Author Topic: Hello gurus im lost total newb first year  (Read 426 times)

Offline kryptic

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Hello gurus im lost total newb first year
« on: December 21, 2018, 06:59:10 PM »
Hi everyone im struggling with channel and universing 5 volt WS2811 5 volt pixels in xlights . When i try and add my Pi Cap to my other models that are running off my falcon F4v3  do i delete those models when connecting to just my pi cap, it wont connect to xlights in test or anything. Whats odd is that the old sequences I wrote last spring work for the pi cap but  I cant connect to the pi cap via xlights or add new sequences to the pi cap that work. Do i start from channel 1 with the pu cap in xlights even though my F4 V3 Falcon is already in my xlights program under channel 1. I also have a 16 channel Falcon F16v3 that I want to add now along with my Falcon F4V3 and the Pi Cap and the Falcon F16v3. Help Newb lost
Im very affraid to delete any of my working setup for my F4V3 due to it took me months to figure it out in xlights and FPp




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« Last Edit: December 21, 2018, 07:02:36 PM by kryptic »

Offline poporacer

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Re: Hello gurus im lost total newb first year
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2018, 11:15:00 AM »
I am not sure how you are adding a PiCap to a model? You don't need to delete any models. If you assign the correct start Universe and start channel to your models and the controller port connection and then set up the controllers to match your XLights setup then things should work. You can also use XLights to set up your controllers for you if you want and to simplify life. I think once you understand things it will start to make sense.
Let me see if I can clear things up.
Think of your show as a big city that needs mail. Each pixel needs a unique address so that the controllers (postal Delivery men) can deliver the information to the correct pixel (color, brightness, etc.) you can use absolute addressing and forget about Universes and channels and just start at 1 and keep counting up for the number of channels you need (3 channels for each pixel) but this can get confusing for some people, especially when you start moving models around or changing controllers because you will need to keep track of what "house" comes next in the delivery process, which might span several streets, ..which street first, then which street next, etc. So we can break things down into Universes and Channels to simplify how you are going to identify each pixel's location. So now we can break your city down into smaller sections, kinda like streets. So now you just need to know what street (universe) each "house" is on and what house you are going to start delivering on. You are the Postmaster for your city, so you get to decide how you want to assign "streets" and what works best for you. Keep in mind that you will then have to tell your mailmen (controllers) what houses they have to deliver to. After you design your city so that you can identify each pixel, then you need to tell your postmen "controllers" what houses they are responsible to deliver the information to. You can set up all of this information in XLights, and then use XLights to tell the postmen (upload to controllers) who they are responsible for delivering the information. I hope this makes sense and if you are having problems, include some screenshots in your next post and we will get you straightened out. XLights has a backup of your setups and depending on how you have your backups set up, you can always go back to a previous set up if you get things too screwed up.

Offline Gilrock

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Re: Hello gurus im lost total newb first year
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2018, 09:53:10 PM »
You wouldn't add a picap to xLights.  You just add the models for whatever connects to the Picap and then assign them free universes.  Then send those universes to the Pi and configure the Pi to route those universes to the Picap.  Same with the new Falcon F16v3.  Just add models and decide which universes to use and set them up in the Falcon.  It's going to take a little learning.  You can jump into the Zoom channel and seek help.