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Long term reliability of WS2811 pixels from China


brianfox

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Since WS2811 pixels have been around for a while now, I know people have purchased from various places (RayWu store, WOW, HC, other aliexpress stores, etc).  Wondering how these have been holding up over the years.  Rate of failure, etc.

I've been using LOR original (5V) CC Bulbs and Pixels for about 3 years.

  • 24 strings bulbs (50 pixels each)
  • 42 strings of bullet pixels (50 pixels each)

Every year, I have about 3 string failures per 66 strings.

Most of the time it's just one pixel stuck on or off - easy to live with.  I've had three strings with a section bad - had to replace whole string.

That's roughly 5% string failure rate per year (some light fails somewhere), or about 2% complete string failure, and expect this to increase.  Heck, I just set up my pixel tree and have two new bulb failures this year...

I was considering using lights from aliexpress stores for future projects, but only if the failure rate is not much worse than LOR.

 

Oh, and can someone please confirm that CC connectors that LOR uses are RayWu type (13.5mm)?

Edited by brianfox
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I have been running Ray's pixels since 2013, 12V square ws2811. I can only remember one failure. One pixel that is.

They have been on and off pvc, bushes, and remounted on Boscoyo pixel strips more times than my sore thumbs can stand.

Up to about 6000 now, and some of those run indoors all year.

I once tested a 100 pixel strand in a bucket of water for a week.....lit.

I just finished my setup again and everything just lit up.

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Actually all pixels are from China no matter what name is on them. You need to look at warranties.

Edited by Mr. P
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Ray does have his own manufacturing facilities though, and can make custom orders. I had him make me 1000 pixels at a 1.5 inch spacing on one occasion. No additional cost.

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I have thousands of WS2811 pixels with about half of those came from Ray Wu.  I also have a couple hundred feet of RGB strip - both smart and dumb.  I have had a few pixels fail over the years, but never more than a few.  Same thing with the strips.  The biggest advantage of pixels over strips is that pixels are FAR easier to repair.  It's fairly easy to cut out one bad pixel and splice in a replacement.

 

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They are all from China. I prefer using Rextinled on Amazon now. They are based out of TX, cheaper than Ray, free shipping and they can also manufacture custom requests. Never a problem at all. They also shipped me free stuff to try (not small qtys either) for them based on my order qtys and history. 

Pixels can take more abuse than ribbons though no one should ever abuse their lights but sometimes things happen. Though a contractor did drop his 50' extension ladder on 4 of my 8 circles and by only a miracle they all survived.

JR

 

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