Pixel wiring

[zvacman]

Hi everyone! Less than 7 months to Christmas!  Here is my issue/question.  I built and wired my 700 pixel matrix.  I used 4-16AWG to wire the pixels back to the controller that will be 6 feet away from the matrix.  During testing I seem to be getting some interferance, I get a slight flicker that doesn't seem to have any pattern, just really random.  What kind of wire are you all using to drive your pixel models? The wire I used is shielded which should be suitable. I seem to remember reading somewhere that people are using cat5 to run them.  As always the vast knowledge being shared is much appreciated.

 

Z

[Ebuechner]

When the green 16 gauge outdoor extension cord is on sale I buy it up and cut that into pieces to use to run pixels. I've run up to 50 feet away with no trouble. Black+ white- green data.

[Little_b]

I use 4/16awg speaker wire.  Need a little more info on your design.  Are you using more than one power supply?  If so, you need to connect the V- of all the power supplies together.

[zvacman]

8 hours ago, Little_b said:

I use 4/16awg speaker wire.  Need a little more info on your design.  Are you using more than one power supply?  If so, you need to connect the V- of all the power supplies together.

I am using the same wire as you are.  The particular controller I referred to is an E682 connected to one 12v 360w power supply mounted in a CG1500 enclosure.  The slight flicker is happening while using the test mode in both LOR and Xlights. It doesn't seem to happen in the few simple animations that I've made.

Z

[Little_b]

The problem may stem from having both LOR and XLights running at the same time.  If both programs are trying to communicate with the controller, you will see some issues.   There are several posts in the forums that discuss this.

Another possibility is not enough power. What kind of pixels are you using?  Just a quick calculation, for example, if you're using Pixel Nodes at .55W per node on full white times 700 pixels comes out to be 385W, which surpasses the power supply limit.  If there is not enough power going to each string, you will see issues. Make sure you have enough power injections as well. 

[zvacman]

B:

I have run it on full white in the sequencer for extended time with no problem.  I'm pretty sure it's not a power problem.  I'm leaning toward your previous suggestion, LOR and Xlights aren't playing nice.  I'm going to turn the LOR listener off and see what happens. Update to follow.

Z