Pixie16 5v Upgrade to 12v

[fieldska]

I have a Pixie16 5V controller.  Is it possible to upgrade the controller to support 12V pixels?  I have props that are built for the hour but I still have available channels but I am finding it hard to find 5v pixels.

[Jimehc]

it is just a matter of replacing the Power Supply - Power Supply & Pixels must have matching Voltage

[k6ccc]

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

The controller does not know or care what voltage the pixels are.  You MUST supply the correct voltage to each string.  Under normal situations where the Pixel is supplying power to the attached strings, you can run two different voltage by supplying different voltages to each of the two power feeds (sides if you prefer) of the Pixie.  If you do that make damn sure you label the crap out of it so you know which side of the Pixie is which voltage - and which strings go into which side..  The Pixie DOES NOT regulate the voltage to the pixels.

The other option is to have the data and ground connections only connected to the Pixie on each string and supply power to the strings via separate power distribution.  This is essentially necessary if you need more than eight strings with one voltage.  For example if you have 12 strings that are 5V and 4 strings that are 12 volt, you would need to use this separate power distribution option (it works fine).

Applying 12V power to a 5V pixel string will generally destroy the string essentially instantly.

BTW, I do have one controller that is split voltage, but in my case, I only have a couple strings in use on each side.  It is MASSIVELY labeled to hopefully avoid errors.

 

[Nitehawk]

Every once in a while i see documention on jumper settings ro enable one side 12v and another 5 volt.. is this still done? I have a crap load of 5 v pixels and dont really want to spend 5 bills on a pixcon16 5v ( only model i saw on the website

[TheDucks]

No Jumper. You just power ONE bus (bank) with 12V . It is suggested you do the side labeled Logic Power (ports 1-8)

Pick a different connector so you have less chance of an OOPS 🥵

[Nitehawk]

1 hour ago, TheDucks said:

No Jumper. You just power ONE bus (bank) with 12V . It is suggested you do the side labeled Logic Power (ports 1-8)

Pick a different connector so you have less chance of an OOPS 🥵

So if i disconnect one side it will leave one side 12v one side 5 v?

[k6ccc]

No idea what you are talking about disconnecting.  Each bank (side if you prefer) will operate at whatever voltage you feed to the inputs for that bank.  I have a Falcon controller that runs split voltage.  Label the living crap out of it to prevent plugging 5 volt pixels into the side that is running at 12 volts.  That will essentially instantly kill the pixels (wont hurt the controller at all BTW).

 

[Nitehawk]

Right. Mine is a pre assembled LOR pixcon 16. 12v system built in.  So if my logic is good. 

1 disconnect one bank

2 purchase 12 v power supply

3 connect to disconnected bank

Voila 8 ports 12v and 8 port 5 volts.

Draw back to that is o loose 8 12v ports...

But if i purchase a pixcon 8 no power supply and purchase one from another supplier it will work on the LOR network

 

[k6ccc]

I think you mis-typed one of those.  Yes, 5 volt on one bank and 12 volt on the other bank is fine.  As TheDucks noted, you are better off powering the controller logic off the 12 volt side.