Author Topic: Mega Tree and star question  (Read 842 times)

Offline Ralph D

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Mega Tree and star question
« on: December 20, 2018, 11:15:30 PM »
Hey everyone,
so I have a 32 channel mega tree 100 nodes each I wanna make sure its configured right, I am starting on #14:1 and goes to #32:420 (16230) a little more detail is its 180 degrees and will be running it off my falcon v16 and expansion  board so each strip has its own channel. so I want to make sure I'm on the right track. now the second question is I have a pixel star that I think would be connected to the end of the 32 string in the tree, but I've never done this before so i did some research and is it correct to set the star so the start channel is set to start channel 1 and then set to end of model pixel mega tree? that's the way I set it but I am not sure if its right, can someone let me know if I did both correctly please, the setting up of my tree and also of the star. thanks
Merry Christmas,

Ralph Deweil
Ralph@christmasonmanhattan.com
www.christmasonmanhattan.com

Offline deplanche

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2018, 05:05:18 AM »
That sounds correct to me, but posting screen shots of the setup is always a better way to verify that.  Both in xlights and on your controller, so that we can see both places are the same.

Offline allknowing2012

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2018, 07:03:29 AM »
FYI, common mistake is to set Strings incorrectly. This should be set to the number of physical connections back to the controller. What you posted seems correct.

Offline K-State Fan

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2018, 10:03:16 AM »
Sounds correct except you do not have a 32 channel tree you have a 32 string/strip and each string/strip will have its own port.

Offline Ralph D

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2018, 07:06:37 PM »
HI everyone,
I really am looking forward to getting to understand this. ok, I am posting a screenshot of the layout tab and setup tab in xlights, I have not yet done upload to controller yet and was hoping someone might want to lend a hand. I know Keith has done some great videos on uploading to the falcon but I am not sure I understand the porting part. So please let me know if I have done anything wrong with the mega tree. I feel like I have because I have 32 strips at 100 pixels per strip. that's 3200 nodes and 9600 RGB's. right? so if I am right with my thinking I have to add more universe's right?
Merry Christmas,

Ralph Deweil
Ralph@christmasonmanhattan.com
www.christmasonmanhattan.com

Offline K-State Fan

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2018, 08:19:12 PM »
That looks right to me on the tree setup

I can not help on the uploading to controller I do it manually


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Offline Ralph D

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2018, 10:25:14 PM »
Hope I caught it and fixed it. The 32 strands of 100 pixels is 9600 RGB's if that is the right terminology lingo. so this is 32 universe's from my screenshot its uni 14 to uni 32, then I added my pixel star which I added to the end of the thirty-second strip "end of prop" and that took me into uni 33. so now I think my mega tree is set right in xlights.

so now to the one last question,

in the layout tab of my mega tree in xlights, The controller connections section, do I need to enter a port number? and the protocol box? I'm using ws2811

Thanks, everyone and I appreciate the help, I'm starting to get it now.
Merry Christmas,

Ralph Deweil
Ralph@christmasonmanhattan.com
www.christmasonmanhattan.com

Offline allknowing2012

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2018, 07:14:11 AM »
Yes enter the first channel.. note you show 32 strings this is NOT likely what you have that will try and use 32 ports on your controller.    STRINGS=OUTPUT PORTS   - increase the pixels per strand and # of strands to get the right settings. Once this is done .. you should be able to push all the settings to a falcon. No need for anything to be done on the controller side. Setup tab - use unicast for all .. highlight the others and bulk edit the ip address.

Offline poporacer

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2018, 10:14:18 AM »
I think your math is a little off and the terminology can get confusing as mentioned. If you have 32 strands of 100 pixels, then yes you will have 9600 channels (not RGB's) and a universe can address at most 512 channels. So to address 9600 channels you will need at least 19 universes. I don't know if you changed anything from your screenshot. In your first screenshot on the layout tab, you have the Megatree set up correctly. In the second screenshot on the Set Up tab, you only have Universes 14-22 set up for the controller. You need universes 14-32 set up for that tree. You can combine more than one strand on a controller port. You might expand in the future and it is nice if you leave yourself some room so that you don't have to redesign things when (not if, LOL) you do. Depending on your set up, one port can handle over 1000 pixels, but I wouldn't push things to that extreme. I would also suggest letting XLights do a majority of the work for you. There are several methods and ideas on how things should be set up and they all work. Just find one that works for you. I set up my Universes to start at 100, 200, 300 etc. and each controller will start on one of those series of Universes and only set up as many "100 series" universes as I need. In Xlights, just setup the first model that you are going to connect to that controller as the Universe number and Channel 1. Then each model after that you will tell XLights to start after the previous one and it looks like you did that with your Megatree star. That way, Xlights will keep track of Universe assignments for you. If you set up the controller connection in Xlights, then you can use XLights to upload all the information on your show to your controllers so that you don't have to. Makes life much simpler and makes expansion in the future a little easier as well.
After you decide on the design of your megatree and how many ports you are going to use for the controller,then enter the number of ports you are going to use as the number of strings in the Megatree model. I would suggest using 8 but you could use 32,16, or even 4, but that might be pushing it. I would suggest setting up the controller connection and pixel protocol in the models info and then XLights can set up your controller. And if you make any changes in models, or design, then you only have to make the changes in XLights and then re-upload your controller information. No need to go to the controllers and keep track of all of the universes and port connections. And as allknowing2012 mentioned, try to avoid Multicast if you can. I hope I didn't make the muddy water muddier! Let us know if you need any more information.

Offline Ralph D

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2018, 11:00:05 PM »
Hi everyone, oh man so excited! and thank you all for your help, lol the wording will come in time I think and yes I have updated the screenshots, I have been working and fixing things all night and I am pretty sure I have the mega tree good to go and I got my first 6804 for my mini trees and mini stars set up in xlights and uploaded. going to text them tomorrow morning.

another question, I am trying as you see in the setup, I wanna run my lor vai the falcon. I know what to do on the falcon board, but not sure what to do to set this up on the xlights side. I did do the setup for them a long time ago before the add lor icon was there, so should I just redo what I have using the add lor?
Merry Christmas,

Ralph Deweil
Ralph@christmasonmanhattan.com
www.christmasonmanhattan.com

Offline Gilrock

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Re: Mega Tree and star question
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2018, 05:36:36 AM »
For a LOR controller connected to a Falcon it looks no different to xLights than everything else on the Falcon.  Its just another E1.31 universe to xLights.  If you know how to set it up on the Falcon then you know you are assigning a universe to a serial output.  The Add LOR button is only if you are running a LOR dongle.