PIXIE16 Crazy Crazy Events

[c7williams]

Hello All

I have had a crazy issue tonight and absolutely nothing makes sense. I will try to provide the most information I can. I have been doing light shows for 8 years now and this is my 2nd year with pixels. 

 

So currently I have 4 CTB16s, 6 PIXIE16s, 4 PIXIE2s, 4 50Watt Floods. 

 

Currently running 2 networks. One is COM 3 Regular. The second is COM4 AUXA Enhanced. Both using the appropriate adapters. (More enhanced networks to be added, 3 pixie16s will be used for my mega tree... will add those once I have it set up) 

 

I ran all my cabling and installed my controllers a week and a half ago and have been setting up lights ever since. 

 

Before I go outside I have a Setup Sequence running in S5 sequencer via the control lights option that simply has everything ON. 

 

Everything was going great until tonight. I went to put some pixels on a tree and they didn’t work. They didn’t work because I missed running the cat cable to that pixie16 (new controller this year(pre assembled from LOR) as well as 4 others)). I wired it in now pushing my Pixie2 to 3rd in my daisy chain and making this pixie16 2nd in my AUX A enhanced daisy chain. Hello

Still... no dice... the Red LED light was not illuminated but the green led was on. Messed with it for a bit. Swapped extension cords and cat cables and noting. Meanwhile all controller before and after this pixie16 were working fine. I reset the controller and boom the red LED came to life and all was good. Sweet. All fixed... as I thought but I wanted it back on my original extension cord... swapped it and same issue, no red led light. Not solid nor flashing. Just not on. I put it back to the other cord and no red light. Reset again and boom all good. I said okay whatever. It’s happy. It can stay on that cord. 

 

Went inside and went down and unchecked “control lights”. Lights went off and off I went until I hear “hey your lights are on”. Making 0 sense as there was no way they were on. No schedule enabled and control lights were off. One flood light (unit before pixie16) was flashing red rapidly. Went to my computer and all was fine. Shut off computer and was still flashing but in the meantime it changed to flashing green then flashing yellow. I unplugged it and plugged back in. All was good. Until I went downstairs and turned on my Setup Sequence. Where all CTB16s were on and working, the Pixie16 and everything to the right in the daisy chain were not working and that flood was flashing red again. Shut off the sequence and everything was good. 

 

I unplug the pixie16 and the flood stopped flashing and the other 3 floods came to life as well as the other 2 pixie16s. I plugged it back in and nothing from the AUXA network turned on. 

 

Went into hardware utility and now the red dongle is apparently on COM5 (not 4). No idea how that’s possible as nothing changed. So okay. I changed that in network settings. Now everything works including the pixie16. Until about 45 seconds in when the blinking flood and won’t come on, that pixie16 stops working while everything after the pixie16 in the chain remains working. 

 

I unplug that pixie16 and everything is fine again. 

 

This process repeats several times but changes events. Every time I plugged power back into that pixie16 crazy stuff happened. Everytime I unplugged every thing was normal. The crazy events rarely were the same.

 

Please note when the pixie16 decides to work it takes about 20-45 seconds for the red led to turn on and to turn on any pixels. Where my other pixie16s take 2-3 seconds to startup and control the pixels  

 

So I’m absolutely lost. Tomorrow I am going to swap out that pixie16 and see what happens. 

 

Any help is appreciated. 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by c7williams

[TheDucks]

Windows identifies devices USB devices and tries to put them back when reattached.  Something else may have grabbed COM4 at some previous time (COM3 and 4 were traditional Serial/Modem ports)

Check the applied voltage on the bank inputs  marked LOGIC POWER

There should be NO JP5  (factory mode)

Check that there is NO JP4 (there should only be ONE per network and that on the LAST controller in the chain)  2nd Gen Pixies.

You might also pull JP2 (accessory power. 💡 park unused jumper on a single pin, so they don't get lost

Check the RJ45 jacks for bent pins on that Pixie. (not high on my list since you said further along units will function)

 

[c7williams]

4 hours ago, TheDucks said:

Windows identifies devices USB devices and tries to put them back when reattached.  Something else may have grabbed COM4 at some previous time (COM3 and 4 were traditional Serial/Modem ports)

Check the applied voltage on the bank inputs  marked LOGIC POWER

There should be NO JP5  (factory mode)

Check that there is NO JP4 (there should only be ONE per network and that on the LAST controller in the chain)  2nd Gen Pixies.

You might also pull JP2 (accessory power. 💡 park unused jumper on a single pin, so they don't get lost

Check the RJ45 jacks for bent pins on that Pixie. (not high on my list since you said further along units will function)

 

I tried to check the input voltage last night but I couldn’t see the red switch as the board was on top of it. 
 

there is no JP5 on there. 
 

JP4... idk about that one. All my pixie16s are the latest generation. There should only be one JP4 on the network and it should be on the last controller in the chain? 
 

Why pull JP2?

 

jacks are all good. 

[dibblejr]

6 hours ago, TheDucks said:

Windows identifies devices USB devices and tries to put them back when reattached.  Something else may have grabbed COM4 at some previous time (COM3 and 4 were traditional Serial/Modem ports)

Check the applied voltage on the bank inputs  marked LOGIC POWER

There should be NO JP5  (factory mode)

Check that there is NO JP4 (there should only be ONE per network and that on the LAST controller in the chain)  2nd Gen Pixies.

You might also pull JP2 (accessory power. 💡 park unused jumper on a single pin, so they don't get lost

Check the RJ45 jacks for bent pins on that Pixie. (not high on my list since you said further along units will function)

 

He grabbed his own com4 by hitting the auto configure button. So that cause was his own.

I advised him at midnight last night to place a help desk ticket, contact LOR once he tries to better isolate the problem by switching that controller with one of his known working controllers.

If he gets the same results- its not the controller. If he gets a dif result it would be the controller , however the pixies have been very stable and I have not known of any going back for reasons beyond user error of connecting directly to a com port.

We shall see what his controller switch results are.

A video would be worth a thousand words.

Its def not a JP2 issue, I went through all of that last night. What's gonna happen, more problems. He just needs to do what I advised and if it has the same results let LOR handle it, they are really responsive.

JR

JR

Edited November 9, 2020 by dibblejr

[dibblejr]

3 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

He grabbed his own com4 by hitting the auto configure button. So that cause was his own.

I advised him at midnight last night to place a help desk ticket, contact LOR once he tries to better isolate the problem by switching that controller with one of his known working controllers.

If he gets the same results- its not the controller. If he gets a dif result it would be the controller , however the pixies have been very stable and I have not known of any going back for reasons beyond user error of connecting directly to a com port.

We shall see what his controller switch results are.

A video would be worth a thousand words.

Its def not a JP2 issue, I went through all of that last night. What's gonna happen, more problems. He just needs to do what I advised and if it has the same results let LOR handle it, they are really responsive.

JR

Double post

Edited November 9, 2020 by dibblejr

[c7williams]

58 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

He grabbed his own com4 by hitting the auto configure button. So that cause was his own.

I advised him at midnight last night to place a help desk ticket, contact LOR once he tries to better isolate the problem by switching that controller with one of his known working controllers.

If he gets the same results- its not the controller. If he gets a dif result it would be the controller , however the pixies have been very stable and I have not known of any going back for reasons beyond user error of connecting directly to a com port.

We shall see what his controller switch results are.

A video would be worth a thousand words.

Its def not a JP2 issue, I went through all of that last night. What's gonna happen, more problems. He just needs to do what I advised and if it has the same results let LOR handle it, they are really responsive.

JR

JR

Yes submitted ticket last night. More troubleshooting tonight. 

[Orville]

I've had issues similar, but don't have a pixie16, but I had to go into the device manager and UNINSTALL the RS485 USB Drivers, UNPLUG my LOR Adapters from the USB ports, restart my computer and then RE-INSTALL the RS485 USB Device Drivers again, Plug my adapters back in to the USB ports to get my adapters back on the correct Comm ports again {Comm3 and Comm4}, until I did that, my Comm ports were not correctly identified, even though they were correct in my Network Config software and in the sequences, but HU would always pick up as Comm3 and Comm6.   And Comm6 would ALWAYS have issues and not work.

And I never used Auto-Configure in the HU, had a power glitch one day and it caused my problems.  Don't know how, but it killed off Comm4 and changed it to Comm6.   Did the uninstall and reinstall of the LOR USB RS485 Drivers and all was good once again.

Don't know if that would help the OP or not, but worth a try if it hasn't been tried yet.

 

[TheDucks]

You can assign Com ports TO devices in the Device manager (windows).

This is another reason to Mark your adapters with Com and LOR.

Simply unplug all. add 1 , MAKE WINDOWS RECOGNIZE IT WITH THE PROPER com.

REPEAT by adding another adapter at a time

[c7williams]

6 minutes ago, TheDucks said:

You can assign Com ports TO devices in the Device manager (windows).

This is another reason to Mark your adapters with Com and LOR.

Simply unplug all. add 1 , MAKE WINDOWS RECOGNIZE IT WITH THE PROPER com.

REPEAT by adding another adapter at a time

Thank you. This is not a com port issue though. That was just one odd thing that happened throughout the process. 
 

I’m going to swap out that pixie16 tonight and see if my issue is solved.

[c7williams]

Like JR said. A video is worth 1000 words. Here is a video. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CaiaNOygBaEsiZXjjjobBa6G5M1pGACm/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[c7williams]

Here is another video. This one shows a reset as well as switching between the odd pixie16 and my spare pixie16. So tonight the odd events have disappeared now that the pixie16 is on its own network. 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cP8OmaciCQHGf9s5P4ckhzJ3jNKZUDH8/view?usp=sharing

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, c7williams said:

Here is another video. This one shows a reset as well as switching between the odd pixie16 and my spare pixie16. So tonight the odd events have disappeared now that the pixie16 is on its own network. 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cP8OmaciCQHGf9s5P4ckhzJ3jNKZUDH8/view?usp=sharing

You do know you can test the pixie16 by pressing and releasing the white reset button. If you press it multiple times it will give you multiple patterns

But yes, submit the video to LOR and you may want to call them.

JR

[c7williams]

2 hours ago, dibblejr said:

You do know you can test the pixie16 by pressing and releasing the white reset button. If you press it multiple times it will give you multiple patterns

But yes, submit the video to LOR and you may want to call them.

JR

Yes I knew that, it will not run the test sequences.... I tried multiple times. Yes both videos were submitted on ticket and I’m calling tomorrow 

Edited November 10, 2020 by c7williams

[jfuller8400]

A couple of things to check:

Using a volt-ohm meter, have you measured the voltage at the Pixie's terminals?  Just because the power supply has a green light doesn't necessarily mean it's putting out any power (and that it's outputting the correct voltage).  

Another thing (and this is going to sound really weird) but how is your power supply mounted to your enclosure?  I once had a problem with a CMB24D where stray voltage was being fed back into the control cables.  It turned out that one of the metal mounting screws on the PS had gone too far into the case and was shorting/grounding something out.  Fried two usb adapters before I finally figured that one out.

 

[c7williams]

5 minutes ago, jfuller8400 said:

A couple of things to check:

Using a volt-ohm meter, have you measured the voltage at the Pixie's terminals?  Just because the power supply has a green light doesn't necessarily mean it's putting out any power (and that it's outputting the correct voltage).  

Another thing (and this is going to sound really weird) but how is your power supply mounted to your enclosure?  I once had a problem with a CMB24D where stray voltage was being fed back into the control cables.  It turned out that one of the metal mounting screws on the PS had gone too far into the case and was shorting/grounding something out.  Fried two usb adapters before I finally figured that one out.

 

I will measure the voltage at the terminals later and post the results. 
 

I have no idea how the PSU is mounted. It’s pre assembled from LOR. I didn’t build it myself. So however it’s mounted, it’s mounted the same way for all of the pre assembled pixie16s 

[TheDucks]

2 minutes ago, jfuller8400 said:

A couple of things to check:

Using a volt-ohm meter, have you measured the voltage at the Pixie's terminals?  Just because the power supply has a green light doesn't necessarily mean it's putting out any power (and that it's outputting the correct voltage).  

Another thing (and this is going to sound really weird) but how is your power supply mounted to your enclosure?  I once had a problem with a CMB24D where stray voltage was being fed back into the control cables.  It turned out that one of the metal mounting screws on the PS had gone too far into the case and was shorting/grounding something out.  Fried two usb adapters before I finally figured that one out.

 

I also think that all Lighters should have a VOM (even a cheap, but reliable one).  Digital ones are easier for beginners, but The ANALOG ones can show things happening that digitals wont.

The green LED threw me for a bit (was Looking at the manual for old and new Pixies).

J I think this was a RTG system.

C7 inspect the RIGHT SIDE  Red and Black terminals at both the Pixie end and the PSU.  Make sure the screws are tight AND on the correct PSU terminals (there may be unused ones and the lead got landed incorrectly)

[c7williams]

Just now, TheDucks said:

I also think that all Lighters should have a VOM (even a cheap, but reliable one).  Digital ones are easier for beginners, but The ANALOG ones can show things happening that digitals wont.

The green LED threw me for a bit (was Looking at the manual for old and new Pixies).

J I think this was a RTG system.

C7 inspect the RIGHT SIDE  Red and Black terminals at both the Pixie end and the PSU.  Make sure the screws are tight AND on the correct PSU terminals (there may be unused ones and the lead got landed incorrectly)

I will check that tonight as well. Thank you. 

[c7williams]

Just got off the phone with John from LOR. He develops the hardware for the pixie16s. He suggested I remove the comm chip and see if that gets that red indicator light to flash. 

[dibblejr]

37 minutes ago, c7williams said:

Just got off the phone with John from LOR. He develops the hardware for the pixie16s. He suggested I remove the comm chip and see if that gets that red indicator light to flash. 

This will be a great find if it works, although this is the first time I have seen or heard of this problem. Please keep us up to date.

JR

[c7williams]

In this video you will see the comm chip removed with no action form the red led as well as a reset preformed

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/161WSSCKREeID2cIfx4yhtrIO_qMW5_Yo/view?usp=sharing