wbaker4 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I am considering buying several of LOR's PixCon16 controllers for next year's display. To those of you who are using it, how has it been working out for you? Any issues, quirks, failures, etc? Thanks in advance for any info. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Walt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need lights Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Works great for me so far. First year with it. I did have to do a firmware update. No issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wt1924 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I am wondering also how it performs. Did you use it in LOR mode or DMX? LOR says that it is not best for high demand sequences in LOR mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Belcher Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 wbaker4, I used (4) pixcon16's this year without any hiccup at all. Disclaimer: I used identical 2812B strips everywhere and used 12V's without power injection everywhere. Although it makes sense from a bookkeeping standpoint to use the Pixcons "one universe per output, I did not do that. I started with strand one, universe one, channel one and sequentially assigned consecutive universes/channels. Regards, Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhammer53 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 I have been using two Pixcon 16's for a short time now and find them rock solid.The only problem I have had was during initial configuration, I had a bad CAT5 cable and it would not let me configure the boards or update the firmware. Changing out the cable fix the issue. Trying to hot swap any outputs will blow the fuse so don't do that either, shut off the power, then make your changes. I also am using CG-1500 boxes and have opened the holes in the back and am running one fan blowing IN...Both intake and output vents are covered with fan screens to keep out tiny livestock. I am running only WS2811's, strips, nodes and pixel pcb's. No power issues with a single 350watt, 12vdc p/s. and 64' combined length of 2811 strips. I will be adding more length as I develop the upcoming season. I suspect to encounter power issues as I put more strips and nodes into the show and have plans to use a second CG-1500 and two 350 watt p/s' in stand alone to power each Pixcon 16. Time and load with determine that possibility. My little show overview is two CTB16's for my 32 channels of incandescent props, two CMB24D's for my 4 X 4 x4 x4 window/door/roofline RGB strips and now the Pixcon 16's for the WS2811';s. A couple of props use a 30 channel RGB DMX controller and one 4' X 8' DMX WS2811 pixel signboard. Mostly LOR but also some HC too. An ADDICTIVE hobby, worse than HAM radio.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbaker4 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Thanks for all of the information. I have ordered a bunch of Ws2811's, power supplies, etc. I upgraded my LOR license, and have ordered a PixCon16 to start playing with. I ordered the WS2811's from Ray. I just received notice they have shipped. I am looking to use 2 of the PixCon16's this year controlling 1000 ws2811's. Each PixCon will handle 500 WS2811's spread over 10 channels per board. This makes sense considering distance/layout of where I will be placing the WS2811 strings. Last year was a 'cheap' year for adding stuff to my display since I already had everything I added. This year is a "bit" more expensive (I warned my wife!) - looking forward to see how it looks! Walt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godman Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I have the Pixcon 16 and the PixLite 16 (Advatek) they are the same board. I used them all in E1.31 and haven't tried with ELOR. I found it was easier to configure with the assistant but after making changes to the assistant it didn't always come over to the LOR Network? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 The PixLite and the PIxCon are not the same board, FYI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 I just powered mine up for the first time yesterday afternoon. Had trouble with it getting to configure as I kept seeing an error trying to get the configuration. I could see the board in the network preferences program but wouldn't let me get to it. The troubleshooter forced it to work so I was able to finally get to it. Strange is that both lights are flashing constantly which supposedly means its waiting for an IP address from the computer, which was assigned already. I did configure one port only as a test with an LPD6803 strip and used the test pattern mode to check it with. I've not sent it any formal commands yet from LOR or any other program. I did notice though that after turning the test pattern off, the first pixel of 3 leds, were turned on dimly in blue. I'll check for a firmware update first and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 If you are seeing weird LED Status/Power lights, upgrade the firmware to 1.4.8. That will get them to match up with what is in the doc. Early boards were shipped with an older firmware, and we are still catching up with updating any boards going out. 1.4.6 and below do strange things with the status lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 I did update the firmware so now it works just fine. I used it to test failed LPD6803 strips yesterday, resoldering those super delicate connections and so on....after the resoldering was accomplished. No way will I risk ruining the controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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