FPP PB16 Pixel Controller

sctwohig said:
You could remove the pocketbeagle from the cape and try it by itself as FPP will run fine.
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How do you access FPP without a network connection? It's been suggested to me that they can sometimes act up without sufficient power? My PB16 has a 300 watt 5v power supply behind it?
 
Maybe im wrong but I thought perhaps there was something up with the voltage regulator that was originally specified on these after Scott first came out with these? Perhaps that is the problem? As I have tried an external power source but couldn't connect to the PB.
Screenshot 2024-10-24 175844.png
 
joeytx said:
Just completed the "Pi Zero 16 SMD" board. I had previously made the BBB16 , 24 pin 16 Port Expansion and the 4 port Receiver Out .

I wanted to see how the Pi Zero would work compared to the more expensive BBB version. The board is SMD and I ordered the bare board and hand soldered it. The board goes together rather quickly, the parts are fairly cheap, and works well.

The only issue I had was with FPP. On the BBB boards I was able to use FPP 5.5, and the EEPROM worked well without signing. I did purchase two licenses for it and a larger setup (one 24 and one 48), so I could upgrade to FPP 7.4 and use with X-Light Connect. On the Pi Zero I could not get the unsigned EEPROM to work right, every time I would make changes to the outputs, it would revert back to the defaults. I even made the changes directly to "co-pixelStrings.json" file, and rebooted. Then if I made a change it would revert back. This was on FPP 4.6, 5.3 and 5.5. I then tried 7.4 with the unsigned EEPROM and it worked perfectly (only limited by 50 pixels per output). I purchased a license for the Pi Zero (24 outputs), signed the EEPROM and it works perfectly.

Don't be afraid of signing the EEPROMs, they have made it very easy and straight forward. I know I could have asked for a voucher for the boards, but I really try to do my part with moving FPP and these projects forward.

Included are the 3D bases I did for the Pi Zero and the 24 pin 16 port expansion.
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Hi, I am a new to this hobby I want to make this same board like yours. What dc to dc converter you are using in bom it's mentioned as universal. Which one is yours?
 
Thanks for the reply, I would like to know how much power can be used to power up the board I am plaing 12 v setup for mine. How much ampere do you recommend
 
You cannot get more than about 5A (empirically measured by the Dig developer) out of a controller port. After that, the wire on the first pixel will limit your current.
 
MartinMueller2003 said:
You cannot get more than about 5A (empirically measured by the Dig developer) out of a controller port. After that, the wire on the first pixel will limit your current.
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How much watt you prefer for the power supply. Can you guide which expansion board is suitable for the pi based cape.
I am planing for 3 capes one for the mega tree another one for windows and other propes one for my garden propes. can I get a signed eprom for all my capes or do I need to purchase?
 
I normally buy 30amp 12vdc power supplies for my needs (currently 14 of them). Some pixels are powered from the board, some require powered pixel extenders and I also use power injection with isolated Xconnect Tees.
I always rate what I can use from each power supply at 22amps max.
 
The eeprom on a PI Hat is used to validate the authenticity of the physical creation of the hat (reduce counterfeiting among other things). The FPP team has a fairly loose policy on the licenses for the PI Hats. Please talk to them to get specific information.

If you are planning to include an eeprom on your custom hat, then you will need to organise the data in a very specific structure, wire the device to specific pins, and your device must meet specified size, speed, voltage etc specifications (not just any eeprom will do).
 
MartinMueller2003 said:
The eeprom on a PI Hat is used to validate the authenticity of the physical creation of the hat (reduce counterfeiting among other things). The FPP team has a fairly loose policy on the licenses for the PI Hats. Please talk to them to get specific information.

If you are planning to include an eeprom on your custom hat, then you will need to organise the data in a very specific structure, wire the device to specific pins, and your device must meet specified size, speed, voltage etc specifications (not just any eeprom will do).
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Ive read about the expansion board of pb16.There are soo much options but iam confused. Can u guide which will be perfect.my probelm is the current setup of pi zerow board has 16 outputs. I am planing to use this as my mega tree cape of 16 channel per port 100 pixels . I need an extra 50+ pixel for my tree toper star how can I add that. If I can achieve that with a differential board, do I need a seperate eeprom? Which board is suitable for this application?
Thanks in advance
 
16 port with 100 pixels per port is pretty good. How many pixels in the topper? if less than 500, then you can add it to the end of one of your existing strings.
 
I have some doubts related to show networking. As far as I know we can't daisy chain the controllers right? So which will be the best practice to achieve a good show networking. In my setup I am using raspberry pi zerow which is unfortunately don't have an Ethernet port. Ive read that we can't play 40fps sequences through wirelessly. I hope there might have some solution.
 
Get a wired show player and put FPP on it playing in master mode and connect it to your etherent that leads to your WiFi AP.
Put FPP running in remote mode on your PI Zero and have it drive your lights.
Add as many PI zeros as your AP can handle (usually a few hundred). Adding more PI Zero based FPP remotes does NOT add more WiFi traffic. You will NOT be sending the data across the Wifi. The master sends a single SMALL broadcast message for each frame to keep all of the remotes in sync.
 
DrNeutron said:
Anyone try the new PocketBeagle 2 on a PB16? Any compatibility issues?
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I had no idea there WAS a pocket Beagle 2!! Awesome! I bought several of the originals off of eBay a while back, so I'd have extras.
Anyway, sorry I can't actually answer the question. If the pinout is the same, I wouldn't foresee any problems though.
 
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