2013 Pixel Post Mortem

[indi]

LORiP:

 

Hope you get your pixel tree up and running. It will be a great addition to your show.

[viennaxmas]

Dave - here you are: http://vimeo.com/18358717 :-) I cannot promise anything since I have not yet tried if it helps.

[Dave H1]

No wonder I couldn't find it on Utube

[Dave H1]

I remember when that video surfaced a few years back.  I believe that is what prompted the voids at the wire entrance/exits to be filled with epoxy resin.  Seems that the lens are now the primary point of access for water now.

[wbaker4]

Has anyone used these from LOR?  Price seem very reasonable.  Curious about the quality.

 

http://store.lightorama.com/rjwada.html

 

Solves the problem with having to open the controllers to make the data connections.

 

Walt

[bobschm]

I'm very happy with my pixels. I will be looking at distributed power using DC/DC converters. And I'll be adding null pixels because weather eventually caused some glitching in the further universes. But I'm on the right track as the spectator response was all positive.

[khawes]

I used Ray's Technicolor pixels coupled to a SanDevices pixel 1.  I had a few pixels go, and got pretty good at soldering in new ones, w/o having to fully take down the tree.  

After reducing the power supply to 10v, I had no further issues, though we had only one night of rain and that was was while the controller was still at 11.5v so I'm not sure if the failures that one night were due to water or not.    Here's the order of things:

• Burn in -- lost 5 strings
• reduced voltage from 12.3v to 11.5v
• continue burn in w/ no issues.
• mounted to 3/4" square tubing.
• 2 failures after initial test but before Dec 1.
• Rain & 2 more before morning.
• two additional failures, reduced voltage to 10v & one failure recovered.
• smooth sailing the remainder of the season. 

[JLewinski]

Has anyone used these from LOR?  Price seem very reasonable.  Curious about the quality.

 

http://store.lightorama.com/rjwada.html

 

Solves the problem with having to open the controllers to make the data connections.

 

Walt

 

I use two of those on all of my regular LOR controllers.  Excellent quality and very good price!  I love 'em!

[JLewinski]

I tried to integrate RBG pixels from S.E. and had too much trouble trying to get them to work, so unfortunately, I didn't have any RGB in my display this.

 

Maybe sometime this year.

 

[wbaker4]

I use two of those on all of my regular LOR controllers.  Excellent quality and very good price!  I love 'em!

Thanks for the info.  So inexpensive I just ordered a bunch for this year!  I doubt at this price they will be on sale!

 

Walt

[ryanfodgod]

I had all kinds of ideas for RGB last year but after a bad 27 controller from ray and a move to a new house. I used S.E. C9 pixels and loved them. up since Halloween and just had one string that act up. probably would of fixed it self but one email and two days later, I had a new sting. and I used Ecg-D4 bridge  from J1sys and it worked great. lost 2 power supplys from ray when a cold fog/mist came in, so the waterproof supply from Holiday Coro took over and no more issues. hope to be about 90 percent RGB next year.

[Bob VandenBoom]

Has anyone used these from LOR?  Price seem very reasonable.  Curious about the quality.

 

http://store.lightorama.com/rjwada.html

 

Solves the problem with having to open the controllers to make the data connections.

 

Walt

I used these on 12 controllers.  Worked great in year 1.  Second year I had issues with water getting in and not being able to get out.  Made for some interesting communications between controllers and a few nights out in the cold bypassing them.  Bypassed them all by the end of the year.  I have to take a closer look, but my guess is that thermal cycling through a couple years caused the heatshrink to lose it's seal allowing water to run down the cable and into the connection.  I am going to seal the heatshrink end of the connectors with silicone and leave some out for a few months before I use them again next year.  When working, these are great.

[wbaker4]

"I am going to seal the heatshrink end of the connectors with silicone and leave some out for a few months before I use them again next year. "

 

Thanks for the info.  I would have never thought of sealing that area.

 

Walt

[JLewinski]

"I am going to seal the heatshrink end of the connectors with silicone and leave some out for a few months before I use them again next year. "

 

Thanks for the info.  I would have never thought of sealing that area.

 

Walt

I want to point out that mine are installed "panel mount" through the bottom of the enclosure.  No way for water to get in, unless under water in flood conditions.

 

I'll post pics in a little while, once I find my camera.

 

Instead of posting a bunch of pictures here, I've created a PhotoBucket story.

http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/BigKahunaFL/story/117107

Edited January 17, 2014 by JLewinski

[habmann]

Has anyone used these from LOR?  Price seem very reasonable.  Curious about the quality.

 

http://store.lightorama.com/rjwada.html

 

Solves the problem with having to open the controllers to make the data connections.

 

Walt

First year for LOR for me, but I ordered two for all 3 of my controllers and they worked flawlessly through snow, rain, freezing rain, basically everything this crazy winter threw at them. I'll definitely be ordering more any time I get new controllers. Seems like money well spend to me.

[LightORamaDan]

I was really happy with how things EVENTUALLY turned out with our CCP Megatree. But, the CCP controllers are not even close to being weather resistant. They are barely even moisture resistant, even with everything sealed tight and mounted per instructions. We lost 4 of 8 controllers due to moisture intrusion prior to our set up week, so we had to wait another week for replacement controllers I ordered from LOR and for waterproof electrical boxes (4 medium Sockit boxes held the 8 controllers and worked great) from Amazon. So we were a week late firing up the show, but once it was running, the Megatree was even more impactful than I had thought it would be. It's such a distraction from the rest of the show, I may not set the rest of the display up next year! JK...

 

The RGB roof line was a week-of-Thanksgiving emergency project (I had all the components and measurements, but it was supposed to be next years project) that turned out way better than I thought, considering the late entry and emergency re-sequencing I had to to on our 18 song set. Used RGB PixaBulbs from DIYLedExpress and was happy with their performance, though I've lost 3 or 4 of the bulbs to one of the RGB led's 'burning out' (or whatever that would be called). The controller was an E682 from SanDevices, and I was very happy with how easy that was to put together, test and set up. A little bit of a learning curve, but really not bad.

 

The Megatree star is from Holidaycoro, as were the Actidongle, controllers and power supply. Very happy with how that turned out and performed also.

 

Very happy with the CCP's, but again, the controllers should not be left out in the elements at all. Cost me +$500 extra to recover from that...

 

Here is the obligatory video of one of our songs:

https://vimeo.com/82625029

 

We used different sealant this year as last years appeared to have an issue and we had very few issues with water ingress on the CCP/CCB controller. We are continuing to improve the seals on the controllers. As far as the $500 to recover from something that should be a warranty issue please let me  know personally what the problem was and we will make sure that you did not need to pay anything for problems beyond your control. dan@lightorama.com 

 

Dan

Light O Rama, Inc. 

[wbaker4]

"I am going to seal the heatshrink end of the connectors with silicone and leave some out for a few months before I use them again next year. "

 

Thanks for the info.  I would have never thought of sealing that area.

 

Walt

I just received my order of the Comm Cable "Dangles".  It looks like they have already applied a sealant around the heat shrink tubing.  

 

Walt

[JLewinski]

Here's a PhotoBucket Story that I wrote regarding the installation and use of the LOR RJ45 Waterproof Dangle on a standard residential LOR enclosure.  There's also shows a close-up picture of the cable, where you can see the shrink tubes adhesive/sealant.

 

Link

Edited January 17, 2014 by JLewinski

[wbaker4]

Here's a PhotoBucket Story that I wrote regarding the installation and use of the LOR RJ45 Waterproof Dangle on a standard residential LOR enclosure.  There's also shows a close-up picture of the cable, where you can see the shrink tubes adhesive/sealant.

 

Link

Nice description/photos.  Thanks!