Reassign unit ID any time unit is unplugged

[oneBADDz]

I use a pixie 16 for a simple roof setup ridge setup.  When I keep the pixie powered up, everything works as expected, so I can simply have the computer run a schedule.  

 

However, I have recently decided to use a mini director, and I planned to use a smart outlet to turn power to the pixie on and off on a schedule with the pixie powering the mini director.  

Power it up, no show runs.  I use the hardware director, it can't find the pixie.  I manually assign it a unit ID, then it can find it, I can plug in the director and a show plays. 

It turns out this is an issue with the computer running the show as well.  Any time I unplug the pixie, I have to use the HU to manually assign it a unit ID before I can play a show, run a test with the software, etc.  This persists whether I have all dip switches off, or set to 1 manually.  Is this normal, or is there a way around it?

[Don]

Pixies can be set by DIP switches. Check the docs and make sure you have the DIP switches set to allow you to assign via the Hardware Utility (HWU).

Or set the address via the DIP switches. :)

[oneBADDz]

9 hours ago, Don said:

Pixies can be set by DIP switches. Check the docs and make sure you have the DIP switches set to allow you to assign via the Hardware Utility (HWU).

Or set the address via the DIP switches. :)

Right.  Initially I had all set "off" and everything works fine as long as you never unplug the unit.  Once you unplug it, you power it back up and the hardware utility can not find the pixie anymore unless I set the unit ID to 01 again but selecting "any unit" as the old ID and set the new ID to 01.  

I now have dip switch 1 set to "on" to try to correct that issue, however it persists.  If you cut power to the pixie, HU can not find the unit anymore until I repeat that process.  Nothing changes by setting the dip switches.

Surely I'm missing something?  This issue prevents me from keeping a mini director connected and using an outlet timer to time the show.  When powered back up, the director doesn't start the show.  I can disconnect it, use the HU to assign a unit ID, and then plug the director back in and everything start.  The Pixie has to be reidentified every power cycle.

[TheDucks]

 

Bit 1 is SW8, turn that OFF (7-1) should be off

[Mr. P]

Setting dip switch 1 to on makes the unit ID 80. When you do a search in the HU you probably don't have the search set high enough. If you want to start with unit ID 1 then you need to turn dip switch 8 on.

[dibblejr]

45 minutes ago, oneBADDz said:

Right.  Initially I had all set "off" and everything works fine as long as you never unplug the unit.  Once you unplug it, you power it back up and the hardware utility can not find the pixie anymore unless I set the unit ID to 01 again but selecting "any unit" as the old ID and set the new ID to 01.  

I now have dip switch 1 set to "on" to try to correct that issue, however it persists.  If you cut power to the pixie, HU can not find the unit anymore until I repeat that process.  Nothing changes by setting the dip switches.

Surely I'm missing something?  This issue prevents me from keeping a mini director connected and using an outlet timer to time the show.  When powered back up, the director doesn't start the show.  I can disconnect it, use the HU to assign a unit ID, and then plug the director back in and everything start.  The Pixie has to be reidentified every power cycle.

I have never had a pixie controller since beta lose a unit ID after being set in the HU. My beta pixie16 doesn't even have dip switches and 5 years or so later still has the unit ID originally assigned.

I recommend to turn all dip switches off and use the HU to set the unit IDs to all I have helped.

Here i a simple test for you. This is in all of my videos and tutorials.

Turn off all dip switches.

Open the HU

Search and find the pixie 16 "found 1 unit 01 Pixie16 V1...."

Bottom left corner "change unit ID"

Old Unit 1

New Unit 20

Refresh the search, it should now say "Found One Unit 20 Pixie16..."

Shut down HU

Reopen HU and do a search again, it should say "Found 1 Unit 20 Pixie16..."

You can aslo try the same test after powering down the unit. 

JR

Edited November 15, 2021 by dibblejr

[oneBADDz]

Good info, thanks guys.  Tonight I'll correct my mistake in the dip switches to correctly assign 01.  

Initially all switches were off based on everything I've studied online and everything worked flawlessly last year running from a laptop.  I only have one Pixie16 so it was pretty simple.  I thought I could add JP2, make my SD card, and plug the cable into the minidirector.  When that didn't work I started checking things in the HU and it could never find the unit unless I manually assigned a number again, which is why I started trying the dip switches.  I'll try this out tonight. 

[oneBADDz]

3 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I have never had a pixie controller since beta lose a unit ID after being set in the HU. My beta pixie16 doesn't even have dip switches and 5 years or so later still has the unit ID originally assigned.

I recommend to turn all dip switches off and use the HU to set the unit IDs to all I have helped.

Here i a simple test for you. This is in all of my videos and tutorials.

Turn off all dip switches.

Open the HU

Search and find the pixie 16 "found 1 unit 01 Pixie16 V1...."

Bottom left corner "change unit ID"

Old Unit 1

New Unit 20

Refresh the search, it should now say "Found One Unit 20 Pixie16..."

Shut down HU

Reopen HU and do a search again, it should say "Found 1 Unit 20 Pixie16..."

You can aslo try the same test after powering down the unit. 

JR

Sorry for the double reply, you've added since I responded.

When I open the HU, I search and it finds 0 units.  (with all dip switches off)

In the bottom left, I set old unit to "any" and new unit to 1.  Then I search and it finds Unit 1 Pixie 16 and everything works.  

If I unplug the Pixie, when I power it back up and go to HU, it can not find it again until I set the Unit ID to any given number again.

It does this with all dip switches off, and I only progressed to trying the dip switches as a work-around.  It not working with the dip switch flipped is my fault since I turned the wrong dip switch on as I've now been made aware.  All initial testing was with dip switches off though, as that's how I used it last year.  

I'm going to go through everything you guys are giving me again tonight in the event that I'm missing something.  If it works right once I fix the dip switch, I'm fine with that, although I should be able to use it without the dip switches.

 

Also, I don't know if it's relevant that my comm chip failed, and I just put in a new one.

[Mr. P]

If you do go with the dip switch setting then all the setting can be found in the back of the Pixie16 manual:

https://www1.lightorama.com/PDF/Pixie_Man_Web.pdf

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, oneBADDz said:

Sorry for the double reply, you've added since I responded.

When I open the HU, I search and it finds 0 units.  (with all dip switches off)

In the bottom left, I set old unit to "any" and new unit to 1.  Then I search and it finds Unit 1 Pixie 16 and everything works.  

If I unplug the Pixie, when I power it back up and go to HU, it can not find it again until I set the Unit ID to any given number again.

It does this with all dip switches off, and I only progressed to trying the dip switches as a work-around.  It not working with the dip switch flipped is my fault since I turned the wrong dip switch on as I've now been made aware.  All initial testing was with dip switches off though, as that's how I used it last year.  

I'm going to go through everything you guys are giving me again tonight in the event that I'm missing something.  If it works right once I fix the dip switch, I'm fine with that, although I should be able to use it without the dip switches.

 

Also, I don't know if it's relevant that my comm chip failed, and I just put in a new one.

Did you get the correct chip and if so did you match the notch?

Those legs are like grand daddy long legs, they break very easily. I have had people try and ended up sending me 2 or more boards to repair. Perhaps whatever caused your comm chip to fail has damaged another chip. I am no pcb engineer but I used to repair gaming system boards. Normally comm chip failure come from either a man made cat5/6 cable incorrectly or forgetting to connect a pixie controller to an adapter before connecting to a pc.

JR

JR