Pixie 16D

[tbuff23]

I hook up my pixie 16D and only 1/2 the first string lights up.

I push the test button all the lights go through the test stage.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

[k6ccc]

A little more details please.  From the test button it would appear that the Pixie is capable of controlling the pixels, so most likely there is an issue with how you are controlling it.  Please tell us how you are controlling your Pixie.

 

[tbuff23]

15 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

A little more details please.  From the test button it would appear that the Pixie is capable of controlling the pixels, so most likely there is an issue with how you are controlling it.  Please tell us how you are controlling your Pixie.

 

 

2 hours ago, tbuff23 said:

I hook up my pixie 16D and only 1/2 the first string lights up.

I push the test button all the lights go through the test stage.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

 

Edited April 2, 2017 by tbuff23
addation

[dibblejr]

Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

[tbuff23]

Do I need to up grade my  license ? I am running basic plus does it support that many channels?

Thanks

[k6ccc]

Just now, dibblejr said:

Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

I don't think that's the issue.  He said the lights DO light when using the test button.

 

[dibblejr]

2 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

I don't think that's the issue.  He said the lights DO light when using the test button.

 

Yes, I also had some lights. I had some in the middle and ends, and if I wiggled or touched the wires theyd all either work or not. Just a shot though since everyone with the pixies that had lighting issues, it seems to solve the problem. Just a place to start. When I first connected my strands (16) I had about 1/3 not working. Even though the wires felt tight after a few wiggles most of them could be pulled out.

I think I posted here before after I found another thread from 2016 where another person mentioned the opposite direction. I disconnected and reconnected every strand and they all worked flawlessly. 4 strands have been going through a test sequence I made 24/7 since.

[k6ccc]

2 minutes ago, tbuff23 said:

Do I need to up grade my  license ? I am running basic plus does it support that many channels?

Thanks

The basic plus license supports four controllers - specifically 01 - 04

[Mr. P]

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

 

[dibblejr]

41 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

 

I am not sure. The first time I upgraded with SS I miss counted (didn't understand) when I attempted to make a matrix seq, I couldn't did have enough CCRs covered so the instead of guessing the second time  I just purchased 60. Now I am not even sure that is going to be enough. Only time and my prop completions will tell.

JR

[Mr. P]

I don't have the pixie but from the way I understand it is each port is similar to one CCR. So if that is the case then the OP would need to upgrade his license.

[k6ccc]

It would be useful if the original poster answered some of the questions that have been asked by people trying to help.  That way we would not be guessing what his situation is.

With that said, I also have never used a Pixie controller, but from reading the docs that I downloaded from the LOR website, each string on a Pixie either takes one or two Unit IDs (depending on the setting of the Unit ID mode).  That would be VERY limiting with a Basic Plus LOR license level.  See: http://www1.lightorama.com/sequencing-suite-software/ for comparison of LOR license levels.

 

2 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I am not sure. The first time I upgraded with SS I miss counted (didn't understand) when I attempted to make a matrix seq, I couldn't did have enough CCRs covered so the instead of guessing the second time  I just purchased 60. Now I am not even sure that is going to be enough. Only time and my prop completions will tell.

SuperStar will tell you exactly how may channels are in a Visualization and what SuperStar license level is required.  Either select Menu > Tool > Layout or press <CTRL>-L and you get the Layout and it shows how many channels are in use:

This is my year round landscaping layout (Halloween and Christmas are much larger).

Again, the OP needs to tell us what he is doing.

 

[dibblejr]

10 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

It would be useful if the original poster answered some of the questions that have been asked by people trying to help.  That way we would not be guessing what his situation is.

With that said, I also have never used a Pixie controller, but from reading the docs that I downloaded from the LOR website, each string on a Pixie either takes one or two Unit IDs (depending on the setting of the Unit ID mode).  That would be VERY limiting with a Basic Plus LOR license level.  See: http://www1.lightorama.com/sequencing-suite-software/ for comparison of LOR license levels.

 

SuperStar will tell you exactly how may channels are in a Visualization and what SuperStar license level is required.  Either select Menu > Tool > Layout or press <CTRL>-L and you get the Layout and it shows how many channels are in use:

This is my year round landscaping layout (Halloween and Christmas are much larger).

Again, the OP needs to tell us what he is doing.

 

Yes, I understand it now, but I didn't when I upgraded and went to pixels. It was actually pretty easy once I was done. LOL Also at my time I was having "SS Vis" problems. Mine was frozen since Dec 2016 and I didn't want to mess with it during Christmas. Brian made me a special file that was used to restore the SS vis. I had already upgraded by then.

That's my kind of luck.

[dibblejr]

Jim- If he's doing what I was doing when I originally connected my strings to my pixie 16, he may be bald. I don't know how many times I disconnected everything and started over again. Each time with a different result. Some lights that worked previously later didn't and so on and so forth.

Until I spent hours going through every little post and somebody mentioned the reverse screw direction to get them to connect.

Did that the first try and my house was like daylight.

JR

[George Simmons]

6 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Change your "righty, tighty", "Lefty Loosy" way of thinking. Screw terminals all the way down (Right) Clockwise, insert your wire and then Screw them Lefty. Should work! Ask me how I know this.

JR

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

5 hours ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single, preferably consecutive, unit ID.

Edited April 3, 2017 by George Simmons

[dibblejr]

2 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single unit ID.

First, it is from my experience, first hand. (As I typed it)

Secondly, it was an issue that others had and addressed it, hence the other comment I made "I searched and found the answer posted in a thread".

Over the past 30 days or so I shared this experience with others who had similar problems to the OP here and each of them said it corrected their problem as well.

I believe TheDucks was one of those that experienced the problem as well and when I posted I his thread, it resolved his problem.

And as far as I know I didn't buy off spec pixie16's. Off spec or not they work and work in the opposite direction. I have 2 both the same. None of the posts I read blamed LOR, we resolved the issue.

 

JR

[dibblejr]

19 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.  From a logical perspective it would be incredibly stupid to stock both. (Unless maybe LOR received some "off-spec" parts - although I've never known LOR to purchase or sell products from the bottom of the barrel.)  In my entire pixel/dumb RGB controller experience from all the mfgrs whose products I own I've not seen or heard of ANY pixel/node wire connectors that work lefty-tighty.

 

That is correct.  Each port on Pixie 4,8,16 (and PixCon16) all use a single, preferably consecutive, unit ID.

I believe this is where I first discovered the problem I was having. After reading that, I reversed my way of thinking and my issues were gone along with the others I have informed. About the 5th or 6th post

 

[George Simmons]

I wasn't asking what you or others did - I was asking where your info came from.  Did it come directly from LOR?

Just because something sometimes works, doesn't mean it's correct, or even the preferable way to do it.

 

[dibblejr]

2 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

I wasn't asking what you or others did - I was asking where your info came from.  Did it come directly from LOR?

Just because something sometimes works, doesn't mean it's correct, or even the preferable way to do it.

 

I told you "first hand knowledge". And that is actually the best knowledge, not hearsay or third party. Actually experiencing it.

You asked and I replied.

In my and the others it was the only way it worked. Come on George we all cant be dummies. Bad batch whatever, it is what it is. No one whined or sniffled about it. We figured it out and moved on. Perhaps the member that wrote that in Nov received the info from LOR since he had at least 2 tickets submitted.

I only know that, his reply solved my problem and my passing that little advice on has solved others problems.

That's all I can tell you. I cant tell you who or where mfg'd the part, I could actually care less. I got my units working and only after finding that one little snippet inside a post.

Its been running since about mid Feb 24 hours a day without problems. It has been moved, unplugged, modified as I built the units from the card. No problems just as well with my cheapo pixels. Not a single problem.

JR

[default]

6 hours ago, Mr. P said:

Doesn't each port on a Pixie use a unit ID so a Pixie 16 would use 16 unit ID's. A Basic Plus license only lets you use four unit ID's.

This is correct. The OP will have to upgrade his license level. The OP could upgrade to an Advanced License, but will miss out on the Enhanced LOR Protocol and the ability to use Intensity files and Pixel Editor currently. I'd recommend the the OP upgrade to a PRO license that way they are covered for now and be will be available to use whatever tools that are due out with S5.

Depending on the level of sequencing, you can really push a lot of data to a Pixie16. If the OP has the 50 count LED strings, that is 2,400 channels. Personally I run 1 enhanced network per Pixie16 and lag is not an issue.

To the OP, it would be handy to know what version of software you are running, Basic Plus tells us your channel count but doesn't clue us in on other issue you may be facing. Right after the Pixie's came out there was a software update to ver 4.3.16 (I think) it was suppose to make it easier to add the Pixies to Sequence Editor, however it had a bug that didn't add them properly, LOR soon after released Ver 4.3.18 which DOES add the Pixies properly to SE. Make sure when/if you update your license you also update to the latest version of the LOR software.

When you assign a Unit ID to the Pixie16, remember you will be using 16 unit ID's. For instance if you were to assign the Pixie16 a Unit ID of 01, that would mean the first port (string) is Unit ID 01. Once the first Unit ID is assigned, each port from there on - the Unit ID will automatically increase by 1.

Example
Unit ID 1  = Port 1 (1rst string)
Unit ID 2  = Port 2 (2nd string)
Unit ID 3  = Port 3 (3rd string)
Unit ID 4  = Port 4 (4th string)
Unit ID 5  = Port 5 (5th string)
and so on until you reach Port 16 (16 string)

When you get to a point of adding the Pixie16 to Sequence Editor, this is an example of the way my Pixie16 is configured in SE. (note my first Unit ID is 9) Each string after the first is increased by 1 Unit ID #

If you wanted to make sure all your ports and lights work, download the latest version of software ver 4.3.18. Open the Hardware Editor and click the Pixel Console Button. Plug in all your strings to the Pixie16. Change the Unit ID # to the Port (string) you want to test. Move the sliders around to see the results on the ports (strings) with your LEDs.

** Oops after I wrote this I realized that I am using ver 4.3.18 Pro and these features are available to me, they *might not* be available to you until you upgrade. ** It may still work for you, I am not sure. Give it a try.

 

Hope all this makes sense.

Alan...

Edited April 3, 2017 by default

[George Simmons]

 

22 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

I told you "first hand knowledge". And that is actually the best knowledge, not hearsay or third party. Actually experiencing it.

You asked and I replied.

In my and the others it was the only way it worked. Come on George we all cant be dummies. Bad batch whatever, it is what it is. No one whined or sniffled about it. We figured it out and moved on. Perhaps the member that wrote that in Nov received the info from LOR since he had at least 2 tickets submitted.

I only know that, his reply solved my problem and my passing that little advice on has solved others problems.

That's all I can tell you. I cant tell you who or where mfg'd the part, I could actually care less. I got my units working and only after finding that one little snippet inside a post.

Its been running since about mid Feb 24 hours a day without problems. It has been moved, unplugged, modified as I built the units from the card. No problems just as well with my cheapo pixels. Not a single problem.

JR

I didn't ask you any of that.  I asked if your info came from LOR.  A simple YES or NO would have been just fine.

I've been around here for about 8 years longer than you have.  That doesn't mean I know everything.  Far from it.  But it means I've seen plenty more than you have in this hobby.  And that definitely includes advice givers who give incorrect and/or bad advice.  Sometimes it's harmless - amusing, ridiculous or even absurd - and sometimes it's potentially dangerous or injurious to humans and/or equipment.  This is one of those times. 

Until someone who KNOWS differently comes along and informs me otherwise, I'll continue to call out recommendations for people to do things just the opposite of how they're supposed/intended/designed to be done.  Especially when it comes to electricity.  Seems easier and safer to just do it right.  If you don't know how, learn.  It's not rocket science - it's a simple mechanical connection using a part designed and engineered to be used in a specific way.  I'm not saying "your" way isn't effective.  What I'm saying is that it might not be safe.  Just because people choose to follow your advice doesn't mean it's a smart choice.

Anyone who has problems understanding how to correctly use there connectors, please contact me and I'll make sure you know how to do it correctly and safely.

Edited April 3, 2017 by George Simmons

[dibblejr]

10 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

 

I didn't ask you any of that.  I asked if your info came from LOR.  A simple YES or NO would have been just fine.

I've been around here for about 8 years longer than you have.  That doesn't mean I know everything.  Far from it.  But it means I've seen plenty more than you have in this hobby.  And that definitely includes advice givers who give incorrect and/or bad advice.  Sometimes it's harmless - amusing, ridiculous or even absurd - and sometimes it's potentially dangerous or injurious to humans and/or equipment.  This is one of those times. 

Until someone who KNOWS differently comes along and informs me otherwise, I'll continue to call out recommendations for people to do things just the opposite of how they're supposed/intended/designed to be done.  Especially when it comes to electricity.  Seems easier and safer to just do it right.  If you don't know how, learn.  It's not rocket science - it's a simple mechanical connection using a part designed and engineered to be used in a specific way.  I'm not saying "your" way isn't effective.  What I'm saying is that it might not be safe.  Just because people choose to follow your advice doesn't mean it's a smart choice.

Anyone who has problems understanding how to correctly use there connectors, please contact me and I'll make sure you know how to do it correctly and safely.

George, last I knew "i do not owe you anything" if you'd like to take this personal attacks off line then send them through PM's. Last I knew this is a "community forum" where generosity, help and for the most part kindness should prevail.

Yes, you may have joined the LOR forums much longer than I have. Last I knew, I've only known you since I joined here, you know nothing and I reiterate nothing about me or my background. Yet you continue to attack those of us who wish to assist others, totally uncalled for.

Some of us pay for our stuff, receive it and do what it takes to make it work. I will continue to share my hands-on knowledge from my "experiences" when I can. You said "you do not have a pixie16". SInce you are a Beta Tester perhaps LOR can front you one or a hundred of them, but some of us buy everything we own.

~JR

 

[k6ccc]

23 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

Okay, I'll ask.  Where is this coming from?  Did someone from LOR tell you this directly or is it from some other source?  I do not have a Pixie16 yet, but I have other LOR pixel controllers (Pixie 4 & 8, PixCon16) that use the exact same green pixel connectors and every single one of those works righty-tighty.

It's because he is insisting on putting on the connectors incorrectly.  For all the examples I cite, you are looking at the wiring side of the connector with the screws at the top.

I'm going to start by saying that there are a number of different designs for wire clamp connectors.  In some the wire goes above the movable clamp and in some it goes below, however in every one I have ever seen, when the wire is properly installed, the clamp is tightened by turning the screw clockwise.  In some designs where the wire goes below the clamp, there is no possibility of putting the wire above the clamp and in some designs there is that possibility.  For example, I'm looking at the connectors that goes on the adapter for a ServoDog for the inputs and outputs.  The movable clamp is at an angle and is fixed at the front end to the top of the slot.  The back end of the clamp is forced down by the screw.  I personally don't like that design because the screw does not pull the clamp back up with loosened - you generally have to insert a small probe into the the slot to force the clamp back up in order to insert another wire.

This photo is looking at the connector that is from SanDevices - which I understand is the same connector that comes with the Pixie controllers.  Looking at the wiring side of the connector with the screws at the top, the wire should go above the movable clamp.  The left and right connectors are fully tightened and the position to the left of the of the wire is fully loosened.  The one with the wire is properly inserted (other than being WAY too much insulation removed)

Same connector from a different angle:

 

  If you look carefully, if you will see that is no metal contact at the bottom of the left hand connector.  If you attempt to clamp the wire between the bottom of the slot and the movable clamp, you will be clamping the wire to the plastic and depending on the clamp for your electrical connection.  Just for grins, I inserted a wire below the clamp and tightened the screw by turning counter-clockwise.  The wire was held in place, but not tightly, and the screw backed out of the top of the connector rather than clamp tighter.

So the summary is that if you are putting the wire into a clamp such that you have to turn the screw counter-clockwise (or left if you prefer), you are likely putting it in wrong.

[George Simmons]

Thanks Jim.  That post should be pinned to the top of a couple different forum categories here.

[dibblejr]

All I can say is, mine work. Every one of them and not until I followed the aforementioned Nov 2016 post. Other threads where I shared that knowledge in some cases there were LOR staff in the thread and none of them stated anything, positive or negative.

Anyways mine is from first hand knowledge with 2 Pixie16's in my hands. Both purchased at the same time. Hey maybe someone can find out when the others purchased theirs, maybe it was a bad batch. Somewhere I read something about I think some European connectors working like this. But its all irrelevant because, mine are working. And I only pass along what my experiences are. I didn't contact LOR for it was the holiday season and I resolved the issue after reading for several hours.

Jim- yes the bottom plate draws up. I attempted to see if I could hold them down but there was no way. That was my observation as I screwed the screws counterclockwise.

BLUF- it worked and only worked this way. Wrong or right, it worked.