HDPE Arch Kits...

[pmiller]

One word of caution. This is from experience. Watch out for static electricity. I pulled my strips through the arches in the winter and every time I went to check them out they wouldn't work. I found after several attempts that static was killing the first pixel. I cut that pixel out, tested before sliding inside tube and after installation it didn't work. Again, I cut out first pixel and it worked before I slid into tube. Again the first pixel fried. This time I soldered a wire to the negative voltage side of the first pixel, twisted the wire around my finger and installed into HDPE. It worked. Since I have had no issues. Doing this in the summer wasn't a problem even without the grounding wire.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[livinglightshows]

This is very interesting. I have never had this happen with me before but I will make sure to warn my customers who are buying my Arch kits to be aware of it. Thanks.

Matt Johnson
www.johnsonlightshow.com
2014 Contestant on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight"
http://facebook.com/johnsonlightshow

One word of caution. This is from experience. Watch out for static electricity. I pulled my strips through the arches in the winter and every time I went to check them out they wouldn't work. I found after several attempts that static was killing the first pixel. I cut that pixel out, tested before sliding inside tube and after installation it didn't work. Again, I cut out first pixel and it worked before I slid into tube. Again the first pixel fried. This time I soldered a wire to the negative voltage side of the first pixel, twisted the wire around my finger and installed into HDPE. It worked. Since I have had no issues. Doing this in the summer wasn't a problem even without the grounding wire.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[FishKing]

One word of caution. This is from experience. Watch out for static electricity. I pulled my strips through the arches in the winter and every time I went to check them out they wouldn't work. I found after several attempts that static was killing the first pixel. I cut that pixel out, tested before sliding inside tube and after installation it didn't work. Again, I cut out first pixel and it worked before I slid into tube. Again the first pixel fried. This time I soldered a wire to the negative voltage side of the first pixel, twisted the wire around my finger and installed into HDPE. It worked. Since I have had no issues. Doing this in the summer wasn't a problem even without the grounding wire.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

That explains what happened to one of my strips. As cautious as I was I had that same thing happen to me. Thanks for the tip!

 

[timon]

One word of caution. This is from experience. Watch out for static electricity. I pulled my strips through the arches in the winter and every time I went to check them out they wouldn't work. I found after several attempts that static was killing the first pixel. I cut that pixel out, tested before sliding inside tube and after installation it didn't work. Again, I cut out first pixel and it worked before I slid into tube. Again the first pixel fried. This time I soldered a wire to the negative voltage side of the first pixel, twisted the wire around my finger and installed into HDPE. It worked. Since I have had no issues. Doing this in the summer wasn't a problem even without the grounding wire.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Here is a way to solve the antistatic issues with plastics.

http://www.aclstaticide.com/heavy_duty_staticide.html

You can buy this on Amazon. It should be deluted not used at full strength. I was talking to the company and they suggest a 1 to 1 with water or 1-1-0.5 with 100% isopropyl alcohol. You could run 70% that you get from the store and also go 1 to 1. The alcohol allows the material to cover more evenly but it should be fine with just water. Alcohol will also let it dry faster but then it evaporates faster as well.

You should be able to cap the ends, pore some in and swish it around then remove and use again. The outside could be applied with a wet microfiber cloth.

You could also use it on Coro to keep the static down. This also comes in sprays which might be better for Coro.

Just a thought.

 

[kentd]

I just finished my first arch with these kits. Make sure you have enough wire to go beyond the bunge cord so you can pull the string down to connect on each end and then balance using the bunge cords. These kits make building the arch so much easier, I used a three conductor on the input end and on the output spliced a two conductor in not letting the 12+ come from the strip. This allows the data to go from arch to arch but requires power at each arch. I use a Falcon 16V2 set for 400 Pixels to run all eight arches but feed power to each arch separate as this lets each arch send signal allowing better data flow.

 

[fatcat46]

Hi Matt,

getting ready to star building ans I am wondering what glue you would suggest to use to glue on the endcap to the light strip?

Also, I am starting to look at Vixen2. How many channels does it take to control one of your arches?

Do you know of any sample files I could look at so I can figure out how to program for two arches?

Thanks. Fran

 

[livinglightshows]

Fran, are you referring to the silicon end caps? I use a silicon glue for that. I would think you could use other glues as well that stay flexible, maybe even hot glue. My arch strips are 50 pixels I believe because each pixel controls 3 lights and it is a 60/20 strip. It does depend though on how long you cut the strip as to the channels. I do not have any sample files but may release one later this year but it would be for Vixen 3 and/or Xlights.

Hope that helps!

Matt Johnson
www.johnsonlightshow.com
2014 Contestant on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight"
http://facebook.com/johnsonlightshow

Hi Matt,

getting ready to star building ans I am wondering what glue you would suggest to use to glue on the endcap to the light strip?

Also, I am starting to look at Vixen2. How many channels does it take to control one of your arches?

Do you know of any sample files I could look at so I can figure out how to program for two arches?

Thanks. Fran

 

[fatcat46]

Matt,

Yes, I do mean the silicone end caps.

I am using the same pixel strips as you and my arches are he same size as yours. You had told me to cut the roll I received in half. Is it one channel per pixel?

How many channels did your take?

Which OS are you running Vixen3 on? I read it's not supported on win10

is Xlights better to use?

Thanks, Fran

Fran, are you referring to the silicon end caps? I use a silicon glue for that. I would think you could use other glues as well that stay flexible, maybe even hot glue. My arch strips are 50 pixels I believe because each pixel controls 3 lights and it is a 60/20 strip. It does depend though on how long you cut the strip as to the channels. I do not have any sample files but may release one later this year but it would be for Vixen 3 and/or Xlights.

Hope that helps!

Matt Johnson
www.johnsonlightshow.com
2014 Contestant on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight"
http://facebook.com/johnsonlightshow

 

[pmiller]

Don't get confused with pixels and channels. I use the 60/20 strips like Matt's. I cut my strip to 54 pixels which is 162 channels. Each pixel uses 3 channels, rgb. Vixen 3 works great with Windows 10.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

 

[livinglightshows]

Fran,

The pixel strips we use have three lights and then a black surface mount chip, each chip represents a pixel since it controls the three lights. Once you cut the strips in half then just count the black surface mounted WS2811 chips and that will give you the pixel count. Then multiply that number by 3 for the channels. I think mine are 50 pixels, 150 channels but I am not sure. I did cut the 5m strip in half like you did.

As for Vixen 3, I do also run it on Windows 10 and have not had any problems.

As for what is better between Vixen 3 and xLights I would say they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I have used both and the main strength of V3 in my opinion is in the ability to do groups and create very advanced effects just by regrouping the same pixels in many different ways. The main advantage to me of xLights is its active development and the ability to handle very high channel counts.


Matt Johnson
www.johnsonlightshow.com
2014 Contestant on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight"
http://facebook.com/johnsonlightshow

 

[fatcat46]

Thank you. That helps.

Don't get confused with pixels and channels. I use the 60/20 strips like Matt's. I cut my strip to 54 pixels which is 162 channels. Each pixel uses 3 channels, rgb. Vixen 3 works great with Windows 10.

Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

 

[fatcat46]

Thanks Matt,

I did get Vixen 3 installed and running. Thanks for explaining the pixel/channel calculation. I suspected that but didn't want to assume.

Fran,

The pixel strips we use have three lights and then a black surface mount chip, each chip represents a pixel since it controls the three lights. Once you cut the strips in half then just count the black surface mounted WS2811 chips and that will give you the pixel count. Then multiply that number by 3 for the channels. I think mine are 50 pixels, 150 channels but I am not sure. I did cut the 5m strip in half like you did.

As for Vixen 3, I do also run it on Windows 10 and have not had any problems.

As for what is better between Vixen 3 and xLights I would say they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I have used both and the main strength of V3 in my opinion is in the ability to do groups and create very advanced effects just by regrouping the same pixels in many different ways. The main advantage to me of xLights is its active development and the ability to handle very high channel counts.


Matt Johnson
www.johnsonlightshow.com
2014 Contestant on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight"
http://facebook.com/johnsonlightshow

 

[kentd]

Fran the 5 meter strips only have 100 ws2811 chips per strip so you would want to cut them at 50 which will give you approximately 7 1/2" on each end of the tube you put the strip in if you cut your tubes at 9 1/2 feet in length.
The new Xlights has many many new features that can make your arches really look fantastic. You may want to investigate using it especially since it is free.
Just a suggestion as I have built 8 of these arches using Matt's Kits.
Kent
Davis County Utah

 

[fatcat46]

Thanks Kent!

I will check out xlights too. Which version are you using?

Fran the 5 meter strips only have 100 ws2811 chips per strip so you would want to cut them at 50 which will give you approximately 7 1/2" on each end of the tube you put the strip in if you cut your tubes at 9 1/2 feet in length.
The new Xlights has many many new features that can make your arches really look fantastic. You may want to investigate using it especially since it is free.
Just a suggestion as I have built 8 of these arches using Matt's Kits.
Kent
Davis County Utah

 

[kentd]

Thanks Kent!

I will check out xlights too. Which version are you using?

Fran I am using version at the moment 2016.37 however my video cards are not AMD nor my chips AMD some of the later versions are having a problem with these chip sets but they are getting worked out.
Xlights allows a capability of using layers and also displaying the entire House model. I have worked out my show and captured it on video from my monitor so here is a link if you want to see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSFwOIuN2U&feature=youtu.be
Fran if you have questions about anything just ask, I use the Raspberry PI to run the show and my controllers are Falcon F16V2 that can run 680 Pixels per plug and have 16 plugs. You can search my posts on the Xlights Forum.

Hope this may help you.
Kent

 

[fatcat46]

Thanks for the info Kent.

I have 2016.39beta installed but can't find any info or vids telling how to use it. All the Youtubes I found were for an older version. I may fall back to the last non-beta version.

Thanks for you offer to help. I need all the help I can get. My wife tells me I'm too old (70) to be trying to do all this stuff. I have lots of physical restrictions too.

I am starting out with just two arches this year so I can get my head around all this stuff.

Should I post my questions for you here on the forum or direct to you via email?

Fran I am using version at the moment 2016.37 however my video cards are not AMD nor my chips AMD some of the later versions are having a problem with these chip sets but they are getting worked out.
Xlights allows a capability of using layers and also displaying the entire House model. I have worked out my show and captured it on video from my monitor so here is a link if you want to see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSFwOIuN2U&feature=youtu.be
Fran if you have questions about anything just ask, I use the Raspberry PI to run the show and my controllers are Falcon F16V2 that can run 680 Pixels per plug and have 16 plugs. You can search my posts on the Xlights Forum.

Hope this may help you.
Kent

 

[didjareally]

Thanks for the info Kent.

I have 2016.39beta installed but can't find any info or vids telling how to use it. All the Youtubes I found were for an older version. I may fall back to the last non-beta version.

Thanks for you offer to help. I need all the help I can get. My wife tells me I'm too old (70) to be trying to do all this stuff. I have lots of physical restrictions too.

I am starting out with just two arches this year so I can get my head around all this stuff.

Should I post my questions for you here on the forum or direct to you via email?

The latest xlights manual covers up to 2016.38, 205 pages ofllearning

 

[markrvp]

My wife tells me I'm too old (70) to be trying to do all this stuff.

My dad (in the picture) is 70 and we've built a ton of RGB props this year. Stick with it, we're here to help!

 

[lightsonmontague]

the videos online will get you started most of what you need to learn hasn't changed in the latest Ver you'll learn fast they do a ton of update though the year most are little tweaks or bug fixes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kentd]

My wife tells me I'm too old (70) to be trying to do all this stuff.

Should I post my questions for you here on the forum or direct to you via email?

First of all, I started in Jan 2015 where you are now, at age 74, I am now 76 so age has nothing to do with it.

You may want to join the Xlights Forum as there are many there that will help you and as you can see you already have those here offering help. You can ask me by email if you wish or post on forums. The forums will give you more responses.

Don't' go back if you load version 39 as it is not backwards compatible like others have said look at the videos they will get you started and you do not have to use music to do effects, my show last year was only a two minute sequence repeated and it was fun to do and see. I have put a picture of just a shot of the sequence but the display was all I had time to build last year.

Kent