IP66 rated pixels from Ray, 2 strings failed with first rain

[Duckie24]

I built a MegaTree this year out of TLS3001 pixels from Ray that are IP66 rated.  Had a steady rain today, first rain since the tree went up, and then tonight noticed 1 of my pixel strings was completely off and another string is half off - from the mid-point of the pixel string to the end.  Is it possible that the rain has ruined these supposedly waterproof pixel strings?!  I took the tree offline as soon as I noticed these 2 strings to hopefully stave off any other damage.  Don't know if anyone else has used a similar pixel.  Curious as to why the one string is only half out?  At any rate, very disappointed.  Spent a lot of time on assembly of the tree this year, and worried about all of my pixels now.

[Duckie24]

Okay, I was going to wait until the rain stopped to check things out, but stuff like this just gnaws at me.  I turned on the nutcracker testing page.  When I checked the one string I did not see any defects in the first node on the string.  I thought maybe the waterproof integrity could be compromised at this location since it was the entire string.  I checked the connection of the pigtail from my E682 to the pixel string.  As I adjusted the connection the entire string came on, as did the other half string that was out as well.  I went back to my computer to change the test pattern to make sure color was working as I had an all-white test pattern.  When I returned the entire string and other half string were out again.  Once again adjusting the connection brought the lights back on .  Could not keep them on while standing there however.  Because it is raining so hard I cannot open up my weatherproof controller box to see if a connection is loose inside, and I do not want to disconnect the lights from the E682 pigtail's either, until it is dry outside.  As I was standing there while the lights were on, some of the pixels were the wrong color, then the string slowly dimmed out.

 

Not sure why the other half string is going out as well with the one entire string.  Too much rain to see if they were in the same universe.  I have 16 pixel strings, each connected to a separate pigtail on the E682.

[viennaxmas]

Same Problem here.. The first rain pretty much killed 8 pixel strings out if 30 out in the yard so far. Really ruins my willingness to put out the other 60 which are ready to go... Today I have to admit I am very frustrated with the entire world of pixels...

[scubado]

Weather has been a pain in the a$$ for me too.  Last Sunday night finally got the entire show running right, then we got rain and wind.  Shut off the lights and unplugged some of the controllers.  Last night, fixed a couple things damaged from the wind and was expecting some friends to come over to see the lights and found a power supply was dead.  I have a new one on order for next week, but no lights to music this weekend, oh well, it's to darn cold anyhow. 

[Grinch]

It wouldn't be a Christmas display with out RAIN!!!  My first year and it seems it has rained every day since the lights went ON. Multiple GFI trips and now one channel is stuck on dim.  The temp is suppose to get very cold tonight so I am sure I will be repairing tomorrow once the ice forms.

[Tim Fischer]

Sounds like you don't have bad pixels anyway, just a bad connection of some sort. 

The good news is, even if you have a couple of bad pixels (that take out the rest of the string), replacing just that pixel will fix the whole string.  Pixels are sort of a "one light goes out, the rest of them after that go out too" sort of thing.  Would be nice if they were 100% reliable...

[Orville]

And this is why I stay with the "old school" of incandescent and LED light strands.

 

 

Pixels, nodes and RGB stuff just don't seem to have the reliability of the old trustworthy NON-RGB/Pixels/Nodes what ever you want tocall them, items like incandescents and LED's!.   

 

So until these issues of dying pixels, non-working ones, and all the other complications.programming/set-up of using these can come down to a lay-persons approach to much easier use in installing, programming and using them, as well as the reliability/quality issues will also have to get much better with them as well.  Then and only then would I even consider looking at them, let alone add them to MY display.

 

I'll just stick with all my old school lights and blowmolds for my display.

 

I give it a few more years before the new technology is where the old school lights and standard LED strands are now.  Then I may reconsider my options.

[Duckie24]

Rain finally stopped so I was able to go out and do some investigating.  Of course I had to thaw the ice off of the lock on my E682 controller box first!!!  First I transposed the string that was out with another pigtail of a working string.  The string worked, so confirmed to me that it was a connection issue of some sort with that pigtail.  I disconnected the pigtail from the E682 and checked to make sure the wires were seated properly, which it looked like they were.  I reinstalled the mating connector and the lights appear to be working.  I left the test sequence running for a while and all seems good.

 

The only bad news is the string of lights that was half out that I thought came on when I was briefly able to get the out string working yesterday is still definitely out.  So I am assuming I have a bad pixel on that string.  Question about that - Is the bad pixel the first one that is not lit?  I thought I read somewhere that the bad pixel was the last one that was still lit.  Just wanted to check on that.  Won't be able to fix until after the season....don't have any other pixels and it's high enough up that I don't want to take the string down, or mess with it where it is.

[Tim Fischer]

And this is why I stay with the "old school" of incandescent and LED light strands.

 

 

Pixels, nodes and RGB stuff just don't seem to have the reliability of the old trustworthy NON-RGB/Pixels/Nodes what ever you want tocall them, items like incandescents and LED's!.   

 

So until these issues of dying pixels, non-working ones, and all the other complications.programming/set-up of using these can come down to a lay-persons approach to much easier use in installing, programming and using them, as well as the reliability/quality issues will also have to get much better with them as well.  Then and only then would I even consider looking at them, let alone add them to MY display.

 

I'll just stick with all my old school lights and blowmolds for my display.

 

I give it a few more years before the new technology is where the old school lights and standard LED strands are now.  Then I may reconsider my options.

Understandable if you want to wait.  But having done all-incan displays for many years, it certainly was very common to have "half strings" go out mid-season, and even more common to have dead bulbs that should be replaced.  Even with high quality LED stringers, they require repair occasionally, which is why the LEDKeeper is so popular amongst decorators.

To me a few failed pixels a year is a small price to pay for the ultimate in display control.  I certainly would not use them for my *entire* display (I use mostly standard LED stringers these days) but they're a great tool to have in the bag.

...dang I hate it that these forums won't let you edit a post even seconds after you hit the button...

Just wanted to add that I hope the technology matures to the point where they can solve the "one pixel goes out, the whole rest of the string goes out/screws up" problem.  Not sure how, knowing how pixels currently work, but I'll leave that up to the hardware folk

[kzaas]

I too had problems at first rain. I had to replace 10 pixels out of 600. doesn't sound like much but when they are all in different areas and you have to cut, solder and shrink, it is a real pain.. These are also IP66 pixels so I shouldn't have had a problem. My solution for future rains is that I am spraying the wire entry end with Rust-Oleum Leak Seal. I figure if it can seal a screen door in the bottom of a boat(LOL yeah sure.) but I do think it will seal the lights. I am spraying now so at the next rain I will let you know if it worked. I started putting silicon at all the wire entry end and I started thinking there has got to be an easier way and my wife said " They have to make some kind of spray that you can use" so I headed off to Home Depot(my favorite store in town), I considered using that new stuff that just came out called "Never Wet" but it is a very long process for something that might work, so I kept looking. I came across the spray paint cage and immediately my eyes went straight to the Leak Seal and I figured if it can keep a boat afloat it will work for this.

 

Anyway here is a link for what I am talking about...http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-11-oz-LeakSeal-Clear-Spray-265495/203165633#.UqTWvb7TkdU

[Tim Fischer]

I tried that rustoleum leak seal on a fountain we have last spring and it was worse than useless (since it only caused a leak in my wallet buying the crap).  I ended up fixing the fountain with 2-part fiberglass resin from a body shop.

[Jeff Messer]

IP68 here with flat nodes that has the wire coming into the node underneath. Rain and only one issue with a waterproof connector. I have cleaned it and all my connectors have been ziptied so the wire end is pointed down. I had 30 minutes of rain and not issues.

 

Jeff

[Tim Fischer]

My IP68 bullet-style pixels from Ray (new last year) have had a few issues with the wires tearing out of the pixel, but they've held up OK with rain and snow (knock on wood). 

The tearing wire issues are apparently my fault - I thought I had secured them properly to para-cord but in some cases there was not enough slack in the wires.

-Tim

[viennaxmas]

I too had problems at first rain. I had to replace 10 pixels out of 600. doesn't sound like much but when they are all in different areas and you have to cut, solder and shrink, it is a real pain.. These are also IP66 pixels so I shouldn't have had a problem. My solution for future rains is that I am spraying the wire entry end with Rust-Oleum Leak Seal. I figure if it can seal a screen door in the bottom of a boat(LOL yeah sure.) but I do think it will seal the lights. I am spraying now so at the next rain I will let you know if it worked. I started putting silicon at all the wire entry end and I started thinking there has got to be an easier way and my wife said " They have to make some kind of spray that you can use" so I headed off to Home Depot(my favorite store in town), I considered using that new stuff that just came out called "Never Wet" but it is a very long process for something that might work, so I kept looking. I came across the spray paint cage and immediately my eyes went straight to the Leak Seal and I figured if it can keep a boat afloat it will work for this.

Anyway here is a link for what I am talking about...http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-11-oz-LeakSeal-Clear-Spray-265495/203165633#.UqTWvb7TkdU

[viennaxmas]

Something went wrong - just wanted to add to please keep us posted on the leak seal stuff since I lost 24 strings in the first rain. Had to take the entire prop down and was also looking at that...

[kzaas]

Something went wrong - just wanted to add to please keep us posted on the leak seal stuff since I lost 24 strings in the first rain. Had to take the entire prop down and was also looking at that...

Yeah I had to take mine down too so that I could make the repairs. Keep in mind that you most likely only lost a pixel in each of those strings which could effect the rest. I will post on first rain.

[viennaxmas]

Thanks kzaas - I tried replacing individual pixels on two strings, however with 3 or 4 pixels out on a single string it get's pretty time consuming and I can already tell that the majority of them has more than 2 pixels out and I am not sure how well in shape the other ones are. Maybe just replacing them is quicker and I can see if I can fix the other ones later or if I just create new strings out of the remaining working pixels.

[jeffl]

With it being below zero here every night for the past week I guess I'm happy with my near 95% incandescent display.  The LED's as of late have been very reliable.  I haven't heard a lot of chatter about pixel strips being a problem this year but single nodes there has been a lot of chatter.  It's like a mine field for most of us.  I think I'll stick with moving towards old fashioned LED's.

[Tim Fischer]

With it being below zero here every night for the past week I guess I'm happy with my near 95% incandescent display.  The LED's as of late have been very reliable.  I haven't heard a lot of chatter about pixel strips being a problem this year but single nodes there has been a lot of chatter.  It's like a mine field for most of us.  I think I'll stick with moving towards old fashioned LED's.

Certain brands/types have been problematic.  Many of mine are on their second year, and are holding up very well, other than user error during the mounting process which is causing wires to pull out occasionally.  Even with that, I've lost something like 6 pixels out of 1536 of last year's... and again most of that was my own fault.

[BrownOut]

My pixels are also from Ray. WS2801 IP66 supposedly with conformal coating. Water in about a third of the pixels. Took my new tree down it was so bad. I will upload pics shortly.