Simplest thing is driving me INSANE!

[ndonnelly81]

Hoping someone can help me figure this out as Ive been trying to fix this since last year.

I simply want the 5 columns in the front of my house to display as they do in the xlights preview.

Please see video attachments of whats happening though...

in the preview, the effect is synchronized on left and right side of columns. However in real life, it behaves more like a chase. Seems like it should be a simple thing, right? 

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!


My equipment:
Hinkspix Pro w/
48 SPI outputs & LR Expansion Board running 24 additional outputs.

[allknowing2012]

If the preview in xlights is correct then it has something to do with your wiring/fpp/controller not matching your configuration in xlights.

[kenoman742]

Try changing the render style to "Per model default". That will probably change the way it acts.

[ndonnelly81]

Thanks for the help although those changes didn't fix the issue. I think it must have something to do with the pixel strips as my 'bullet' style pixels all function as expected.

As you can see in the attached photos- only "NODES 1-50" affect the display. In other words nodes 1-50 light the entire string. Nodes 51-150 dont have any effect on the remaining string of 150 total pixels.

I'm using Smart / Pixel RGB LED Strip 30 LEDs/m 10 Pixels/m from holidaycoro.
https://www.holidaycoro.com/30-10-Pixel-Strip-with-10-Foot-Extension-p/706-wp.htm



I reached out to holidaycoro and ensured that I've configured the hinkspix controller and long range expansion board correctly. However is seems like just the pixel strips are not being interpreted by xlights properly. It's like they're being allocated 3x the number of channels needed?

Just cant figure out which value(s) to change to get the preview models to cooperate in real life.

[ndonnelly81]

Just realized I could easily illustrate my entire problem with this one simple video (attached).


Both sets of lights are 150 pixels. Both are programmed exactly the same in xlights and on the controller.
the problem is The first set of lights (30/10 pixel strip) do not display properly like the second set in video, which does exactly what is shown in the preview.

fingers crossed that one of you has the fix!

Thanks again-

[Gilrock]

The problem is your strips only have 50 nodes.  It's 10 pixels per meter and 5 meters long so 50 pixels total.  I think you got confused because it says 30 Leds per meter but that's because each controllable pixel lights up 3 leds.  So it's 150 visible leds but only 50 nodes/pixels.

[ndonnelly81]

Got it but does each strip still have 450 channels? Or should the "channels" also be reduced by a factor of 3?

Second question- Since all of my strips (and I have A LOT of them) have all been set up as 150 pixels/450 channels, what part of the chain do I change? For the Hinkspix- I have several data entry spots:

A- The e131 output settings, which asks for:
 "Channels per universe"
(photo attached)

B- The hinkspix long range differential output settings tab, which asks for:
"Pixel Count"
(photo attached)

C-The xlights controller tab, which asks to define:
"Individual Sizes"
(photo attached)

D- The xlights model design details, which in this example, asks for:
#pixels left/right, Top, Bottom
(photo attached)

I'm genuinely sorry to be asking so many questions and extremely grateful for all the assistance I'm getting here.

Many, many, many thanks to all!
 

[ndonnelly81]

Sorted it out! For anyone else that encounters this issue- I had to change the values in every section mentioned in the previous post (channels per univ, pixel counts, individual sizes in xlights)  + re-draw all my custom models and recalculate the math for every prop that I used ? Pixel Strips ? on. Was a pain but problem is now solved!  Thanks all!

[Gilrock]

Not sure how you fixed it but your strips are 50 pixels/150 channels each.