Messages

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Weird flickering on 3 models...but not all the time??

« on: December 07, 2021, 04:04:44 PM »

Another update:

Created an entirely new 3-wire cable to run from the controller to one of the strings that has flickering and that didn't make it go away. I unscrewed then re-screwed the connection points on all 3 wires leading into the green plug for the board. After I did both of these things and powered up the display, the first thing I noticed is that the models were once again flickering across all the pixels in the string, for several seconds, then they just stopped, and went dark, just like they should (no sequence/data, no lighting, right?) So I fired up a sequence and within a couple minutes into the sequence I started seeing the flickering again on all the pixels that weren't being addressed/lit by the sequence.

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Weird flickering on 3 models...but not all the time??

« on: December 07, 2021, 11:29:35 AM »

I'll go out and re-check the connections...here in Oregon we do tend to get a lot of drizzly/misty wet days during this season so it's possible there's some moisture, even though I use the waterproof heat-shrink butt connectors (marine grade off Amazon) on all my wires.

It's funny though, I went out last night, powered off the controller that drives those lights (because when it was getting no sequence data those models were flickering like crazy), then powered it back on, and all pixels were off. Then, this morning, I unplugged everything else but that controller, powered on, and again, all pixels were off - no flickering. I then ran my static/test sequence and it ran through it perfectly, with no flickering.

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Weird flickering on 3 models...but not all the time??

« on: December 06, 2021, 10:37:32 PM »

So I've got 9 total outputs for my house outline strings, with all of them Pixabulb style lights, right at 600 total. Everything works perfectly...for a while...then suddenly 3 of the models will start flickering, on all of the pixels, in a rainbow of colors (not the selected palette for that sequence). However, during the sequence the pixels will also behave perfectly normal.

I'm running either .37 or .38, and it all looks correct in the Preview...any ideas on what could cause this?

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Noticed this before, and that I'm doing more testing, I'm seeing this:

« on: May 27, 2021, 11:23:42 PM »

Robby, don't worry about it - if you get help with your items, I'm happy to share this thread as needed. 

I was just re-visiting in the hopes that someone might know what is causing the issue with my strings.

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Noticed this before, and that I'm doing more testing, I'm seeing this:

« on: May 27, 2021, 12:26:54 AM »

I truly hope that you all can get Robby helped out, but I'm coming back to this to see if there's any thoughts on what I originally posted. It does not happen to the same pixels on the same strings, but randomly across all 8 strings. I noticed this happening this last Christmas season when playing from FPP -- now during my testing I'm seeing it happen while playing the same sequences directly out of xLights. Just to ensure that I didn't screw up effects in a particular area, I deleted the effect and entered in a new one, then rendered, saved, and told xLights to play the sequence with Output to Lights turned on. Still happening, randomly. And, still getting the random pixel on a random string to stay lit up red when the sequence ends. As soon as I start another sequence that pixel goes out and proceeds to behave normally.

Any thoughts on this issue?

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Noticed this before, and that I'm doing more testing, I'm seeing this:

« on: May 22, 2021, 10:25:45 PM »

So I'm currently doing testing on the following: 8 strings, 70 pixels each, each one set as a mini-tree. I noticed this happening last holiday season in my show and now that I'm doing even more testing, I noticing that there many times a random pixel will flash red instead of the color it is assigned. I even have a couple pixels stay lit on red when the sequence ends. It happens randomly -- when I'm telling xLights to do spirals, color wash, or even the simple on/off effect. This is the same setup I used for the last holiday season, so I can't see anything wrong with that...I run my displays/sequences at 20fps, so I don't think it's a timing issue. (Well, unless the timing for the SanDevices E682 shouldn't be set at 300ns for a standard WS2811 12mm bullet pixel???)

Any ideas on what causes this? It's happened across several sequences, and when I've sequenced the color to be a light yellow and I see flashes of red, it is far too noticeable and gets annoying rather quickly. If I need to add files, or setup screens, please let me know.

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: One more Question before I pack it up! LOL

« on: January 12, 2021, 05:33:07 PM »

I can't remember how someone helped me through this, but I have three of the E682s and was having the same issue. A Zoom meeting fixed this for me, and it was pretty easy to do. Now I can sit at my PC and as long as my Pi is on and everything is connected, I can access any of my E682 devices or the two BBB devices (that are also running FPP).

8

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Where to find music

« on: January 12, 2021, 05:28:10 PM »

So just buy the normal track?

Unless someone knows how, Amazon Prime or Amazon Music Unlimited won't let you download and save the HD tracks. And, no, I'm not asking for someone to tell me how -- I just know that I've already tried (I've got both Prime & Music Unlimited) with no luck.

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Lights on models are "freezing" during sequence??

« on: November 28, 2020, 01:22:42 PM »

Well, the lights weren't locking or freezing yesterday, but I didn't do anything except run the test pattern from the E682 for about 30 mins while checking on some things.

Ran the entire playlist for about 4 hours without a single hiccup. 

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Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Lights on models are "freezing" during sequence??

« on: November 27, 2020, 10:49:47 AM »

If you are referring to the red text that says "Cannot ping DDP/E1.31...", then, no, I am not getting that message.

I wish I could easily embed some video of this.

11

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Lights on models are "freezing" during sequence??

« on: November 26, 2020, 10:37:53 PM »

Raspberry Pi 3B+ driving the show, 3 E682 controllers running models. While running sequences my mini trees and arches controller will just "freeze" while the sequence continues to play just fine on the mega tree and house lights. I've already flashed a new microSD card, no help, and swapped out the ethernet cable going from the network switch to that controller twice. Again, no help.

The crazy thing is that after several seconds (anywhere up to even a minute or two), the lights on that controller will just start up again as though they had been playing the entire time. It's almost as though the data is getting 'log jammed' and the lights just get stuck then the dam breaks, data flows again, and the lights pick up like they had never stopped.

I'm hoping it's not the E682 controller, or ethernet module on that controller as I don't have a spare...any ideas what could be causing this?

12

Xlights Setup / Re: Can't find an answer in the xLights manual, videos, or on this forum, so...

« on: November 24, 2020, 07:09:25 PM »

Good idea on the Zoom Meeting - I was able to get help from a couple people in there. 

And I re-ordered my Layout tab...forgot about that when I was changing things around earlier this year.  Of course, I know right where to look, but that doesn't mean everyone else does, right? 

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Xlights Setup / Re: Can't find an answer in the xLights manual, videos, or on this forum, so...

« on: November 20, 2020, 06:35:03 PM »

Okay, I'm coming back to this post because I'm trying to get my Christmas display set up and testing is showing that something is off. I didn't change a thing from my Halloween setup to my Christmas setup other than allowing xLights to do the automatic numbering of channels across all the models.

I let xLights do all the numbering of the channels and simply assigned each model to it's controller. However, when I played several different sequences, the first model under my House Lights controller (in my case, Corner Left) outputs only as bright white for 25 or 26 of the 28 pixels. The rest of the house lights play just fine and do what they are supposed to do.

So when I go back to xLights, and try clicking on the various models, I noticed that every other model highlights in yellow in the preview pane, but the Corner Left model shows up as just grey (or maybe a light blue, or still just white...hard to tell).

Is there a setting I'm missing? Are my controllers defined correctly? Help would be greatly appreciated here as my in-laws are in town and I'm supposed to have the entire house up and running before they leave early next week. I'm attaching screenshots of my controllers and of the preview pane so you can see a model being highlighted.

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Xlights Setup / Re: Can't find an answer in the xLights manual, videos, or on this forum, so...

« on: November 03, 2020, 10:14:30 AM »

Keith,

So you are saying to give in...to the *light* side?? 

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Xlights Setup / Re: Can't find an answer in the xLights manual, videos, or on this forum, so...

« on: November 02, 2020, 07:11:54 PM »

Well, that may be where I'm not setting it up the way it should be. Per the video that I watched regarding model setup you can use the Visualizer and the manual also talks about using setting Start channels automatically, but it would appear that the first port you assign a model to is going to be assigned the first set of channels, then the next port assigned gets the next model, etc. So if I had my Window assigned to Port 14 before, (but it's supposed to using the first group of channels on that controller), and used Visualizer to set up the models, it now assigns the first group/set of channels to whichever model I assign to the lowest numbered port on the controller. It would seem that if I want to keep my Window model assigned to the first group of channels, I need to drag and drop that model over to one of the lower numbered ports inside Visualizer, and then assign the next model to the next port, and so on.

I'm probably way over-thinking all this and probably trying to explain too much. I truly do appreciate the ease-of-use that you guys are working to create for xLights users.