RGB Boxes before AC boxes?

[MNLights]

I am having issues with Smart RGB data on my rooftop.  I am running a Pixie 8 and this box is the 7th in line of 8 boxes and 1 of 4 ports of the lights is flashing on my roof.  When I connect that box as #2 the roof works fine but the other RGB boxes (2 LOR pixel trees and a LOR singing tree) are freezing up.  So the question is, is there an order on how to daisy chain your boxes together to keep the data from dropping to low?  Is there a way to boost the signal from box 6 to 7 since they are on the other side of the yard from each other?  I did add a single smart RGB light at the box for each port used to help with increasing the signal before going to my roof but that has not helped.  Thanks for any suggestions

[k6ccc]

You can run the controllers in any order.  However, based on your report, you most likely either have a bad data cable, or a controller with a damaged RJ-45 jack.  If you have a Cat-5 cable tester, test your cables, and CAREFULLY visually inspect all the RJ-45 jacks on all of the controllers.  What you are looking for is obviously damaged connections, or connectors where one or more of the little pins are crossed over each other.  If you find that, you can usually use a SMALL probe to move the offending pin back into proper position (it will be obvious how it should be).

 

[MNLights]

Thank you

[75redman]

Could possibly add another network and split the data up also.

[TheDucks]

As others have said; Any order... BUT older AC units (pre Gen 3) can not run at smart RGB speeds (typ 500K), nor Enhanced mode. You need to slit these onto separate  Networks.

See the LOR Network speed chart:  Network Speeds – Light-O-Rama for capabilities.

Terminate the last controller (JP4 on newer versions), AND do NOT run the CAT5 close, alongside the power cord for more than a foot or so. That will couple line noise into the data stream.

[MNLights]

UPDATE:  I continue to have issues with one area out of 4 having flickering light about 30 min into my show. I found out that if I turn off my Pixie 8 for 30 sec and turn back on everything works again. Could this be a Pixie 8 issue or overheating?

[TheDucks]

If you are not running ELOR mode, the network is bi-directional and there may be SENT data interruptions (causes errors)

Pixies like ELOR, older AC do not. You really need to split these networks apart. Dumb and Smart (which also has a node limit that might require more networks. AFAIK you can't hit that limit with a Pixie 8 😛 )