Replacing led string lights with dumb pixels

[Biff]

So I have a large wooden sleigh that comes apart for storage. Both sides, floors, front and back panel. Every year I outline it with LED string lights for my Santa display. My question is: should I continue with this or can I place pixel ribbons on the sides, front and back permanently but also be able to connect and disconnect the sides, front and back panels for storage? Currently I use a staple gun and attach the string lights after it’s set up. Kind of pain. Any ideas out there? Thanks 

[k6ccc]

Yes, you could replace your 120V AC LED strings with pixels - either dumb or smart.  You mentioned ribbons, but personally I would do it with pixel nodes rather than ribbons.  Much easier to follow curves and make segments with pixels rather than ribbons.  Also pixels are FAR easier to repair.  If you do it with dumb pixels, then all the nodes will be the same color at any given time.  Dumb pixels pretty much universally use four wires.  If you do it with smart pixels, you can make every pixel different if desired.  You can also group them so that segments work the same way.  Depending on the technology, smart pixels use either three or four wires.  As for disconnecting the pieces for storage, there are several standards for pixel connectors.  They all work and they are NOT interchangeable.  I would recommend the X-Connect standard as it is the most universal.  Make sure you get connectors that have at least as many wires as you need to disconnect.  In other words, you can use 4 wire connectors with either three or four wire pixels, but you can only use 4 wire connectors with 4 wire pixels.  BTW, don't use automotive connectors - they are not waterproof.

 

[TheDucks]

IMHO Avoid ribbons.   👍 Bullets or Squares

Ribbons are Fragile. Harder to repair bad sections.  Buy Spares at the same time, to match color performance (no matter which way you go. Nothing stands out more, than 2 shades of a color next to another 😲)

FWIW Pixie controllers have a setting to make them behave like a CMB24 (the dumb node controller), so IMHO Buy Pixels and for now run them in dumb mode.

Then you can just copy a AC Channel Sequence over into a Pixie Port:node 1 (selected color)

 Advantage/disadvantage: Pixel ports are limited to a finite number of nodes. OTOH An AC controller can run as many as 35 STRINGS of LED per port. So Map out your current usage and see if it fits. Remember there are ways to use SMART strings that were not available with dumb.  20 red, 15 Blue, 6 white (all on the same string instead of using 3 ports

 

[Biff]

On 2/1/2022 at 10:59 AM, k6ccc said:

Yes, you could replace your 120V AC LED strings with pixels - either dumb or smart.  You mentioned ribbons, but personally I would do it with pixel nodes rather than ribbons.  Much easier to follow curves and make segments with pixels rather than ribbons.  Also pixels are FAR easier to repair.  If you do it with dumb pixels, then all the nodes will be the same color at any given time.  Dumb pixels pretty much universally use four wires.  If you do it with smart pixels, you can make every pixel different if desired.  You can also group them so that segments work the same way.  Depending on the technology, smart pixels use either three or four wires.  As for disconnecting the pieces for storage, there are several standards for pixel connectors.  They all work and they are NOT interchangeable.  I would recommend the X-Connect standard as it is the most universal.  Make sure you get connectors that have at least as many wires as you need to disconnect.  In other words, you can use 4 wire connectors with either three or four wire pixels, but you can only use 4 wire connectors with 4 wire pixels.  BTW, don't use automotive connectors - they are not waterproof.

 

 

[Biff]

Ok… Thanks again. Once things settle down around here I’ll start that project 😃