Newbie - forgive me please - Pixie 4/8/16 questions

[JIMITHANG]

Hi all - basic LOR user with basic lighting and want to progress into the pixel world this year for Halloween and Christmas.  

Buddy of mine told me you can only run 100 of the large bulbs (LOR bulbs) with a Pixie 16 but wasnt sure if thats on an old controller or not?  Meaning only 100 bulbs per channel.  

I have a roof where I need approx 400-600 bulbs, want to go large and want to be able to control every bulb. 

Based on his coaching I will need lots of extensions and cant go past 100 bulbs but he admits its been awhile so maybe things have changed???

Any help you can give is appreciated.  I will share all sequences - just need help getting into the RGB world=)

[Mr. P]

First off, controllers have ports as channels are something entirely different. The general rule for 12v pixels is 100 per port without power injecting depending on the specs of the pixels and you must keep in mind that each port has a 4amp fuse. For larger areas such as roofs I always recommend several smaller controllers so you won't have the long extension runs. 16 port controllers are excellent for things close together such as a pixel tree or matrix where there are thousands of pixels close together. However, when there are pixels or props spaced out then several small controllers are more beneficial.

[TheDucks]

+1 on covering wide distances by putting controllers close to the smart strings. Low voltage causes color shift or erratic response.

I start by targeting no more than 15' to first node (12V), that leaves a possible fudge factor. Remember, you can set the controller to Reverse a string (logically) so the far end behaveS AS NODE 1.   1-100 <-- ctlr --> 1-100