Going into Year 2 and we thought we had this all figured out (9yo leading the way), but the show isn't doing well with the new props.
We did a small show last year (Mega Tree and Mega Star) and those elements are working fine again this year. For Year 2, he added (3) minitrees to the other side of the yard and an AC9:
*note AC9 isn't really doing anything this year everything connected [existing LEDs for roof/edison lights/animals/tune to sign] is either ON or OFF. No actions.
There is backflow power injection on the ends of the minitrees to compensate for the 340 total pixels on the trees. We tested all voltages and nothing lower than 11.8V.
Ultimately I believe we have an issue with the alignment of Ports/counts/start and end channels between Xlights/FPP/HC Controllers. When the sequences were playing the MegaTree and Star were good to go [nothing on the AC9 is hooked up], but the mini trees were all sorts of messed up. Only half of 1 and 2 were even lighting up (so approx 150 nodes) and 3 was sporadic. I've included my testing and settings/configs below if something jumps out at anyone that I've done incorrectly.
Controller (AlphaPix 16 for Mega Tree and Alpha Flex for Mega Star, (3) MiniTrees, AC9) Config:
When testing with the controller internal test mode all pixels work and function as intended.
Due to limited uploads per post: MegaTree is the same all the way down from 17-32 at: Universe 17 - Start Channel 1 - Pixels Connected 50 - 0 - 0 - Intensity 50.
Long Range is setup as:
Output 1: 90 pixel Mega Star + 3 pixel AC9 control
Output 2: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
Output 3: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
Output 4: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
XLights Config:
Looking at the XLights: I understand Mega star and AC9 is a 3 pixel control [9 channels] are good and they are both ":1" on output 1. Mini Tree 1 consists of MS1 and MT1 but why is MS ':2' where MT is ":2-16"? The same issue appears for ":3-17" and ":4-18". I'm unfamiliar with this nomenclature. But overall starting and ending channels have the correct # for the corresponding pixels. Should I just add more universes to the Controllers tab to correspond to the nomenclature? All controllers are set to 'use start channel' and I did NOT have auto layout models. Could this be resolved with that alteration? If probably, should I re-render and reupload all to FPP after the change?
FPP Config:
I tried to match the XLights info in the same way as it's displayed in FPP. Outputs 1-16 (Universe 17-32) control the Mega Tree base and function as they did before. So each 50 pixel string is assigned a 150 size (RBGx50pixels per string).
Outputs 17&18 are literal Output Cable 1 on the Flex (repeat from last year) - so Universe 1 and 270 (RBGx90). From the output of the star I run down to the ground into an F Amp then out to the AC9. The AC9 needs 9 channels so it's RBGx3. So I have it listed 1 - 1 - 9 with the corresponding start and end from Xlights. Is this not correct?
Outputs 19/20, 21/22, and 23/24 are the same idea - so help me figure out where I'm wrong.
Each Minitree has it's own Output Cable from the controller box to a 5' extension to an F amp to a 20' extension to reach across to the base of each minitree. The bases are 300 nodes (3x100 strings) then attached to a 40 node star. Off the output of the 40 node star is a 2 prong power injection T backfeeding from the same power supply.
The way I understand from videos and articles that (using 19/20 as the example) Output 2 = Universe 2. I've got 3 Counts (strings) resulting in 300 channels per string for the bases. Output 2 = Universe 2, 1 Count (1 String) of 120 channels (40 nodes) for the ministar.
And again, I've reordered them for ease of description and matched them to the start/end channels that appear in XLights.
He's gone to Grandma's after dinner tonight - so I'd love to have this resolved by tomorrow so he can show off for his friends again. :biggrin2:
Thanks in advance for any help and Happy Thankgiving/Merry Christmas!
We did a small show last year (Mega Tree and Mega Star) and those elements are working fine again this year. For Year 2, he added (3) minitrees to the other side of the yard and an AC9:
*note AC9 isn't really doing anything this year everything connected [existing LEDs for roof/edison lights/animals/tune to sign] is either ON or OFF. No actions.
There is backflow power injection on the ends of the minitrees to compensate for the 340 total pixels on the trees. We tested all voltages and nothing lower than 11.8V.
Ultimately I believe we have an issue with the alignment of Ports/counts/start and end channels between Xlights/FPP/HC Controllers. When the sequences were playing the MegaTree and Star were good to go [nothing on the AC9 is hooked up], but the mini trees were all sorts of messed up. Only half of 1 and 2 were even lighting up (so approx 150 nodes) and 3 was sporadic. I've included my testing and settings/configs below if something jumps out at anyone that I've done incorrectly.
Controller (AlphaPix 16 for Mega Tree and Alpha Flex for Mega Star, (3) MiniTrees, AC9) Config:
When testing with the controller internal test mode all pixels work and function as intended.
Due to limited uploads per post: MegaTree is the same all the way down from 17-32 at: Universe 17 - Start Channel 1 - Pixels Connected 50 - 0 - 0 - Intensity 50.
Long Range is setup as:
Output 1: 90 pixel Mega Star + 3 pixel AC9 control
Output 2: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
Output 3: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
Output 4: 340 pixel MiniTree (3x100 base and 40 star)
XLights Config:
Looking at the XLights: I understand Mega star and AC9 is a 3 pixel control [9 channels] are good and they are both ":1" on output 1. Mini Tree 1 consists of MS1 and MT1 but why is MS ':2' where MT is ":2-16"? The same issue appears for ":3-17" and ":4-18". I'm unfamiliar with this nomenclature. But overall starting and ending channels have the correct # for the corresponding pixels. Should I just add more universes to the Controllers tab to correspond to the nomenclature? All controllers are set to 'use start channel' and I did NOT have auto layout models. Could this be resolved with that alteration? If probably, should I re-render and reupload all to FPP after the change?
FPP Config:
I tried to match the XLights info in the same way as it's displayed in FPP. Outputs 1-16 (Universe 17-32) control the Mega Tree base and function as they did before. So each 50 pixel string is assigned a 150 size (RBGx50pixels per string).
Outputs 17&18 are literal Output Cable 1 on the Flex (repeat from last year) - so Universe 1 and 270 (RBGx90). From the output of the star I run down to the ground into an F Amp then out to the AC9. The AC9 needs 9 channels so it's RBGx3. So I have it listed 1 - 1 - 9 with the corresponding start and end from Xlights. Is this not correct?
Outputs 19/20, 21/22, and 23/24 are the same idea - so help me figure out where I'm wrong.
Each Minitree has it's own Output Cable from the controller box to a 5' extension to an F amp to a 20' extension to reach across to the base of each minitree. The bases are 300 nodes (3x100 strings) then attached to a 40 node star. Off the output of the 40 node star is a 2 prong power injection T backfeeding from the same power supply.
The way I understand from videos and articles that (using 19/20 as the example) Output 2 = Universe 2. I've got 3 Counts (strings) resulting in 300 channels per string for the bases. Output 2 = Universe 2, 1 Count (1 String) of 120 channels (40 nodes) for the ministar.
And again, I've reordered them for ease of description and matched them to the start/end channels that appear in XLights.
He's gone to Grandma's after dinner tonight - so I'd love to have this resolved by tomorrow so he can show off for his friends again. :biggrin2:
Thanks in advance for any help and Happy Thankgiving/Merry Christmas!