HADESWRAITH Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I am so burnt out right now, I should just quit. Last couple years I have amassed 5 controllers (2) Pixie 16's for arches and megatree..(2) 16 Channel CTB for 4 singing trees, and (1) 16 Channel CTB for the yard props..... This year i thought I would add a 24x50 Matrix and LED Ribbon House outline... My first mistake was upgrading my stupid LOR to S5..... I have been on here all day for the last 9 hours now and am at a loss. I have the Alphapix controllers that came with all the HC Matrix and Ribbons (I will know better going forward to stay away from the DMX gear).... I have set them both up and can operate the channels from my laptop, but i can NOT for the life of me get them to work in S5.... For one thing, I can NOT find "Channel Configuration" anywhere... I have the updated LOR manual, and it is lying to me. It says it is in the "Tools" menu... well not in mine!!!... I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have a procedure drawn up for adding a Alphapix to a LOR network with S5?? I am fairly certain I have everything configured right, I just don't know if I have the "controller" added correctly. I can send pics, just ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 I use regular Alphapix (I assume Evolution is the new series?) and S5, but I found the videos on the HolidayCoro site to be fairly useful even though they are for an older version. It's been a couple of months since I did it, but I'm pretty sure that once I setup the controller itself (through the web interface) I only needed to do the Network Config and add the props in my preview for S5 that referenced the controllers. I have 2 of the 16x50 pixel trees, each with an Alphapix16. When I added the trees in the preview as RGB Pixel Tree 180, I set the Channel section to DMX and the Universe numbers and channels to match what I had setup in Network Configuration DMX tab (be sure to click on "Advanced" button). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 Does anything here look out of whack?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) You can't have two IP addresses on the same controller unless you are using two controllers. Edited November 22, 2019 by Mr. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) I assume you have 2 controllers so that is why there are 2 IP addresses (192.168.0.50 & 192.168.0.51)? Other than that, it looks like I would expect. I am assuming you connected to each controller via the IP so that you know they are set correctly and defined the same Universes in the controller configuration page. For my Alphapix, I have an IP address for each controller and in the controller configuration (web interface) I tell it which port is which universe. So my first Alphapix 16 has Universes 1-16 and my second Alphapix16 has Universes 17-32. We also have 3 new Alphapix4 which will have Universes 33-36, 37-40 and 41-44. Edit: OK - I'm still confused. Don't the Alphapix come in either 4 or 16 output configurations?Why do you have 8 Universes (I assume) on one controller and 12 on another? Edited November 22, 2019 by PJD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 Yes 2 ALPHAPIX controllers......0.50 is for House Outline....0.51 is for the MATRIX.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 The setup for the Matrix is goofy. Yes, 16 total channels, but 4 are not used (Channels 7/8-15/16)... If I could attach a pic I would show it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Take a look at the first pic I posted. Should the Com Listener port and the Protocol port be the same number? And should it be the same for ALL of my E1.31 controllers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 1 minute ago, HADESWRAITH said: Take a look at the first pic I posted. Should the Com Listener port and the Protocol port be the same number? And should it be the same for ALL of my E1.31 controllers? No, comm listener port should be 8837. Why do you have a bunch of ports with Universe 1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 (edited) I'm not sure what you are supposed to do with unused outputs, but my guess would be that they should NOT be left with Universe 1. It might not matter if the controller just sends the info for Universe 1 to all 5 outputs and they just don't do anything, but I don't know if that is what happens or not. Maybe use a couple universe numbers totally out of range that you will never be sending data to. Based on your later pictures, I think there are some problems with the Network config. The .51 Controller should have Universes 1-12, so then the .50 should probably have Universes 13-? (however many outputs you are using on that one.) To keep your life easy, each output should match up to 1 unique universe. Since the pictures shows .51 using 1-12, then the other needs to use different numbers. Do you really have 170 pixels on each output? If yes, are you using power injection - because that is a LOT for a single output? If not, then change the web controller configuration to match your reality. My trees are only 50 per output and the new controllers seem to be doing OK in our testing with 100 pixels, but cannot handle 108 (snowflakes - we are going to have to add power injection to make it work). Edit: Latest picture posted while I was typing. It looks like you have 100 pixels per output and the Prop setup looks good to me other than the Max Channel. I never bother to change that so I don't know if the 300 is OK or not. If you check the box for separate Universe for each string, it numbers everything just fine. Edited November 23, 2019 by PJD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 You are going to confuse yourself in the Network Config. When you add a controller just fill out the universes whether you are using the port or not. This will prevent you from Jumping around in universes if you use those ports in the future. Mark the unused ports as empty but at least they are available in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, Mr. P said: You are going to confuse yourself in the Network Config. When you add a controller just fill out the universes whether you are using the port or not. This will prevent you from Jumping around in universes if you use those ports in the future. Mark the unused ports as empty but at least they are available in the future. I agree with Mr. P. If I was doing this, I would number .51 from 1-16. If you want to keep the matrix as 1-12, number outputs 7-8 & 15-16 as 13-16. The controller doesn't care if they are out of order. (I'm pretty sure - haven't tried it, but I think it was mentioned in one of the videos) Then number controller on .50 as 17-32 even if you are only using 8 outputs (17-24), 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 Sorry those 2 pics should be one... 100 pixels per string (2) 50's tied together and looped back.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 and the goofy numbering was per the Holidaycoro video on the page i bought them off of, but everything on their page is for Xlights and it was confusing me. http://www.holidaycoro.com/1-200-pixel-Matrix-Panel-Kit-p/782.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 The plan is to have these 2 alphapix controllers daisy chained to run the matrix and the house outlines off the LAN line....and then everything else stays on the LOR USB485... I assume that will work off the same laptop.????.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, HADESWRAITH said: The plan is to have these 2 alphapix controllers daisy chained to run the matrix and the house outlines off the LAN line....and then everything else stays on the LOR USB485... I assume that will work off the same laptop.????.. You can't daisy chain an alphapix, unless they came out with something new recently. they each get their own line from a switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 27 minutes ago, Mr. P said: No, comm listener port should be 8837. Why do you have a bunch of ports with Universe 1? I believe you are referring to the "Start Channel" for each individual universe..... Should they not be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, Mr. P said: You can't daisy chain an alphapix, unless they came out with something new recently. they each get their own line from a switch. Mr P is correct about the original Alphapix, but I know the new line (I'm assuming that is the Evolution part) is quite different and is more distributed. I can't answer at all about if they daisychain or not. I am currently running several LOR controllers via the USB dongle (and the ELL to make it wireless) AND my Alphapix from the same laptop. I have the Ethernet port network setup as the 192.160.0.x network for the Alphapix (obviously, that can be anything as long as it is consistent). My wireless on the same computer is setup for the IP I use in my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HADESWRAITH Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 5 minutes ago, Mr. P said: You can't daisy chain an alphapix, unless they came out with something new recently. they each get their own line from a switch. I assumed this was an in/out like my other controllers... is it not??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJD Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, HADESWRAITH said: I assumed this was an in/out like my other controllers... is it not??? I have no idea - I know the new system is VERY different from mine. Probably best to watch one of David's (Holiday Coro) videos about the new features or just send him a message and ask. We've always found him to be pretty helpful in answering straightforward questions. My Alphapix each have a Ethernet cable run to them. My PC is connected to a hub, the hub connects to the 2 Alphapix16. The plan is for another cable to connect to a second hub near the 3 Alphapix4 to feed each of those. That will get tested out this weekend - I hope! Edited November 23, 2019 by PJD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 Presumably it is an ethernet switch, but it MIGHT be worth checking the manual before you just plug it in and hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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