jeffl Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I'm watching this as I want to start using pixels. For those using PC power supplies; how are you dialing the voltage down on these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I've been reading on other boards that a lot of people are taking them down to 8 volts. now being a first year pixel person thought I should mention this.now if i take the voltage reading at the end of my 1 star burst Im getting 8.4 volts. so im 10.20 volts at the power supply, and 8.4 volts at the end of my 1st star.You are dropping almost 2 volts on a string??? wow. Ok.. here is the deal.. turn them all on white full power via software... dial down the supply until you either start to see the last pixels start to dim or change color, or until you hit about 6.5v at the string. Which ever comes first.... then bump it up about .2v just for good measure. I just assumed the loss in the string would not be that high.. Those regulators for the most part are ok at 6.5v.. but 7 volts is the specific highest required voltage to allow regulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhunt240 Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Off topic but does anyone have any pictures of how they used/mounted them and possibly some videos in action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted December 3, 2013 Author Share Posted December 3, 2013 Off topic but does anyone have any pictures of how they used/mounted them and possibly some videos in action I for one, and others are using polyester banding material. Cheap, UV resistant, and it does not stretch, so you can tension it. Walter Monkhouse has a great basic how to on this, you can work from there: http://www.magicchristmasnews.org/building_a_colormotions_tree_sm.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbayjohn Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Yep have 2 or these strings with constant failures.Have dialled down the psu to 10.2v (as this is lowest this unit will go from Ray)Will check tonight how its working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I don't have these specific nodes, but I do have 12V 2811 Nodes and they have been blowing left and right...WIll be dialing mine back tonite as well. Wish I would have had this info a week ago...but better late than never. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 I don't have these specific nodes, but I do have 12V 2811 Nodes and they have been blowing left and right...WIll be dialing mine back tonite as well. Wish I would have had this info a week ago...but better late than never.Remember this pretty much applies to single RGB pixel types and not the ones that use 3 RGB LEDs as a pixel. BTW, this has been on the boards for more than a week I think.. Probably just the first time you ran into it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Remember this pretty much applies to single RGB pixel types and not the ones that use 3 RGB LEDs as a pixel. BTW, this has been on the boards for more than a week I think.. Probably just the first time you ran into it..You are correct sir...I had not come across it until now...my first foray into RGB, I just presumed 12V strings, 12V power supply...what could possibly go wrong LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Well at least you didn't say "ASSUMED". LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawes Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Off topic but does anyone have any pictures of how they used/mounted them and possibly some videos in actionYou can start here: http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/23186-anyone-else-building-a-frame-for-a-12-ribbon-ccr-tree/?p=262722 and look for my posts the rest of the way down the thread for pictures of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H1 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 I haven't crossed over to pixels yet, just trying to get a free education. I feel for everyone that are experiening these setbacks. QuestionIf the temporary fix for this year is to reduce the voltage down to the 8-10 range, what does that do to everyone who based injecting power at the ASSUMED 12v acceptable distance?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted December 4, 2013 Author Share Posted December 4, 2013 Dave, Depending on the length of the pixel strings, power may not need to be injected at both ends. Keep in mind, this is JUST a problem with this particular pixel that Ray Wu sold. Outside of that, you always have to calculate your voltage drop for your particular string lengths and inject if you have to. With 12V, your strings will be a capable of longer length before you have to inject. That was the benefit of choosing a 12V product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Zman and Plasma.... I have 230 of the 2811 30mm pixels. I realize that Mark stated the problem appears to be witht he singles not the three LED devices I am also having failure issues with the 2811 based pixels from Ray. The 30mm pixels do have 3 LED's incapsulated in a single 30mm potted device. So far I (I thought...) I've lost 4 of them on my Merry Christmas sign. Now for the funny part .. I noticed last night the 4th pixel failure. When these pixels fail, i only lose the red LED's. I have replaced 3.One was for sure out and I replaced it.. The other two that I replaced were flaky at best and now tonight, what i thought was the 4th pixel to fail is suddenly working like a charm .. Whats the difference? The temperature ... last night it was 70 degrees. Right now (6:14pm) the temp has dropped to 37, with a feels like of 32...Now the question is will the pixel in question work all night or will it fail during the show... I only bring this up becasue there seems to be a lot of chatter on the boards about pixel failures. I understand ya'll are looking a specific device, but one thing that seems to be common is the 2811 platform @ 12VDC... I have extra power supplies but have not set up to find out if I can dial it down. The issue I have with dialing it down (of course... ) is that I also supply the 12V to the J1Sys P2 from the same supply ... I do have several 12V 3 and 4 amp supplies that I could supply the P2's with but ..... what a pain ... Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viennaxmas Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 The P2 boards can be powered by either 5 V or 7-36 V depending on Jumper settings, so you would be fine with 10 Volts. I have my P12S running on 10 Volt right now and they are fine.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Thank you .. I "SHOULD" have known that if I had remembered what I read ..I'll have to check on my PS and see what I can do about turning them down some .. Funny things is my 2811 strips and my 2811 rectangular pixels are all (knock on wood) running fine ..Oh.. and the 4th "bad" pixel ... still working tonight .. go figure .. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflights Posted December 6, 2013 Share Posted December 6, 2013 Whats the difference? The temperature ... last night it was 70 degrees. Right now (6:14pm) the temp has dropped to 37, with a feels like of 32...Now the question is will the pixel in question work all night or will it fail during the show... I have a similar temperature issue with Ray's 2811 but running at 5V. As soon as it hit 20F here in Detroit, I started getting a few pixels performing on their own. Flickering. Take them inside, let them warm up and the pixels work perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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