12V CCR Questions and help please

[Orville]

I acquired some older{?} CCR Ribbons, these ribbons only have 78 CCR pixels on them, the ribbon starts out with 2 pixels, then an IC and 3 pixels and continues like this until near the end of the ribbon, then there is 1 IC and 1 pixel that ends the CCR.  I know they are 12V as the beginning of the ribbon shows 12V, DN and GND.  Can't see any numbers on the IC, so have no idea what they are.

What I am trying to determine is if these are "dumb" or "smart" RGB ribbons, as well as how to set them up using a Pixie16D controller.   Main question is how many pixels does each IC actually control on the ribbon and how many channels do they use?

I was given these, and I've tried testing them {via the HU}, but I get incorrect colors, if I say Red, it may light up Blue, Green may light up Red.  These are LOR CCR's as far as I am aware, so I'd think they would be Red, Green, Blue like all their other RGB lights and Pixels are.

So I'm not sure if the HU is seeing them incorrectly, the Pixie16D is set up on all channels as RGB color scheme.

And when I try lighting them I get a variation of how many pixels may light up on the ribbon, and in the wrong location, on the CCR.  I may get 4 to 6 or more lights on near the end or in or near the center of the ribbon, but not at the beginning of the CCR.

I'm thinking these may have been cut down, but can't say for certain on that.

Anyone have any suggestions or advice on how I should set these 12V CCR ribbons up using a Pixie16D?   I'm at a loss with getting these set up and working properly.  Have created a test sequence to test them in the SE {4.4.16 PRO}, but I have been unsuccessful in getting them to light via the SE, but can get then too light in the HU, just not in the correct order  or color unless I change the RGB to BRG, then the colors may be correct, but still not light up in the correct order.

Any guidance or help in getting these to function correctly would be greatly appreciated.  The CCR's don't seem to be as Plug and Play as the RGB Bullet Nodes or C9 RGB Pixel Bulbs.   Even tried to use them on the Pixie2D's to test, and they wouldn't work with those controllers at all, but then, those controllers are for the LOR Singing Christmas Trees and might not work with the CCR ribbons.

Been playing around with these for quite some time, but just can't seem to get how they are set up to function, like for a chase, or anything else, because they just don't light up following the lights down the ribbon, when doing a chase, they are turning on random segments all over the ribbon.  And every CCR ribbon I have is in the same set-up as defined above.

I was going to try and possibly use these in my 2021 Christmas set-up, but I just can't get them configured properly.

Thanks in advance for any help with the CCR ribbons I have.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Orville

[Don]

3 hours ago, Orville said:

I acquired some older{?} CCR Ribbons, these ribbons only have 78 CCR pixels on them,

 

3 hours ago, Orville said:

These are LOR CCR's as far as I am aware

LOR hasn't released a CCR ribbon with 78 pixels on them.

[k6ccc]

5 hours ago, Orville said:

I acquired some older{?} CCR Ribbons, these ribbons only have 78 CCR pixels on them, the ribbon starts out with 2 pixels, then an IC and 3 pixels and continues like this until near the end of the ribbon, then there is 1 IC and 1 pixel that ends the CCR.  I know they are 12V as the beginning of the ribbon shows 12V, DN and GND.  Can't see any numbers on the IC, so have no idea what they are.

What I am trying to determine is if these are "dumb" or "smart" RGB ribbons

Since the labels show power ground and DN (very likely DIN - Data In), they are smart pixel strips.  If they were dumb, they would normally have four wires when are power, Red, Green, and Blue.  Also dumb ribbons don't have ICs on them.

As for the count, you should see cutting locations every three LEDs.  Between each cutting point, there are three RGB LEDs and one IC.  From your description, it happens that the IC is physically placed between the 2nd and 3rd LEDs on that particular production run.  The IC (regardless where it is placed) is driving the three LEDs in the same segment between cutting points.  As far as pixel count (from a programming perspective) it's the number of ICs that matters.  Sounds like there are 26 pixels (78 LEDs divided by 3 LEDs per pixel).  That is an odd length so it would sound like they are a custom production run, or longer strips have been cut

5 hours ago, Orville said:

I was given these, and I've tried testing them {via the HU}, but I get incorrect colors, if I say Red, it may light up Blue, Green may light up Red.  These are LOR CCR's as far as I am aware, so I'd think they would be Red, Green, Blue like all their other RGB lights and Pixels are.

Not at all unusual to have pixels that are in a different color order.  Adjust the color order in the Hardware Utility.  My understanding is that all the LOR ribbons are in the RGB color order, so I am going to suspect that these are not LOR.

As for setup, by far the majority of pixels in use today are WS2811 (or related), however not all are - including the early LOR pixels.  Without being able to tell what chip these use, just keep trying the options till you find what works.  You won't damage them by driving them with the wrong data - they just wont work right.  I can't help you much with Pixie setup as I have never used on.

 

 

[Mr. P]

I also doubt they are the older original CCR's as those were LPD6803 and had four wires as they had a separate clock wire.

[Orville]

They do look like they may have been cut/modified, but I can't really tell.  The label is just boldly marked DN on strip at the center wire.  There are a total of 26 IC's on the strip, like stated, no IC at the beginning, just an SMT resistor and a pixel, then another SMT resistor and a pixel, then an SMT resistor, SMT capacitor and another SMT resistor just before the IC, then the IC is followed by 1 pixel and an SMT Resistor, the next 2 Pixels have the SMT resistor preceding them, until the end, IC 48 is only followed by 1 pixel then an SMT resistor, so I'm wondering if the last IC also controls the 1st 2 pixels?

I'm going to try and get a photo of the CCR I have and post it when I can, as I'm not sure if I am reading the way it works via each IC and pixel placement correctly.

Looked at all the IC's and none have any markings on them at all, got out my big magnification work light, and no markings on any of the IC's, so no way to know what they are.

These are white, has a lead in white wire of 6' long and uses the standard LOR 3 pin connector, which is also white.   I know that doesn't necessarily make them an LOR CCR, but that's what I was told they were when I got them.

That's why I was surprised when they weren't lighting up as RGB when connected to a controller, but BRG.   And I've never used CCR's before, so without knowing, kind of puts one at a loss to know how they are set up colorwise or how to program them without any form of documentation for them.

[dibblejr]

2 hours ago, Orville said:

They do look like they may have been cut/modified, but I can't really tell.  The label is just boldly marked DN on strip at the center wire.  There are a total of 26 IC's on the strip, like stated, no IC at the beginning, just an SMT resistor and a pixel, then another SMT resistor and a pixel, then an SMT resistor, SMT capacitor and another SMT resistor just before the IC, then the IC is followed by 1 pixel and an SMT Resistor, the next 2 Pixels have the SMT resistor preceding them, until the end, IC 48 is only followed by 1 pixel then an SMT resistor, so I'm wondering if the last IC also controls the 1st 2 pixels?

I'm going to try and get a photo of the CCR I have and post it when I can, as I'm not sure if I am reading the way it works via each IC and pixel placement correctly.

Looked at all the IC's and none have any markings on them at all, got out my big magnification work light, and no markings on any of the IC's, so no way to know what they are.

These are white, has a lead in white wire of 6' long and uses the standard LOR 3 pin connector, which is also white.   I know that doesn't necessarily make them an LOR CCR, but that's what I was told they were when I got them.

That's why I was surprised when they weren't lighting up as RGB when connected to a controller, but BRG.   And I've never used CCR's before, so without knowing, kind of puts one at a loss to know how they are set up colorwise or how to program them without any form of documentation for them.

Just out of recovery so I will keep this short.

Did you try to set the color order within HU?

If they were dumb nodes the lights would not work at all. At least some I was sent along with a controller to repair. They ended up being dumb nodes that were modifies with two 3 wire pigtail. The person used shrink wrap when he added the pigtails. He thought the 4 th wire was for PI LOL

JR

[TheDucks]

Strips tend to be in groups of 3 per chip (and they are in series for 12V). the first segment is channels 1, 2, 3 (color order as set up), When a color comes on, ALL 3 chips should light (the same)

26 (chips), sure sounds like they were cut down (and to an even count)

[Orville]

On 8/27/2021 at 5:36 PM, dibblejr said:

Just out of recovery so I will keep this short.

Did you try to set the color order within HU?

If they were dumb nodes the lights would not work at all. At least some I was sent along with a controller to repair. They ended up being dumb nodes that were modifies with two 3 wire pigtail. The person used shrink wrap when he added the pigtails. He thought the 4 th wire was for PI LOL

JR

Yes, did that, set them to BRG, but they still did not light up along the strip in sequential order like the pixels you sent with the Pixie16, that is the chase would go down the square nodes correctly with RGB, but not like that with the CCR, I may get the center section to light, then a few near the beginning, then near the end, then the beginning, then somewhere along the middle, then the end.   I've never seen this happen with RGB lights of any kind I've used until these CCR's.  They appear to be connected down the line correctly and they only have 3 wire connections as stated earlier, 12V, DN and GND.  There is no connection for a 4th wire anywhere.   Just no it's an odd way that they seem to function and I can't explain it.   They are set in the HU as triples {the recommended setting}, but I did try the sequential setting, but neither really changed anything in the way they lit up when tested.  So I set it back to the default of triples.

Odd thing id out of all the ribbons I have, none work identically to the other on the same port or if connected to separate ports on the Pixie16, they still light in odd patterns, but not like the square nodes, if I connect them to the same port, they work correctly, it's only the CCR ribbons I have that act very odd in this area.   I've yet to figure out what pattern they use to do a basic chase from the beginning to end of the ribbon.  Each one is randomaly all over the ribbon, and sometimes even the number of pixels that light don't show up in 3's, sometimes I'll have 6 or 12, sometimes all in a  row, other times they could be where one or two are off between the lit ones, but if I light the ribbon for all, all pixels light up on the ribbon, no missing or burned out pixels.   So I'm just not sure whet the issue is with these particular ribbons.   I've never experienced an issue like this one with any other RGB items I have, just these CCR's.

Seems these all have a mind of their own on how they want to work.  I'm totally at a loss for an explanation of it.