Question about adding smart pixie controller

[phxbabe]

Hi All ! 👋 Happy Summer, I hope everyone has been staying safe and healthy!

I have 2 16 channel (CTB16PC) units that I run my show on.  I use just sting lights LEDs. This year I wanted to add some pixels, maybe just for my jumping arches. Can you tell me exactly what controller I would need to buy and if there is a special adapter I have to get for the Pixel controller to run with my regular light controllers? I have tried to find videos about how to do this, but all i find are either just ones about sting lights (LEDs) or ones just about Pixels.  Is it possible to run both regular lights and RBGs lights?  Its early in the year, so I am hoping someone has a bit of time to help me out 

thank you!

😁

[Mr. P]

Depends on how many arches and how big. A Pixie2 with 100 pixel strings can do four medium size yard arches, two arches per string. Pixels require a high speed network so you will need the red adapter and you are already set with a Pro license. If your two CTB16PC are gen 3 then you can run everything on one high speed network for now until you start expanding.

[TheDucks]

What Mr P said for the most part. Pixie 2 are perfect for isolated (in their own area) props. I see folk go the BIG route (pixie8-16) and try and cover a lot of area

All smart/dumb RGB are low voltage, which means the current (amps) is a bit larger than you deal with for AC. Voltage drop (I*R losses) is thy enemy. Longer wires = voltage drop.

Things you get away with (25' cord) with a string of 50, can cause issues with strings of 100. This is a case of Can Vs Should (best practice)

You want shorter (to the Lights) cords. since the plan is 4 strings of 50 (maybe a real short jump between arches) with the Pixie in the middle of the 4 arches.

A Pixie4 (12V strings) would work, with a longer cord  (`10-15')feeding the outer pair. IMHO going to a Pixie8 or 16 and running even longer cables is not a great plan) OTOH If you have other props CLOSE, Go for the bigger Pixie.

💡 Remember to provide Weather protection to the PSU that comes with a Pixie2. (for all others, you build or buy your own case and PSU.

[Jimehc]

If just adding Arches - you should be able to run the Pixie Controller along the same "Regular" network with your AC Controllers...

If you were to look at any of the LOR sequences - the whole Sequence and both Motion Packs are on a Regular Network

New Microsoft Excel Worksheet.xlsx

[TexasLights]

I went with pixie8s because they can handle enough pixels but not too many and I can spread things around a bit because my display covers a wide area, I now have 6 of them.   Pretty flexible and easy enough to use and economically priced.   With 12V pixels, you can spread them out quite a bit. 

Check out some of my videos in my signature and you can see how i use them. 

But the key point made above, is that to run a single network, your controllers have to be Gen 3 (green led) or else you have to run 2.   I did that for the last few years, but this year updated the remaining AC controllers so I didn't have to run 2 different networks types (I still plan to run them on 2 runs but i can mix them as needed).
 

[TexasLights]

i also created a couple of props that are pretty versatile and use in a couple of different ways 

Spinner arches -  

Circle / Star / Spinner -