rcktpwrd Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 I have a dedicated netbook type laptop for running our show, it is running Windows 10. Before last show season I did a clean install of Win 10 to wipe everything from the computer and have just the basic operating system and no additional junk on there, it worked great. I pulled it out of storage yesterday to check for updates to Win 10 and to also update the LOR software. There was a large update to Windows 10, now it's version 1703 also called Creator. I also updated LOR to version 4.3.24. Earlier this year I rewired our controllers to one power cord instead of two. I had also built some cat5 cables that I wanted to test out. Today I went out to the workshop/garage and connected all six of our controllers together and to the computer to verify that everything is operational. I am happy to report everything seems to be functioning properly as of now... I still need to connect some lights to every output and verify the controllers are going to do what they are supposed to do, I no doubt they will all be 100% but you never know... Hardware Utility: Testing station: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Always nice when it all works! I have not started testing hardware yet, but a bunch of mine is used year round for my landscape lighting, so I know they are working. The one E1.31 controller for the lights on the eves will get powered up in mid October to use for Halloween. The one for the pixel tree will get powered up next weekend to test my newly rebuilt pixel star. Everything else won't be powered up until early November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I have my test display, ccr tree and 4 singing faces set up in the back yard for a little while now. Tree since just before 4th of July. I finally have time to get all of my pixels in my matrix and am almost done terminating the cables to my controller. Had everything working great from my computer and then I decided to move stuff so I could see the ccr tree from a farther distance. Old distance 50', not the best for viewing. New distance 150- 300'. Caused my own 2 day problem. Didn't have any more long runs of cat5 so decided to connect it to the mini director for testing. Needless to say it didn't work "correctly" for 2 days. Opened a HD ticket tried everything. Created a new channel config resetting the 3 units ID's. It seems with the pixie and mini director the only SD card that will work is the Kingston class 4 or better. Although all of my PNY cards have never failed with the mini director and AC controllers. After attempting everything HD said "try Kingston" replaced the SD card after finally finding one 30 miles away, instant mini director. After that I attempted to disconnect and run off the show computer. Didn't work.. Reopened my ticket and checked everything to ensure all was still good within my hardware and SE. Was busy for a day so no progress. Fast forward to Saturday morning. All I did was go out and get prepared to troubleshoot some more. Turned power on instant mini director, that was good but expected. Disconnected and connected to show computer, it also worked. Nothing else changed so now I will never know what the issue was. That freed up yesterday and today to work on the matrix. Yes, it is great when it all come together but can get frustrating when it doesn't especially in situations such as mine where no changes were made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcktpwrd Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 (edited) working on more stuff... Yesterday and today I built more rectifiers: Here are 7 completed rectifier assemblies: Edited August 28, 2017 by rcktpwrd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcktpwrd Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 My wife and I redid this prop a couple of weeks ago: first pic is with the light in the garage on, second pic is with the lights off both as taken with my cell phone. It's about 8 feet tall and has 118 bulbs in it! When she bought it last year it had incandescent C9 bulbs in it and it barely worked. I calculated that the incans drew about 7.5 amps! No wonder all the 5 amp fuses were blown and the plugs were melted!?!?! We changed them to C9 led's in red and white. I calculated that the led's draw about 0.43 amps! No plans this year to sequence the stripes but it may happen in the next few years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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