New install of FPP doesn't output to pixels, just AC lights

[kdoyon]

I need help figuring something out.

I was using an old version of FPP (3.5) and decided to upgrade to the latest version. I made a backup of my configurations using the built-in FPP backup. I then burned FPP 7.4 on a new SD card using the Raspberry Pi Imager app. I went through the initial setup and then restored the config from the backup file I had made.

Everything looked the same as it had been, except I had to upload all of my sequences and music again. I also had to redo my playlists. No big deal.
After I hooked the Pi back up to my show, I ran a sequence and discovered that only my incandescent lights were flashing, no pixels. I used the Display Testing feature and confirmed that only the AC lights were responding.

I put the old card back in to see if there might be a connection problem. When I turn on the lights from that setup, all lights come on, including pixels. Put the new card back in, and again, no pixels. Can't figure out what is going on. I have rechecked all the settings I know, and everything looks the same on each of the FPP instances.

Any ideas?

 

[davdue]

I had a similar problem this year. Do you have pixels that are ran off FPP remotes? If so, you need to check the sync data box in the FPP system settings.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kdoyon]

I had a similar problem this year. Do you have pixels that are ran off FPP remotes? If so, you need to check the sync data box in the FPP system settings.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, all pixels are run from a Falcon F4v3 that is directly connected to the Ethernet port on the Raspberry pi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MartinMueller2003]

Please post a picture of the FPP Master output settings page.
Please post a picture of the F4 Status Page while the FPP is playing a sequence.
Please post a picture of the F4 E1.31/Artnet and F4 Output settings pages.

When you put the F4 into test mode, do the pixels work?

 

[kdoyon]

Please post a picture of the FPP Master output settings page.
Please post a picture of the F4 Status Page while the FPP is playing a sequence.
Please post a picture of the F4 E1.31/Artnet and F4 Output settings pages.

When you put the F4 into test mode, do the pixels work?

Here are the requested pictures. Status page screenshot taken while a sequence was playing.

Pixels light when using the test feature on the F4.

Thanks!

Ken

 

[MartinMueller2003]

You are making yourself miserable with that configuration. FPP maps the first channel you define to the First Universe at channel 0 (zero). Your Controller config then tries to map that back to 73 and your strings are trying to map again. You are wasting a lot of network resources and making things hard.

I have attached the FPP and controller configs for one of my controllers and part of the output strings (list gets too long to snip).
Notice how my FPP config has just one line for a controller that is getting 25 universes worth of data? Note that the universes are full (512) making them as efficient as E1.31 can get (not great but not extra wasteful).

The E1.31 controller simply maps the universes to internal memory and then the string output grabs the correct data from the channel buffer.

You said that the F16 test mode works. Good.
Put the FPP into test mode. Does that output the expected data (I bet not). To me it looks like your E1.31 config may be wrong (or at least difficult).

 

[kdoyon]

You are making yourself miserable with that configuration. FPP maps the first channel you define to the First Universe at channel 0 (zero). Your Controller config then tries to map that back to 73 and your strings are trying to map again. You are wasting a lot of network resources and making things hard.

I have attached the FPP and controller configs for one of my controllers and part of the output strings (list gets too long to snip).
Notice how my FPP config has just one line for a controller that is getting 25 universes worth of data? Note that the universes are full (512) making them as efficient as E1.31 can get (not great but not extra wasteful).

The E1.31 controller simply maps the universes to internal memory and then the string output grabs the correct data from the channel buffer.

You said that the F16 test mode works. Good.
Put the FPP into test mode. Does that output the expected data (I bet not). To me it looks like your E1.31 config may be wrong (or at least difficult).

I am certainly not against trying your suggestions of making the universes and channel numbers more efficient. But it just seems weird that those exact settings work fine on the FPP 3.5 version and not on the &.4 version.

I can swap the cards back and forth in the raspberry Pi and it consistently work on the older one and not on the newer one. It seems like there has to be some difference that I am missing.

Before I redo everything, I do have a couple of questions:

1. I noticed that your channel count on the FPP E1.31 / ArtNet / DDP / KiNet channel output page starts at 65. Is that because you have 64 channels of AC lights before that? That is why my pixels start on channel 73. I have 72 channels going to Renard controllers.

2. I see that on your controller setup page, you start on channel 1. I remember trying that when I first started with pixels, and I was getting weird side effects with the first 72 channels because they were assigned to both the Renard controllers and the pixel controller.

Ken

 

[MartinMueller2003]

Yes I have a Ren64 on my first 64 channels. That data does NOT get sent to my house controller.
I map Universe 1 channel 1 to F16 internal buffer address 1. All the rest of the channels line up sequentially after that. Then I pull the various channels out to the pixel ports on the strings page. You can see that parts of my eves and inverted Arches are on one port and another part is on a different port. Windows get their own ports and the matrix has two ports. There is some channels used for a pair of doors that are no longer part of the show but still have channels assigned. I use those outputs for testing. That controller driver about 4000 pixels and is one of five controllers.

I have an FPP remote that drives my renard so no ac traffic is on my network. I am pushing my network a bit which is why I am moving to an FPP Remote model.

I assume you sent a picture of the config that does not work. Can you send a picture of the FPP config that DOES work?

 

[kdoyon]

Yes I have a Ren64 on my first 64 channels. That data does NOT get sent to my house controller.
I map Universe 1 channel 1 to F16 internal buffer address 1. All the rest of the channels line up sequentially after that. Then I pull the various channels out to the pixel ports on the strings page. You can see that parts of my eves and inverted Arches are on one port and another part is on a different port. Windows get their own ports and the matrix has two ports. There is some channels used for a pair of doors that are no longer part of the show but still have channels assigned. I use those outputs for testing. That controller driver about 4000 pixels and is one of five controllers.

I have an FPP remote that drives my renard so no ac traffic is on my network. I am pushing my network a bit which is why I am moving to an FPP Remote model.

I assume you sent a picture of the config that does not work. Can you send a picture of the FPP config that DOES work?

Here is the FPP 3.5 config that does work.

I originally saved the config file from it and restored it to the new card with FPP 7.4 on it. As far as I can tell, the settings are identical. The 3.5 card works and the 7.4 card does not.

Maybe I need to try reflashing the 7.4 card and set it all up manually instead of using the config backup. Maybe that is introducing something that is not allowing it to work?

Ken

 

[MartinMueller2003]

I would try to manually set up the configuration on the new version. It is not unusual to have issues upgrading older configs.