Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 The wife told me last night that she didn't like our C9 LEDs that were on the perimeter of the house last year. She told me I should just get the "nicer looking" color changing bulbs ( RGB). I immediately jumped for joy as is expected!!! I now have to figure this out before the summer sale is over. I plan on using the CCB strings to line the perimeter of my roof. The question is POWER. LOR Website says Pixie16 Smart Pixel Controller can handle 16 strings of 100 pixels. Saying I connect 16 strings of 100 CCBs, will 1 light o rama power supply connected to each side of the board (2 total) be enough to power all strings? Only experience I have with RGB is a set of 8 floods on a CMB24D. Not much power needed for those. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 A little tip; smart pixels are finicky when it comes to distance and they don't react very well. I would definitely recommend a 16 port controller in a situation where the lights would be close together keeping the runs at a limited distance such as a tree or matrix. However, when decorating a roofline and things like that we are talking much longer runs and you would be better off with a couple smaller controllers so you could spread them around and limit the distance and length of lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 11 minutes ago, Mr. P said: A little tip; smart pixels are finicky when it comes to distance and they don't react very well. I would definitely recommend a 16 port controller in a situation where the lights would be close together keeping the runs at a limited distance such as a tree or matrix. However, when decorating a roofline and things like that we are talking much longer runs and you would be better off with a couple smaller controllers so you could spread them around and limit the distance and length of lights. That makes alot of sense. I'll look into the other smaller controllers. Thanks for the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 11 minutes ago, Morales Home said: That makes alot of sense. I'll look into the other smaller controllers. Thanks for the advice If you would like to stick with LOR I would recommend the Pixie series of controllers. http://store.lightorama.com/pico.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 1 minute ago, Mr. P said: If you would like to stick with LOR I would recommend the Pixie series of controllers. http://store.lightorama.com/pico.html I was looking at the Pixie 4/6 and I don't see any power terminals. Will I have to connect the string directly to the power supplies or am I just not seeing it on the actual board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 1 minute ago, Morales Home said: I was looking at the Pixie 4/6 and I don't see any power terminals. Will I have to connect the string directly to the power supplies or am I just not seeing it on the actual board? In the picture of the Pixie4 the power terminal, V+, V- are on the left. The green blocks for the lights are on the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 2 minutes ago, Morales Home said: I was looking at the Pixie 4/6 and I don't see any power terminals. Will I have to connect the string directly to the power supplies or am I just not seeing it on the actual board? On the Pixie 4 the power is on the left side just above the fuse. On the Pixie 8, the terminals are along the left edge of the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 3 minutes ago, k6ccc said: On the Pixie 4 the power is on the left side just above the fuse. On the Pixie 8, the terminals are along the left edge of the photo. Ok. I see now. Thank you so much. Looks like I'll be ordering a few Pixie 4 controllers. I love this forum. Good place for rookies like myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Just now, Morales Home said: Ok. I see now. Thank you so much. Looks like I'll be ordering a few Pixie 4 controllers. I love this forum. Good place for rookies like myself Keep in mind that each Pixie4 will use four consecutive Unit IDs so make sure your license level can handle them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 3 minutes ago, Morales Home said: I love this forum. Good place for rookies like myself Thank you and you're welcome. We try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 The pixie series are easy to setup and get used to. Yes you will need to purchase power supplies based on your requirements. I have photos here some place while building my pixie 16's. If you find it that can be used for an example however you will not need the huge waterproof enclosures and should be able to get by with the standard cg1500's. I had plenty of help from both Mr P and Jim above with the channel config. You wont have a problem since yours will be unit ID # and channels 1-4 each. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Great advice everyone. Few more questions. 12v or 5v??? Which is easier to work with? Does the brightness differ much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 12v is better for longer runs as it is more forgiving to voltage drop so you can use more pixels before power injecting. General rule; 12v can handle 100 pixels per port before needing power injection, 5v is 50 pixels per port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Remember to add (automotive, blade style) Inline fuse holders. The Pixie4 does not have any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 4 hours ago, Mr. P said: 12v is better for longer runs as it is more forgiving to voltage drop so you can use more pixels before power injecting. General rule; 12v can handle 100 pixels per port before needing power injection, 5v is 50 pixels per port. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 3 hours ago, TheDucks said: Remember to add (automotive, blade style) Inline fuse holders. The Pixie4 does not have any. I'm guessing that goes between power outlet and the board? Wall outlet -- inline fuse -- controller -- pixels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Morales Home said: I'm guessing that goes between power outlet and the board? Wall outlet -- inline fuse -- controller -- pixels? Negative, power outlet to power supply to controller. The Pixie is a 5v or 12v controller, if you plug it into a wall outlet you will definitely release the magic smoke and that is very bad. Edited August 24, 2017 by Mr. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 4 minutes ago, Mr. P said: Negative, power outlet to power supply to controller. The Pixie is a 5v or 12v controller, if you plug it into a wall outlet you will definitely release the magic smoke and that is very bad. LMAO!!! Thanks for the heads up. I see it now. Forgot that you power the board with a power supply. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 On 8/24/2017 at 4:01 PM, Morales Home said: I'm guessing that goes between power outlet and the board? Wall outlet -- inline fuse -- controller -- pixels? No WAY I would use a 4A fuse for the power terminal for each string connector + conn+ - fuse- string (power (red) If yo look at the manual: Pixie 8D and 16D have fuses, but the 4 does not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morales Home Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 17 hours ago, TheDucks said: No WAY I would use a 4A fuse for the power terminal for each string connector + conn+ - fuse- string (power (red) If yo look at the manual: Pixie 8D and 16D have fuses, but the 4 does not Thanks for the help. Much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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