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Pixie 16, Pixie 8 controller status lights solid, show is playing, but lights are not working.


_craig_

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I am using one Pixie 16, Pixie 8, and a Pixie 4 controller (3 controllers total) with a G4 director. The network lights on each controller are showing solid red status. The g4 director is playing the card, sound is going through the FM transmitter, but the pixels are not illuminating. Here are the things I have done to trouble shoot that I have tried without any luck:

1) I checked each strand prior to putting them up. All strands illuminated properly. (I was excited about the fact I didn't have to swap out any strands.)

2) I tried changing the network port on the G4 director to a different network. The show stopped playing and would not transmit sound at that point. Controllers status lights started to flash.

3) I swapped out the ethernet cable from the director to the first controller (Pixie8) in the daisy chain. No changes. 

4) I swapped the ethernet cable from the director to the first controller (pixie8) to a shorter one (down from 50ft to 25 ft cable). No changes. 

5) I changed the order of the controllers in the daisy chain. I moved the director over to connect into the Pixie16 controller using the shorter ethernet cable. Still no changes. 

With each of those steps listed above, all controllers showed a solid red light on the board, with the exception of when I used a different network plug on the G4 director itself. Then the controllers status lights would all flash. 

The only thing that has changed from last year to this year, is I bought new timers to cut power on/off to the show for the schedule. I will swap those back out later today to see if those are the issue. But if that doesn't work, any ideas as to where to look? 

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What speed and mode (LOR vs ELOR) is the network on the Director?

You are needing 28 controller IDs for those three controllers.  What IDs are used in your Preview, and what are the assigned IDs for the three controllers?

 

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Are you sure your sequences  are using the correct network name (Reg, AuxA...) depending in which port you use?

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35 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

What speed and mode (LOR vs ELOR) is the network on the Director?

You are needing 28 controller IDs for those three controllers.  What IDs are used in your Preview, and what are the assigned IDs for the three controllers?

 

I'll double check the speed when I get home. I havent changed anything from last year, and it all worked last year. In fact I was testing the show for my Christmas show. 

I know the Pixie 16 starts at Unit ID 90. And the Pixie 8 starts at Unit 80. I used the auto numbering from LOR to simplify things. 

20 minutes ago, TheDucks said:

Are you sure your sequences  are using the correct network name (Reg, AuxA...) depending in which port you use?

That's why I changed the network port on the G4 because I thought I might have plugged it into the incorrect port. But none of them worked. 

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Have you pressed the white button on EACH of the Pixies, to see if they run the test pattern on their respective devices?

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20 hours ago, TheDucks said:

Have you pressed the white button on EACH of the Pixies, to see if they run the test pattern on their respective devices?

No, I will try that today and check back in.

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Just tested the lights and each runs the test pattern on the respective devices without any issue. 

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3 hours ago, _craig_ said:

Just tested the lights and each runs the test pattern on the respective devices without any issue. 

Since the LED is steady, It see LOR

Then your sequence is talking to the wrong Network  or ID's (technically, you can have ID 80 on every network. They are different and really confusing,  so I say avoid when possible.

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Just now, TheDucks said:

Since the LED is steady, It see LOR

Then your sequence is talking to the wrong Network  or ID's (technically, you can have ID 80 on every network. They are different and really confusing,  so I say avoid when possible.

<slap> You didn't happen to click the Auto configure (network) button in HU. That remaps the COM to adapter (and LOR Network). I mark my Adapters: reg A, B, C (Com 10,11,12,13). I use the device manager to make it  the same on all my PC's that I use with LOR. ( I have a real COM3 and 4, and I have used USB to COM adapters, so I just picked 10 as my LOR start.

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It has been a couple of years since I used a director but I recall having a similar issue.   If you created/recreated the card yourself using the Hub did you ensure that the network speed was set to the correct value?  The issue I experienced was that the network speed for the port was defaulting to 57.6K. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Solved the issue. It was a complete Rookie mistake (even though I didnt think I was a rookie.)

The issue was the power. For my Halloween show, I do not run any AC controllers. So when I would plug the Pixie16 into the correct network slot on my G4, it would not power the director. When I moved it to the Network1 slots, it would power it, but that was not the correct network to run the lights. So the solution was to run an AC controller for power, then plug the Pixie16 controller into the proper network slot (2). Everything runs perfectly. Such an idiotic oversight, but glad I was able to figure it out. 

Thanks to everyone for helping me troubleshoot! That is why I love LOR and the community! 

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Gen 2 Pixies CAN power those.

Install JP2 (the pins are just under the RJ45 jacks)

Or use a small 12V (center +) wall wort. 100mA or higher. (these are very common)

The Aux power in should be on the top

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Thanks! I knew they could, I just couldn’t find the jumper pin. So rather than tear apart the house trying to find one, I just ran the AC controller. 

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