tjflory Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 (edited) Finally getting around to assembling and testing my Halloween display.First thing to go bad: 7 of the 10 cat5 couplers I purchased are bad.Second thing: A string of my new dumb RGB strips wasn't working. I had replaced the stock ends on these with cat5 connectors, so I thought I had a bad solder joint. I desoldered it. resoldered it, still no lights!. maybe a bad wire. Check it with a meter... looks good. resolder it. no lights! Desolder it. I cut back the cable a few inches. Resolder. No lights! Desolder and thrown that cable away. I get another cable (the other end of same cat5 cable) resolder. No lights!W.I.T.H.!!! (keep in mind all this time I recheck the RGB strip @ the solder joint with a 9v battery every time I resolder)OK. This cable MUST be bad. I look at the wire colors at the connectors... sure nuff... its mis-assembled! Now at this point I could just beep the wires and assemble it to make it work... But I just don't work that way. I get another cable, colors look good. Cut it in half. Solder up 1 end... Lights! (yeah!)Moral of the story: Make no assumptions. Check everything! I thought I was paranoid testing the cat5 couplers, but experience has taught me to so. Now I have to test CAT5 cables too?tjp.s. its cold too... hands getting stiff. warm soldering iron feels pretty good. Edited October 6, 2012 by tjflory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjflory Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 Just wait until you start using pixels. The number of issues that pile on grow astronomically. Multiple protocols, voltages, wiring and color coding, failure rates and everything it takes to get the software to control the hardware. Several times in the last 48 hours I've assembled a prop with rigid pixels hot glued to a post inside a plastic globe, and forgot to test the pixels first. Each time I test them... they work. Each time I forget and don't test, I get to place the post in a vise and tear the pixels off, scrape the hot glue away and try again.I stopped a little while ago. Before the frustration overcomes the joy felt when the things light up all blinky flashy!JeffWow... For something that expensive, I hope the failure rate is very low.tj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 I stopped a little while ago. Before the frustration overcomes the joy felt when the things light up all blinky flashy!Don't feel bad. I just wasted 4 hours playing Skyrim only to discover at the end I missed an object that I needed to finish a quest.That's 4 hours of my life I won't get back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cenote Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Don't feel bad. I just wasted 4 hours playing Skyrim only to discover at the end I missed an object that I needed to finish a quest.That's 4 hours of my life I won't get back 4hrs....does Dan know you are playing games while writing the new code for S5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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