Mr. P Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 Opening night tonight and my 16 ribbon tree totally failed during the 18th song. Everything was running fine for about 90 minutes then the entire tree started to flicker and each ribbon one by one started to go dark, I couldn't believe it. Everything else is working fine so I will finish the show and I will be troubleshooting and rebuilding toorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 BUMMER!!! What type of ribbons and controller? Did something happen when the failures started? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 8 minutes ago, Mr. P said: Opening night tonight and my 16 ribbon tree totally failed during the 18th song. Everything was running fine for about 90 minutes then the entire tree started to flicker and each ribbon one by one started to go dark, I couldn't believe it. Everything else is working fine so I will finish the show and I will be troubleshooting and rebuilding toorrow. Had that happen to half my ribbons during Halloween, got HC to replace them because they were still under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 2, 2017 Author Share Posted December 2, 2017 1 minute ago, k6ccc said: BUMMER!!! What type of ribbons and controller? Did something happen when the failures started? Alphapix16 with two power supplies and ws2811 ribbons. Been in use the last four years and tested perfect the other day but only ran about six songs thru. I unplugged it and kept the show going and will test in the morning. I have enough stuff to totally rebuild another tree if I have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 That sucks! Hope you can either get it working, or rebuild whatever needs it. If I were to make a guess, my first shot would be the controller. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DisneyMatt10 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 Now that you mention it... I just had one of my mini trees fail tonight. Like, these HC ribbons aren't that old, and this is their first season out. They shouldn't be failing already. Hope you got yours fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 10 hours ago, DisneyMatt10 said: Now that you mention it... I just had one of my mini trees fail tonight. Like, these HC ribbons aren't that old, and this is their first season out. They shouldn't be failing already. Hope you got yours fixed. Mine lasted 9 months but they did get replaced under warranty. Have you check the fuses on the AlphaPix? I had three go out last year, replaced and good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 2, 2017 Author Share Posted December 2, 2017 *UPDATE* Well I figured out what happened, the ribbons and fuses were good but the pixel controll chips blew. Each chip controls four channels so now I have to find where I can get replacements. The chips are long black rectangular chips with 16 pins and just pop out no soldering. I had a backup 16 port controller so I wired in the backup controller and the tree is back up and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 If the chips have part numbers, you can likely get replacements from either: https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/homepage https://www.mouser.com/ Neither has a minimum, and shipping is unreasonable for small orders. That would likely be easier than dealing with HC... The big question is WHY did those chips blow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 2, 2017 Author Share Posted December 2, 2017 I have no idea what happened. I was outside watching the entire first set play through, 24 songs, so I could see any discrepancies in my programming, you know little flashes here and that that aren't supposed to be there. When the 18 song was about half way through the entire tree started flashing and the ribbons started dropping like flies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 16 minutes ago, Mr. P said: I have no idea what happened. I was outside watching the entire first set play through, 24 songs, so I could see any discrepancies in my programming, you know little flashes here and that that aren't supposed to be there. When the 18 song was about half way through the entire tree started flashing and the ribbons started dropping like flies. Check your Power supply voltage. Now, before you blow a controller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 2, 2017 Author Share Posted December 2, 2017 21 minutes ago, TheDucks said: Check your Power supply voltage. Now, before you blow a controller I always check them both are 11.8 and 11.9v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmith37064 Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 (edited) 5 hours ago, Mr. P said: *UPDATE* Well I figured out what happened, the ribbons and fuses were good but the pixel controll chips blew. Each chip controls four channels so now I have to find where I can get replacements. The chips are long black rectangular chips with 16 pins and just pop out no soldering. I had a backup 16 port controller so I wired in the backup controller and the tree is back up and running. Mr P... Contact Dave with HolidayCoro. He has them for sale on the site. http://www.holidaycoro.com/product-p/625.htm I ordered some about 6 months ago just to have some. Edited December 3, 2017 by gsmith37064 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DisneyMatt10 Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 20 hours ago, Mr. P said: *UPDATE* Well I figured out what happened, the ribbons and fuses were good but the pixel controll chips blew. Each chip controls four channels so now I have to find where I can get replacements. The chips are long black rectangular chips with 16 pins and just pop out no soldering. I had a backup 16 port controller so I wired in the backup controller and the tree is back up and running. We ordered some of those from Holiday Coro and they were delivered in 2 days!! Hope you get what you are needing, but glad you found the issue and it isn't anything super major, or expensive!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyintheworld Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 On December 2, 2017 at 5:49 PM, Mr. P said: I have no idea what happened. I was outside watching the entire first set play through, 24 songs, so I could see any discrepancies in my programming, you know little flashes here and that that aren't supposed to be there. When the 18 song was about half way through the entire tree started flashing and the ribbons started dropping like flies. How to did you troubleshoot back to those chips? One of my three alphapix16s just lost 4 outputs. I was able to reorganize one of my other 16s to handle the load but don't know why I lost those 4 ports. All I could find is a mention that a shorted pixel string may cause those chips to blow. But those strings are running fine on the other controller for 4 days now so I don't think that is the cause... I don't have any blown fuses, the power supply checks out ok, but I'm not sure how to test those chips, or should I just assume that is the issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 20 minutes ago, whyintheworld said: How to did you troubleshoot back to those chips? One of my three alphapix16s just lost 4 outputs. I was able to reorganize one of my other 16s to handle the load but don't know why I lost those 4 ports. All I could find is a mention that a shorted pixel string may cause those chips to blow. But those strings are running fine on the other controller for 4 days now so I don't think that is the cause... I don't have any blown fuses, the power supply checks out ok, but I'm not sure how to test those chips, or should I just assume that is the issue? Just swap the chip with another chip. Example: if the chip that controls channels 5-8 went out swap the chip for the one on channels 1-4 and see if 1-4 quits working and 5-8 starts working again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyintheworld Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Thanks I'll try that next. Any idea what caused them to fail in your setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenie95125 Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 On 12/2/2017 at 12:30 PM, k6ccc said: If the chips have part numbers, you can likely get replacements from either: https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/homepage https://www.mouser.com/ Neither has a minimum, and shipping is unreasonable for small orders. That would likely be easier than dealing with HC... The big question is WHY did those chips blow? On 12/2/2017 at 2:49 PM, Mr. P said: I have no idea what happened. I was outside watching the entire first set play through, 24 songs, so I could see any discrepancies in my programming, you know little flashes here and that that aren't supposed to be there. When the 18 song was about half way through the entire tree started flashing and the ribbons started dropping like flies. Yeah, the alphapix seems to be very fragile when it comes to those chips. I had an alphapix, and replacing those chips from HC got expensive with shipping and all. I finally did exactly what Jim said to do above, and got 8 or 10 at a fraction of what HC sells them for. Just get the part number off the chip and search online for it. It was a couple of years ago, so I don't remember which outfit I got them from. I sold the spares with the controller, otherwise I'd give them to you. FWIW, I've never blown an output chip on any of my sandevice controllers. --Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenie95125 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 I found my source for those chips: They are Texas Instrument chips SN74HC245N. I got them from Jameco, https://www.jameco.com/z/SN74HC245N-Texas-Instruments-Bus-Transceiver-Single-8-Channel-3-Straight-20-Pin-PDIP_251432.html . From Jameco they are only 35 cents per chip. From HC they are $4.99 per chip. The only hitch is that you need to order 10 from Jameco, but still way cheaper than HC. -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 1 hour ago, greenie95125 said: I found my source for those chips: They are Texas Instrument chips SN74HC245N. I got them from Jameco, https://www.jameco.com/z/SN74HC245N-Texas-Instruments-Bus-Transceiver-Single-8-Channel-3-Straight-20-Pin-PDIP_251432.html . From Jameco they are only 35 cents per chip. From HC they are $4.99 per chip. The only hitch is that you need to order 10 from Jameco, but still way cheaper than HC. -Mike Nice thing about Jameco, is you can just pop in for a will call (just don't browse the display case ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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