50 pixels each leaving 1 open port. Please get out of the habit of calling an output from a pixel controller as a "channel". It is actually many channels (may be hundreds). A better term is an "output" or "port". Calling it a channel will cause confusion with single channels or RGB channels. Now, back to your problem... I would agree with TheDucks. This sounds like a driver problem on the computer. Until the Device Manager recognizes the comm port, there is nothing to be gained by even starting the Hardware Utility. The Device Manager MAY show a USB device plugged in that is either unrecognized or failing. If the problem is drivers, and you get that fixed with a driver update / reload, then you should see (in the Device Manager) the Comm port get assigned when the USB adapter is plugged in and that Comm port will go away when the USB adapter is unplugged (there is no need to have a controller plugged in for this part - just the USB to RS-485 adapter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Valid point on the channel vs output. Do I have to have a controller connected to the USB485 in order for HU to locate it? In device manager on both laptops under ports I have USB Serial Port (Com3) I have tried to update the driver on both and it says I am using the newest one. When I plug it in and unplug it that port does show up then go away. There should not have been a change in my OS as I turn off wifi to the laptop so that updates do not run while that pc is acting as my show controller. The only change that has happened is me trying to plug in the HolidayCoro floods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 OK good that the computer admits that the USB to RS-485 adapter is working. Now that you know what Comm port is the adapter, you can start the Hardware Utility and manually select Comm 3. Then near the upper right corner is a selection for max Unit ID. Adjust that to something a little higher than your highest expected controller ID. Make sure that the controller being tested is connected and powered up. At this point the status LED should be solid. Assuming that is the case press the refresh button and see if the HU sees the controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Ok, when I get back home tonight I will try that out. Thanks for all the help so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 Plugged everything back in this morning and it works! Thanks for all the help guys! Now just have to figure out whats wrong with the floods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 53 minutes ago, Timc31610 said: Plugged everything back in this morning and it works! Thanks for all the help guys! Now just have to figure out whats wrong with the floods. Can you post a link to the floods so we know what you are working with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 Here are the floods. http://www.holidaycoro.com/10-Watt-RGB-Pixel-Flood-Light-p/169.htm I just ordered another Pixie 16 so I will have a spare for testing these and for add-ons next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 24 minutes ago, Timc31610 said: Here are the floods. http://www.holidaycoro.com/10-Watt-RGB-Pixel-Flood-Light-p/169.htm I just ordered another Pixie 16 so I will have a spare for testing these and for add-ons next year. 2 hours ago, Timc31610 said: Plugged everything back in this morning and it works! Thanks for all the help guys! Now just have to figure out whats wrong with the floods. The those appear to use the standard HC 3 pin connector used with Smart nodes. There is an IN Cable (threads) , and an OUT cable. Yellow is Data. Long cables are your enemy for 2 reasons. Voltage drop (Put a Volt meter on the OUT of the last LIGHTED flood. 10.8V is marginal for that last flood). Signal (data) degradation to the next Pix (15' of cable between, which includes the pigtails seems to be solid) 💡 Set your Power supply to 12.6V, under load (s/b a safe when @ low load value) to give yourself a little extra range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 They do use the standard connector. I have pigtails coming out of my controller box and plugged them both directly in and one did nothing, the other flashed red mor less than a second and thats when my entire display shut down. I didn't have any extensions connected so only about 12" of cable including connectors. Do they appear to the controller as a single pixel each? Is there anything I need to change in setup for them to work properly? Thanks for the help so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 26 minutes ago, Timc31610 said: They do use the standard connector. I have pigtails coming out of my controller box and plugged them both directly in and one did nothing, the other flashed red mor less than a second and thats when my entire display shut down. I didn't have any extensions connected so only about 12" of cable including connectors. Do they appear to the controller as a single pixel each? Is there anything I need to change in setup for them to work properly? Thanks for the help so far! I assume they are singles. But that Flashed RED is a 😮. You might have a bad one.. Test each singly , then add to the Daisy chain 1 at a time after each test. OH! I also think that 3 is the Maximum per output without power injection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted November 29, 2018 Author Share Posted November 29, 2018 I only bought 2 so I am good for the moment. Now just to wait for the spare board for testing, I am not plugging them back in to the current setup, don't need it going out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timc31610 Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 I am beyond annoyed, was watching my show last night and noticed that at least 2 of the strands on my tree seem to be reversed. This morning I opened the HU to try to turn on the strands one at a time to verify order and it doesn't work again. Same messages as before. Literally nothing has changed! I don't understand. After some troubleshooting and finding nothing, the HU recognizes that a controller is connected to Comm 3 but it says 2 controllers found and both are Unknown Device ???. I have tried everything I can think of and am at a loss. I randomly get the error below when I click refresh under configure. I did receive my new Pixie 16 today and it is recognized with no issues. Could I have a bad controller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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