Pixie2 for Singing Trees not controlling lights

[PostmasterX]

I brought back out my Singing Christmas Trees today, connected them up as normal, went to test them and they won't turn on. The HU recognizes all 4 controllers, but when I try turning the lights on in there, nothing, if I try running a song using them, no response. The only difference was adding those dongles for the ethernet cable. (I used the same cat5 cable and the dongles on one of my CTB16PC and it works fine to control that)

[dibblejr]

I would say to remove one set of dongles. I am assuming you mean the adapters that allow you to not have to open the back to insert the cat5 cable.

Hopefully you didn’t damage the rj45 jacks but I would imagine if all 4 of them are not communicating you either have a bad cat5 cable going to the first controller or they are not compatible.

I’d start out by swapping the main cat5 cable and if that doesn’t get result then connect 1 at a time and see if you get any signal.

If not remove the back off 1 and remove the dongles and try a test again.

JR

[Orville]

Only other thing I can think of that could possibly cause this, especially since you say the dongle worked on a different controller, perhaps the cat5 didn't insert fully into the Pixie2D Controller that controls the singing trees.   I added some pass through jacks on mine and I thought I had them firmly seated into the Pixie's cat5 jacks, turns out it looked like they were fully seated, but in reality, they weren't.  

So the lights on the tree wouldn't work, pressed the cat5 cable in fully, problem solved.   Also check the jacks fingers, maybe one or two have gotten bent out of place or touching each other, you'll need to correct that, if such a problem exists.

Don't know about others, but I find it a real pain to get the cat5 seated in a Pixie 2D's cat5 jacks!    So I'm always double checking myself on those connections as I had a similar problem as yours, but it was just the cat5 didn't insert fully into the Pixie jacks.

Not saying this is the issue, just something to check into when inserting the cat5.  And I've done this with the pass throughs I use so I don't have to open my controllers to swap cables or make connections from controller to controller.

The only odd thing I do find, is you say it finds the 4 controllers, but the lights don't come on.  Check the Port connectors as well, maybe while in storage, somehow they become loose or slight disconnected, take them apart and look in them.  I found one of mine had somehow allowed water to get inside it, opened it up and let it air dry for a day or so, reconnected and everything worked.   So you may want to check all your port connections as well.

Other than that, I think the Pixies use the same wiring as any other LOR Controller, but maybe the Dongles work on the CTB16PC and not the Pixie because, if there is a chance the Pixie uses additional wiring in the cat5 cable, being RGB, that perhaps the dongles won't work with them.  But this is only a guess at best.   As they do work on the CTB16PC, I would think they should work with the Pixie.

Also, have you tried using the reset button and running a self test on the RGB strands?  Hold it down until the self test starts, if still no lights, you may have some other issue going on, again, check the port connections, as that would be the most likely candidate for no lights.

Just a few suggestions to look for.

Good Luck.

[TheDucks]

Pixies use the same exact wiring on the LOR Network side.  (4-5, blue pair  is the main one)

Since HU finds it, the network should be good

Open the cover of the Pixie2 and press the reset/test button momentarily.

Use caution,  Lethal voltage exists in the area labeled.

Another Q: Is the order connected the same?  JP4 should only be connected on the LAST unit

[PostmasterX]

I'm assuming it must have been something to do with the cat5 connection. I unplugged the dongle's, tested with just plugging the cat5 in directly, and it worked. I then plugged the dongle's back in, and it worked fine. I'm assuming they just weren't fully inserted as @Orvillesuggested. Whatever the reasoning, that issue seems resolved as of last night. Now on to the other issues. 

[Orville]

13 hours ago, PostmasterX said:

I'm assuming it must have been something to do with the cat5 connection. I unplugged the dongle's, tested with just plugging the cat5 in directly, and it worked. I then plugged the dongle's back in, and it worked fine. I'm assuming they just weren't fully inserted as @Orvillesuggested. Whatever the reasoning, that issue seems resolved as of last night. Now on to the other issues. 

Glad to hear it was something simple!  And that it was just the dongle had not been fully inserted into the jack.   Sometimes I think I have my cat5 fully inserted, then find out later, after racking my brain trying to figure out why the Pixie wasn't working, that the cat5 just wasn't fully inserted.  Sometimes it is difficult to tell it's not fully inserted correctly.

Glad it was just a simple "loose" connection that was the culprit and not something major.