Messages

1

Falcon Hardware / FPP or XScheduler?

« on: December 13, 2021, 12:39:17 PM »

Hello Everyone!
Hope your show?s are running well! I have a question about scheduling shows. I have the Raspberry Pi configured with the latest FPP version, am I right in assuming that you use the FPP
Alone to run the show, Or do I have to use Xscheduler in conjunction
with the FPP? I can play through either or, but if I don?t need to, I?d like to keep this simple.
Thank and have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ben Smith

2

Do You Need Help? Post it here / How can I use my Falcon F16V3 to run a sequence without having to use internet?

« on: November 30, 2021, 09:18:34 AM »

Good morning everyone!(or evening depending on where you are located)
My Church is decorating a float for our town Christmas Parade, and they asked if
I can run some Pixels on the float. I?ve been running my shows through my internet and router
at home.

I vaguely remember being able to use my Falcon through my laptop to run a few props,
But for the life of me I cannot find the instructions of how I did that.
Can anyone give me the steps of how I can bypass using internet and just use my laptop
directly to my controller?

Thank you!
Ben Smith
(816)956-1202

3

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 24, 2020, 03:48:33 PM »

I Stand corrected!!!! Have a Very Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Ben Smith & Family

4

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 24, 2020, 09:00:36 AM »

Hello everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I have
sorted out my problem. I?m to blame, and the old adage says it
all: ? Work smarter, not Harder!

I was reading way to much into setting up universes/channels, when all
I had to do was figure out the total number if nodes, multiply by 3, and divide
by 510.  I had 3,252 nodes, and needed like 19.12 channels, so 20 channels
Were needed for my display.
All I needed to do was select add ethernet
Select my controller/expansion board and input the IP address of the controller,
select auto size and full xLights control.
Upload inputs, upload outputs to controller and that was it! Boy do I feel like
?Charlie Brown? (peanuts Character for the younger folks)
I may have missed a step in explaining this, but it sure made fixing this so easy,
if I had only ?Read between the lines?
Have a Very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ben Smith

5

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 23, 2020, 09:33:33 AM »

Missed one....

6

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 23, 2020, 09:31:38 AM »

Here are my settings pages, hopefully someone will find out what I have fouled up....
Thanks!
Ben Smith

7

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 20, 2020, 02:00:19 PM »

Rudy,
  a friend just told me to make sure the Oled isn't showing a different IP address, and to clear out any that are, could be behind the issue, I should be able to access the FPP via web interface in Xlights scheduler.
Gotta dig in once I get home from work and get this sorted out, the wife is having a meltdown over my long hours
obsessively working on these.
Thanks for the Input!
Ben Smith

8

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: xSchedule - Sound lags lights by a few seconds - not sure where problem is

« on: December 20, 2020, 09:48:09 AM »

I've heard blue tooth systems lag by several milliseconds, but several seconds sounds like other issues.
firewall maybe? some sort of network security filter?
Hope this helps !
Ben Smith

9

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 20, 2020, 09:44:10 AM »

Rudy,
Thats what I've been trying to do, but it won't connect. I took the raspberry pi inside and hooked up the HDMI cable to my TV and powered the PI up, watched it boot up, then display the IP address of "127.0.1.1" I've tried entering that IP address i n my browser several times.  every time I boot up the Pi, it gives a different IP address,

I'm going to re-image the sd card in my Raspberry Pi with the newest os tonight after work, and try resetting the IP address and see what happens there.

but I still can't get my falcon to output to lights, that's my real concern now. too late in the game to order a new Falcon F16V3 at this point....
thanks for the reply
Ben Smith

10

Do You Need Help? Post it here / trouble with Falcon F16V3 controller

« on: December 20, 2020, 08:07:10 AM »

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is being safe and enjoying their holiday season!  as the title suggests, I am having issues with my Falcon F16 V3, I can run the test  patterns on  everything, but when I try to  run the output from xLights, I get nothing. I gave up on the FPP player for now, just need to get my sequences running so my wife will get off my case. I've spent the better part of the last three weeks confined to the garage and my outdoor equipment setting this show up.

this is my second year using my falcon, and at first things were going well, but now my raspberry pi seems to have developed a mind of it's own.....I cannot log into the IP address that it displays, I'm thinking I don't recall entering the command prompt to make permanent the "IP address" of the fpp. but more about that later

I have two dedicated power supplies for the falcon, I added an expansion board this year and I have a separate box setup for power injection distribution to all my props requiring the added power.

I run a Cat5E cable to a "network hub" from my router, then a separate Cat5E cable from my laptop to the hub, I was running a separate Cat5E short cable from the Raspberry Pi to the " ETHO" jack on the falcon (when It was working) and then everything was working fine, a day later, I can run test mode, but nothing else.
anyone have any Ideas as to how I get myself out of this jam? at first I thought it must be a break in the cat5 cables, so I bought new ones....nope, still have problems. I plugged my laptop directly into the falcon, still only have test mode working.
please let me know if anyone has had, a similar problem, or what they have done to correct the problem.
I appreciate any help that could be provided. I've attached copies of my network files(hopefully these are the correct ones)
Have a Blessed day!
Ben Smith

11

General Software / Re: String port specifics

« on: November 19, 2019, 11:01:21 AM »

As I posted in my last reply, I simply stated “that I could not fix my issue until I deleted the model  in my setup”
I in no way, implied that “everyone” should follow my example, that was not my intention. I hope I did not come across like that. I am by no means an “expert nor novice in this field” I apologize to the pro’s who have been doing this forever, I was simply trying to help others from making the same or similar mistakes. It’s been eight months of learning to finally get a grasp on how things flow in xlights. I’m not flaming anyone here, nor is that my intention, but I’ve seen a few posts by some that are comparable to “poking Sticks in the Bear cage” is this not a place where people can present their issues/problems and get a fair and polite solution or direction to fix the aforementioned problems?
I’ll get off my soap box now........
Ben Smith

12

General Software / Re: String port specifics

« on: November 18, 2019, 06:53:47 AM »

Just wanted to post what I’ve found wrong with my channels and port assignments, in the hopes it saves
others some grief.
After many attempts to get my lights to “behave” (understatement) I started chatting with a fellow from the
forum, and I sent him my settings/screen shots so he could see what was going on. Needless to say my
port assignments weren’t even close, come to find out, the real problem lies within the many changes I
made to my props. That being said, after “Deleting”
 Props, the port assignment info was still there, and unless you delete it, the controller/xLights still “thinks” it’s
there.  I couldn’t clear the info until I got rid of all my props(models)
and started with a “fresh slate” was I able to get it right. What I did to fix everything, as I “built” my models,
I made sure to fill out all the specifics for my pixels, the description of the models, the number of pixels per individual string(if applicable) number of strands, pixel protocol.etc. And what port you want to assign to the model.
Make sure you check for overlapping models, I then proceeded to the setup tab, right clicked on the E131  line
You have created, and another dialog box opens up, “send info to controller” And a few other options, and the last one says “Visualize Controller” this will show what model is present, and all the specifics for the model.
if you are running several models together, the next model will be in another dialog box to the right of the current 
model, that will show the extra pixels strands.

After I did all this, my models check out using the check sequence feature, and no problems.
Now, I’m sure the “Seasoned professionals” will chime in and correct me where I’m wrong, I was simply
Letting other “newbies” in on what I’ve found in my trials.
Hope this helps someone out of a jam.
Have a great day!
Ben Smith

13

General Software / Re: String port specifics

« on: November 14, 2019, 01:28:08 PM »

Thank you for the speedy reply! I kinda figured I needed to “specify” some information,
But wasn’t sure where to start with the port configurations. I’ll have to “dig deeper” and
get beyond this.
Thanks again!
Ben Smith

14

General Software / String port specifics

« on: November 14, 2019, 10:54:18 AM »

Hello everyone! Hoping someone can help me along here. I’ve overcome many hurdles since
I started this Endeavor. My latest issue is finding which string ports go to which prop,
When I bring up the string port properties page on the FPP, it shows ports 1-16,
Some have the node counts, some don’t.
I have two major props: an 8’ Mega Tree(15 strands of 50 nodes (750 total) and a 48” Mega-
wreath, four layers of 72 nodes (288 total) the rest of my display is the eaves and gutter
Runs (roofline) all in all, some 3,000 nodes total including the 14 arches.

My issue is this: I know the FPP/Falcon F16 V3 is supposed to set the ports for each prop, or,
Am I to assign these? I couldn’t find any documents instructing me to do so, I assumed the controller/FFP
Assigned all the strings per prop.
But on the string properties page there are no description or model names appearing.
I named each model individually, and a description in the setup tab.
After I got my layout finished, I tested the setup and no overlapping model strings/channels.
And the sequence works as It should.
So, I can provide screen shots later after I return home from work.
I’m running out of daylight and want to get this behind me.
Any help/advice would immensely be appreciated!!!!
Thanks!
Ben Smith

15

Xlights Test / Re: Pixel strand individual test with FPP

« on: November 08, 2019, 09:56:37 PM »

Ok, so I powered everything up last night, brought up my FPP and Falcon F16 V3 in my laptop, as I was looking over my settings for Channels and Universes, I noticed that I had “Checked” “Absolute Addressing”, once I unchecked that, I was able to display my Mega tree prop, however, I had to change my channels from 510 to 512,
and I had a few channels that were blacked out(I had them checked) so two strands weren’t coming on, but now it’s all good. The only remaining issue I have is my FPP drops out after several minutes, then I have to reload the browser page, same thing with the Falcon. I have the FPP on both Wlano and etho1 192.168.1.xxx and 192.168.2.xxx. The Falcon has been bringing up Random IP addresses for some reason, one day it was
192.168.1.025 then it was 192.168.1.030, don’t know if its my laptop assigning random IP addresses for security
reasons or? Guess I need to set up static addresses and be done with it.
Have a great evening!
Ben Smith