Flickering pixels

[lockey04@outlook.com]

Hi all I'm using the ethernet pixel controller, I have 100 pixels in port 1, 800 in port 2 and 800 in port 3.  I have a separate power supply for ports 2 and 3.  My problem is with port 2, I have 8 strings of 100 for a half megga tree (port 3 is another 8 strings), I seem to have random flickering lights for the first 2 - 3 hundred pixels, where the other ports on have one flickering pixel, I thought it must be a bad connection or cross wire.  I split down to one sting of 50 and all 50 flicker, so it is either coming for the Ethernet board or the first string is faulty. Any other ideas?

[sandy123]

Hi
Two common causes of this are power supply issues and the other one is data.
Pixels use a lot of power, so are you providing enough? Length of supply cable and wire gauge can also be an issue, so do you have a volt drop (i.e. is the voltage at each point of injection correct?
Data issues can be down to the data cable being too long and the data becomes corrupt (one indicator of this is random colours/ flashing of pixels). Either shorten the data cable of use a bigger wire gauge cable.
Chances are that your issue is caused by one of these two.
Hope that helps
Regards
Sandy

[Craig]

Totally agree with Sandy, power and data are usual causes.

One other cause can be a dead or faulty pixel. Dead pixels will cause havoc with the rest of the string as the data is not being relayed down the string correctly. Test each string in isolation to check all pixels are good. Test Red, Green, Blue and white on the whole string to help identify any bad pixels.

Craig

[sandy123]

Hi
I don't know if you have overcome this problem as you haven't given any updates, but there maybe another cause of this problem.
If it doesn't help you, it may help others in the future, so I thought I's mention it here.
You are using different power supplies for your outputs (Ports/LEDs). Have you 'commoned' all the grounds?
Each power supply ( e.g. 5v is referenced to ground - Potential Difference - not necessarily 5v to 0volts, it could be 6v to 1v etc.).
It is normal practice in electronics to ensure that all parts of a circuit are linked to the same ground, this is more so when it comes to connecting other circuit boards together. What that means is that every voltage in the circuits are referenced to the same ground (hope that makes sense!)
Anyway. Hope your display goes well
REgards
Sandy
Your symptoms really indicate the problem is due to my first response, as normally I would expect your pixels to be very erratic and possibly freeze if it was down to your grounds being at different potentials.