I just said to my husband yesterday… “I wonder where Jeff from Canispater Christmas is… we haven’t seen any of his videos in quite a while. Bamm, now your back! 👍👍
So glad to see a new video from you! Working on getting my additions to my show incorporated for this year. Can't thank you enough for all your content over the past few years helping me and others get started in the hobby!
You brought up an interesting point with the 5v vs 12v pixels. It is more effective to use 12v pixels as the current per string is reduced and smaller wiring can be used but the individual voltage drop required per pixel makes the 12v system more lossy. More wasted power per pixel as heat. I had always thought that going with 12v pixels was a no brainer but seeing the amount of heat dissipated (power wasted) shows me that using larger wiring and more power injection... 5v is really the way to go.
Great video Jeff, really appreciated how you pointed out it was just a bad batch and that 99.999 percent of the pixels in the wild are perfectly fine. People should not take a gauge of what transpired last year with this year (2021).
Yeah, unfortunately I made a "big" purchase early 2020 ($1Kish), and I guess I got a batch with epoxy problems. I didn't actually do anything with them until this (2021) holiday season. I did some minor burn in testing, and all was good on the 60+ strings. However, once they went outside, in 3-4 weeks I've had 90%+ of the strings fail. In looking closely, I can see the cracked epoxy on them all. Sent an email to the supplier and heard nothing back. But, to be fair, I didn't really expect them to warranty pixels that were about 18 months old, but it would have been nice to at least get a response. This happened to be the year where I was switching the main part of my display from LOR + AC lights to to pixels. Having 2-3 strings going belly up every 2-4 days after putting the entire display out has been VERY frustrating. Get a couple of good hours of rain, and I was seeing 10+ strings lose their minds. Ended up having to make an emergency purchase from an onshore supplier, and so far (knock on wood), the replacements strings seem to doing well. The bad ones were purchased direct from China, and while I understand that it was hopefully a one time issue, I'm now a bit gun shy of making any more purchases that way. And, to be honest, with China shipping costs, it wasn't really significantly more expensive buying them onshore. Strings were more expensive apiece($15 vs. $13), but shipping was drastically less. Still licking the wounds on my wallet and trying to decide which direction I'll go with future purchases.
@@williamwilson7801 Sorry to hear that. I had a lot of square pixels that suffered water issues (flashing after rains). None of the bullet pixels went bad as far as I recall. Yes the onshore/offshore landscape seems to change frequently. Also, you'll usually get better support buying local. Depends on what is important to you.
@@CanispaterChristmas Just an update... I did finally hear back from my vendor in China, and he has actually replaced the 50/60 strings that went bad, with no charge to me. I was pretty disheartened after not hearing back from him, but he did explain that he was incredibly busy this time of year, which delayed his response. When he replied, I let him know how many of the strings failed, and offered to replace them, no questions asked. I have to say I pleasantly shocked when I heard back from him, and the pixels arrived within 14 days.
Good to see you again Jeff! Man im slippin in my old age, Never thought about checkin the temp of my dogs poo. lol I really learn alot from you Jeff! :o)
Interesting video Jeff! I bought my first batch of modulated pixels end of last year and definitely noticed they run hotter than my resistor ones. Was actually bit shocked upon first touching wire they were that warm. Definitely be keeping an eye on them ;)
5V FTW. Just out of curiosity Jeff how many pixels were you running on a string and without power injection. There are a lot of people running with 100's of 12V pixels on a string and the done thing seems to be keep adding pixels and when you run out of volts you drop the brightness 10% at a time. A string of 50 will only be about 2.5A which is towards the upper limit of what the pixel wire is capable of but it's fairly typical for people to have strings of 150+.
For this, 100. If it has a slight chance of going over 5-amps, I'll inject power if I plan on going 100% which was the objective. I don't typically run 100%, but may if I move out of the city.
Hey Jeff, I am wanting to install c9’s or c7’s or some larger/semi larger individually addressable RGB pixels across the roof line of our home and don’t know which ones would be a good choice or where to get them. Looked briefly at LOR and looking at other options to compare. Better to piece it together or buy a from single source? I have no experience with pixels. In the past my wife has preferred traditional light displays compared to the music sequenced variety. I figure if I start with the roof lines they could be set up to perform like “regular” lights or chasers and then we can see where it goes from there. Worst case would be that the roof lights cost more than the usual roof lights would have. May be too late in the season now to get them. Any suggestions or recommendations? Any idea of basic cost or cost per foot? Need controller, pixels, power supplies etc. The mounting is whole new challenge. Lol Thanks.
Well, that's a lot to unpack. Supply issues may prevent you from getting anything other than bullet or square pixels so set expectations accordingly for now. You may want to go with your existing display (if you have one) and add some pixels. That way, if it all fails, you still have lights going. If not, you have a display with some cool pixels added. There is a lot to learn. I'd say run through my beginner playlist to get an idea what you'll need to get started if you haven't already and plan to work on it over the holidays so you don't feel pressured to get something going.
Ok I just set up my mega tree. So far the only way I have been able to control it is with a dedicated router plugged into my f48. Then I have my laptop connected with WiFi to the router. I’m noticing that the sequences are very sluggish sometimes and freeze up. I’m running straight from Xlights at 20fps. Will this be fixed once I figure out the magic pixies of the raspberry pie?… or is it a hardware issue with some of my connections? Side note for my plan with the raspberry pie. I watched your falcon setup video. Would there be anything wrong with keeping the show eth0 and wlan(somthing) the same and just logging into the show router to upload sequences? I just have a mega tree and 4 chroma canes not going to have any crazy sequences. Just some simple patterns. I just want a simple way to control them.
I’m also having a weird problem where the last 169 lights won’t turn on on my tree. I’m running 3 strings of 800 8 strands a string. Everything works fine but those last hundred or so pixels.
I'll try both questions at once. 😂 Lighting data over WiFi is probably the problem. Once the Pi is running the show, the stuttering should stop. Yeah, you can put them on the same network or just not setup the WiFi side of the Pi since you'll be hitting your router anyway. As for 169 lights not lighting up, it's a config problem somewhere. Use xLights to program your controller. It's much quicker and easier.
@@CanispaterChristmas thanks for the reply. I tried setting up through xlights but could never figure it out. I couldn’t get the controller connected and have the green light to export the setup. I’ll have to try again next weekend.
I had a set catch fire on me as well last year. I don't think the pixels were at fault. I think it was the 12v powerfully providing power to my 5v pixels
I’m expanding my lights this year and I am stumped on how to do a roof line with out drilling screws into my roof. My main need is the roof peak. How do people in this community achieve this?
Haha. I don't do my roofs (2-story) so I can't say. I know some have 3D-printed clips of some sort tho. Might check on the FB group or forums. Someone may sell something.
Examine the pixels with a magnifier. They are usually marked. "+", "12V", "GND", "-", "DO", "DI" Wait, these aren't dumb pixels are they? 4-wires? Reg, Green, Blue, Black? I don't think they will work with that controller. Make sure they have "DO" and "DI" on them, otherwise they may be analog pixels.
Wish JEFF would come back.... I have a question????? If you make a change to your layout in any way....... does that mean you have to reload each of your sequences over again and serenader them for the changes???? Anyone with the answer?
@@CanispaterChristmas Thank you for the info Jeff, really a great help in the right direction. I have 16 sequences for my show and I was think that if I changed anything I would have to re-render each sequence. Didn't want any foul ups this late in the game as it's close to time to run the show. I start Thanksgiving evening. Thanks again. Hope you get back to making videos.
Good to see you back making videos again.
Thanks!
I just said to my husband yesterday… “I wonder where Jeff from Canispater Christmas is… we haven’t seen any of his videos in quite a while. Bamm, now your back! 👍👍
Thanks! It's been a busy first half of the year! 😂
So glad to see a new video from you! Working on getting my additions to my show incorporated for this year. Can't thank you enough for all your content over the past few years helping me and others get started in the hobby!
Thanks!
You brought up an interesting point with the 5v vs 12v pixels. It is more effective to use 12v pixels as the current per string is reduced and smaller wiring can be used but the individual voltage drop required per pixel makes the 12v system more lossy. More wasted power per pixel as heat. I had always thought that going with 12v pixels was a no brainer but seeing the amount of heat dissipated (power wasted) shows me that using larger wiring and more power injection... 5v is really the way to go.
Each voltage has it's place. A long roof outline in 5V could be infuriating to try to maintain voltage. A matrix or tree, easy to do 5V.
Great video Jeff, really appreciated how you pointed out it was just a bad batch and that 99.999 percent of the pixels in the wild are perfectly fine. People should not take a gauge of what transpired last year with this year (2021).
Thank! There was a bit of panic in the comments that prompted that. 😂
Yeah, unfortunately I made a "big" purchase early 2020 ($1Kish), and I guess I got a batch with epoxy problems. I didn't actually do anything with them until this (2021) holiday season. I did some minor burn in testing, and all was good on the 60+ strings. However, once they went outside, in 3-4 weeks I've had 90%+ of the strings fail. In looking closely, I can see the cracked epoxy on them all. Sent an email to the supplier and heard nothing back. But, to be fair, I didn't really expect them to warranty pixels that were about 18 months old, but it would have been nice to at least get a response.
This happened to be the year where I was switching the main part of my display from LOR + AC lights to to pixels. Having 2-3 strings going belly up every 2-4 days after putting the entire display out has been VERY frustrating. Get a couple of good hours of rain, and I was seeing 10+ strings lose their minds. Ended up having to make an emergency purchase from an onshore supplier, and so far (knock on wood), the replacements strings seem to doing well. The bad ones were purchased direct from China, and while I understand that it was hopefully a one time issue, I'm now a bit gun shy of making any more purchases that way. And, to be honest, with China shipping costs, it wasn't really significantly more expensive buying them onshore. Strings were more expensive apiece($15 vs. $13), but shipping was drastically less. Still licking the wounds on my wallet and trying to decide which direction I'll go with future purchases.
@@williamwilson7801 Sorry to hear that. I had a lot of square pixels that suffered water issues (flashing after rains). None of the bullet pixels went bad as far as I recall. Yes the onshore/offshore landscape seems to change frequently. Also, you'll usually get better support buying local. Depends on what is important to you.
@@CanispaterChristmas Just an update... I did finally hear back from my vendor in China, and he has actually replaced the 50/60 strings that went bad, with no charge to me. I was pretty disheartened after not hearing back from him, but he did explain that he was incredibly busy this time of year, which delayed his response. When he replied, I let him know how many of the strings failed, and offered to replace them, no questions asked. I have to say I pleasantly shocked when I heard back from him, and the pixels arrived within 14 days.
@@williamwilson7801 Glad to hear it!
Great to see you back. I have one question was that your freshly minted or the pups?
LOL! Hmm. Now you have me curious to try something... 😂
Good to see you again Jeff! Man im slippin in my old age, Never thought about checkin the temp of my dogs poo. lol I really learn alot from you Jeff! :o)
Just another tool in the box. 😂
Interesting video Jeff! I bought my first batch of modulated pixels end of last year and definitely noticed they run hotter than my resistor ones. Was actually bit shocked upon first touching wire they were that warm. Definitely be keeping an eye on them ;)
Warm is one thing, too hot to touch, might ask for a replacement. Not sure who all made them so check the xEssentials video.
Been doing lots of prep for my first show with pixels, this is exciting
Cool! Let me know how it works out!
Welcome back!!!
Thanks!
Glad to see you back. Thanks for the info on the pixels... Now to the New Elephant in the room... F16V4/F48V4....:)
Thanks! Haha. Working on it. 😂
V4....curses batman !
@@darknes7800 Why curses? It's pretty cool! :)
@@CanispaterChristmas Because I bought my gear in January and its all V3 !!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure the V4 is awesome gear !
@@darknes7800 Just add more pixels so you can justify a V4. 😂
Hi I’m happy to see you back. I really enjoy watching your videos and learn a lot
Thanks!
Good to see you Jeff, Great video.
Thanks 👍
Great to see your face again! Thanks for the video!
Thanks!
"PURCHASE JUSTIFIED".... damn right! 5V FTW!
😂
5V FTW.
Just out of curiosity Jeff how many pixels were you running on a string and without power injection. There are a lot of people running with 100's of 12V pixels on a string and the done thing seems to be keep adding pixels and when you run out of volts you drop the brightness 10% at a time. A string of 50 will only be about 2.5A which is towards the upper limit of what the pixel wire is capable of but it's fairly typical for people to have strings of 150+.
For this, 100. If it has a slight chance of going over 5-amps, I'll inject power if I plan on going 100% which was the objective. I don't typically run 100%, but may if I move out of the city.
Question can I use hot glue to weatherproof the power pigtails when I join multiple pixels together, whenever I am not using them for power injection?
I'm not sure. I haven't tried it. I might suggest a test on one this year. :)
Hey Jeff, I am wanting to install c9’s or c7’s or some larger/semi larger individually addressable RGB pixels across the roof line of our home and don’t know which ones would be a good choice or where to get them. Looked briefly at LOR and looking at other options to compare. Better to piece it together or buy a from single source? I have no experience with pixels. In the past my wife has preferred traditional light displays compared to the music sequenced variety. I figure if I start with the roof lines they could be set up to perform like “regular” lights or chasers and then we can see where it goes from there. Worst case would be that the roof lights cost more than the usual roof lights would have. May be too late in the season now to get them. Any suggestions or recommendations? Any idea of basic cost or cost per foot? Need controller, pixels, power supplies etc. The mounting is whole new challenge. Lol Thanks.
Well, that's a lot to unpack. Supply issues may prevent you from getting anything other than bullet or square pixels so set expectations accordingly for now. You may want to go with your existing display (if you have one) and add some pixels. That way, if it all fails, you still have lights going. If not, you have a display with some cool pixels added. There is a lot to learn. I'd say run through my beginner playlist to get an idea what you'll need to get started if you haven't already and plan to work on it over the holidays so you don't feel pressured to get something going.
Ok I just set up my mega tree. So far the only way I have been able to control it is with a dedicated router plugged into my f48. Then I have my laptop connected with WiFi to the router. I’m noticing that the sequences are very sluggish sometimes and freeze up. I’m running straight from Xlights at 20fps. Will this be fixed once I figure out the magic pixies of the raspberry pie?… or is it a hardware issue with some of my connections?
Side note for my plan with the raspberry pie. I watched your falcon setup video. Would there be anything wrong with keeping the show eth0 and wlan(somthing) the same and just logging into the show router to upload sequences?
I just have a mega tree and 4 chroma canes not going to have any crazy sequences. Just some simple patterns. I just want a simple way to control them.
I’m also having a weird problem where the last 169 lights won’t turn on on my tree. I’m running 3 strings of 800 8 strands a string. Everything works fine but those last hundred or so pixels.
I'll try both questions at once. 😂 Lighting data over WiFi is probably the problem. Once the Pi is running the show, the stuttering should stop. Yeah, you can put them on the same network or just not setup the WiFi side of the Pi since you'll be hitting your router anyway. As for 169 lights not lighting up, it's a config problem somewhere. Use xLights to program your controller. It's much quicker and easier.
@@CanispaterChristmas thanks for the reply. I tried setting up through xlights but could never figure it out. I couldn’t get the controller connected and have the green light to export the setup. I’ll have to try again next weekend.
Would like to see the FLIR of 12V (or even 110 AC) applied to 5V pixels. Channel your inner-mythbuster 👍😉😁😎
😂
I had a set catch fire on me as well last year. I don't think the pixels were at fault. I think it was the 12v powerfully providing power to my 5v pixels
I could see where that might cause some heating. 😂
Thanks Jeff. Nice camera. 😉
Thanks!
I’m expanding my lights this year and I am stumped on how to do a roof line with out drilling screws into my roof. My main need is the roof peak. How do people in this community achieve this?
Haha. I don't do my roofs (2-story) so I can't say. I know some have 3D-printed clips of some sort tho. Might check on the FB group or forums. Someone may sell something.
It's November and I haven't seen any new pixel related videos Jeff, what gives?
Land search is sucking the life out of me, but have a short video in the hopper. 😂
@@CanispaterChristmas I believe it, land anywhere near or along the i35 corridor is getting expensive and hard to find.
could use some help i went to power up my first pixels and a pixel caught on fire then popped a fuse what did i do wrong
What was on the end of your pixels? Were they 5V or 12V? Bullet or square? Where from and when did you get them?
@@CanispaterChristmas wired watt k8 and a begalbone 12 volt pixels and 12 volt power supply
@@CanispaterChristmas i kone the data line on the pig tail is yellow but unsure what is power and what is ground i assume red is voltage
Give Ken a call and let him know. He should be able to help.
Examine the pixels with a magnifier. They are usually marked. "+", "12V", "GND", "-", "DO", "DI"
Wait, these aren't dumb pixels are they? 4-wires? Reg, Green, Blue, Black? I don't think they will work with that controller. Make sure they have "DO" and "DI" on them, otherwise they may be analog pixels.
Are you ok Jeff?
Healthy, not as wealthy as I'd like to be, but wise.
Hi Jeff just ordered my first pixel stuff wish me luck hope I got all I need to give this a shot
Cool! Check into the help areas listed in my video descriptions if you haven't already. Tons of smart folks happy to help.
@@CanispaterChristmas i have watched all your videos more then once ... so it all your fault lol
@@therenaissancelawnguy2425 I get that a lot. lol!
Wish JEFF would come back.... I have a question?????
If you make a change to your layout in any way....... does that mean you
have to reload each of your sequences over again and serenader them
for the changes????
Anyone with the answer?
Yes, but you can re-render them as a batch.
@@CanispaterChristmas Thank you for the info Jeff, really a great help in the right direction. I have 16 sequences for my show and I was think that if I changed anything I would have to re-render each sequence. Didn't want any foul ups this late in the game as it's close to time to run the show. I start Thanksgiving evening. Thanks again.
Hope you get back to making videos.
I have over 10,000 12V regulated pixels from Ray, zero failure in testing mode over a 60 day period.
Awesome! I think it was a single batch problem last year.
You r funny bro and thanks for the differential boar video.
👍 Glad I could put a smile on your face. 😂
Good to know
👍
Thank you!
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Cool
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First!
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