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Pixie 8 power supply size


jgcorl

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8 ports times 4A = 32A (with a little headroom. IIRC the string takes 3+ Amps )

You have 2 banks you can split that EVENLY.  You have not added next years extra length (the second 50 nodes per port) into your plans 😛

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3 hours ago, jgcorl said:

Just wondering what a good size power supply is for a pixie 8 controller with 8 CCR II ribbons attached.  I currently am using the one from the LOR site: http://store.lightorama.com/1260waposu.html

350-500 watts. I recommend 350 for pixie 4's, 500 for pixie 8's and at least 750 for pixie16's. That normally should leave some wiggle room if you go over 100 pixels per port for PI.

The only external psu's I have are the ones that come with the LOR RGB 50w floods. I have never seen the size PSU's I need as external PSU's.

JR

Edited by dibblejr
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Well, apparently mine are a bit undersized then!  Would that cause the light show to not run properly?  Like only 1 or so pixels lighting up on the whole strand while the show is running?

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6 minutes ago, jgcorl said:

Well, apparently mine are a bit undersized then!  Would that cause the light show to not run properly?  Like only 1 or so pixels lighting up on the whole strand while the show is running?

Anything is possible when it comes to pixels. Are you sure you have sequence going to the entire sequence and ports. Could be a bad string. Many variables. Take one of the green connedtors off the controller and plug it in to the suspect port, see what happens.

How many pixels are on the port(s)

JR

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5 minutes ago, jgcorl said:

50 pixels on each port (3 LED per pixel for 150 total LED): http://store.lightorama.com/cocoriiic.html

Where do you get your power supplies?  I am googling them and getting a bunch of computer power supplies.

Amazon for 500's. These are power supplies you have to put inside a box, they are not weather proof or resistant. Look up 12V 500 watt switching power supply for ccd cameras. That should get you some Amazon hits.

You can get other sizes there as well

JR

Edited by dibblejr
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Just now, dibblejr said:

Amazon for 500's. These are power supplies you have to put inside a box, they are not weather proof or resistant. Look up 12V 500 watt switching power supply for ccd cameras. That should get you some Amazon hits.

JR

Thanks, this helps out a lot!  Now I just need to figure out how to wire these things up to my box.

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1 minute ago, jgcorl said:

Thanks, this helps out a lot!  Now I just need to figure out how to wire these things up to my box.

They are very easy. If you search I have videos and pics already posted. You will need a plug to connect to the power supply, a couple short sections of wire. 

If you cant find it let me know. Right now I cant link it.

JR

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12 hours ago, dibblejr said:

They are very easy. If you search I have videos and pics already posted. You will need a plug to connect to the power supply, a couple short sections of wire. 

If you cant find it let me know. Right now I cant link it.

JR

So I am not working on my controllers today due to rain outside, but I want to run a few things by you.  I have a 2nd 200W power supply on hand (was powering a pixie 4 controller that just blew up on me - negative and positive terminals arced on me).  Would it be possible to stack those in my box and feed power from the one power supply to the first 4 ports and the 2nd power supply to power the 2nd 4 ports.  I saw someone on a thread saying they did that with a pixie 16 controller.  I ordered a 350W power supply off holidaycoro to run my other pixie 4 controller (the non-fried one).  Looks simple enough to hook it up after I looked through some forums.  Just get some wire from the hardware store and link the positive and negative terminals to the card.  I ordered a power cord with it that doesn't seem like it should be hard to figure out.  

Embarrassingly enough, I realized that my functioning pixie 4 controller is being powered by a 45W power supply, which seems grossly too small now for it, even though I am only using 2 ports on it.  This is a big learning curve for me right now.  Just trying to figure out how to make my lights function.  I am only 2 weeks behind...

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Absolutely.  Just don't block any fans or vent holes (leave some space between if fanless) 1/2 - 1" minimum If you cant hold your hand on the case, it is too HOT for good life span

Arcing is usually triggered by 'cat whiskers'.  Tin wire ends or use ferrels on ALL leads and avoid expensive smoke.

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You can save loads of power by learning to turn down intensity, either in the actual sequence or on the controller. I don't use Pixie controllers so no idea if it lets you turn it down on it. You should never ever need a 700Watt power supply unless you're planning on just driving your electric bill up. BTW even a larger power supply doesn't mean more pixels or lights, the boards are amp limited, period. Almost everyone runs no more than a 350 watt power supply with 12v pixels and injects if needed.

Also as far as rain,snow or whatever goes, it doesn't bother anything as long as your controllers are in weatherproof cases. I never turn my controllers off, they run from November until January, whether they are buried in snow or not. It's been pouring rain here the past few days, I have no issues.

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2 hours ago, TheDucks said:

Absolutely.  Just don't block any fans or vent holes (leave some space between if fanless) 1/2 - 1" minimum If you cant hold your hand on the case, it is too HOT for good life span

Arcing is usually triggered by 'cat whiskers'.  Tin wire ends or use ferrels on ALL leads and avoid expensive smoke.

I missed your post earlier, but I guess you did allude to this in what you said.  I went out and got a bunch of ends for my wires, but didnt have it secured tightly enough.  I will definitely not make this mistake again.   

On  a side note, would a power supply issue like this affect all lights on a network? My light shows have been funky, only like 1 pixel on each strand is playing.  Some effects work, but most dont.  Didnt know if a low power supply would carry over and affect other boxes or not

 

Edited by jgcorl
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1 hour ago, Sully said:

You can save loads of power by learning to turn down intensity...

Do you know if there is a given ratio for this (for example, turning intensity down X% would mean you need X less power supply size)? Also, I just didnt want to open my box in the rain.  It is in the weatherproof case, but didnt want to expose my pixie controller to the rain itself when I open it to mess with it.

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21 minutes ago, jgcorl said:

Do you know if there is a given ratio for this (for example, turning intensity down X% would mean you need X less power supply size)? Also, I just didnt want to open my box in the rain.  It is in the weatherproof case, but didnt want to expose my pixie controller to the rain itself when I open it to mess with it.

Best answer for this is to hook up the actual lights, get out your DVM and measure the current at various settings.  This of course is best done months ago during construction.

 

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2 hours ago, Sully said:

You can save loads of power by learning to turn down intensity, either in the actual sequence or on the controller.

Except when you want that dazzling bright color.  I have one sequence that goes from almost a fully dark yard to every pixel at 100% white in about 100 mSec.  You can see part of that at 32 seconds into this video:

It's impressive as all get out in person - especially now that the pixel tree has four times as many pixels as it did in that video.

2 hours ago, Sully said:

I don't use Pixie controllers so no idea if it lets you turn it down on it.

Pixies do not have that capability.

2 hours ago, Sully said:

You should never ever need a 700Watt power supply unless you're planning on just driving your electric bill up.

Depends on what you are driving.  My current pixel tree and star (2,670 pixels this year - and will be 2870 next year) uses four 350 watt power supplies.  That was enough for this this year ONLY because I have the pixels turned down to 50% in the controllers.  Do the math.  2,670 pixels at 60 mAmp per pixel comes out to about 160 amps.  Granted that for WS2811 pixels, 60 mA per pixel is a hair high - WS2811 pixels are generally between 55 and 60 mA each.  However for this purpose, better to use the high end of the range.

 

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