Smart pixels flickering all types of colors - Bad 485 chip??

[Penfold]

I have noticed that I am getting a bad flicker on some new pixels from Ray.  On the initial burn in I let them go for a couple of hours when I went to a dentist appt.  When I came back I noticed there was a slight flicker.  I spliced twenty pixels at a time and still noticed the flicker.  I took an old strand that I knew was good and I got the same flicker believe it or not.  My thought is that this is an indication of the 485 chip being faulty, as I was on a port that I previously didn't feed into.  I have since then replaced the fuses that I have been meaning to replace anyway. 

Thoughts anyone?

[sean815]

which version SSC are you using?  Try a different version and see if it corrects. It did for some of my strings.

[Penfold]

I'm using a SSC V2.  I have been using the same one interchangably until I started having the flicker problem.  Another interesting thing is that it seems to only happen on the Color Finder application and not in Vixen.  I haven't played with these nodes too much in vixen yet, but what I have run seems to run ok.

[rrowan]

I wouldn't be concern if the color finder program is causing flickering. I would be more concern if your sequence software was/ is causing a flicker. I didn't write that program with testing nodes in mind. Only to figure out the values need to get the color you want. The refresh rate of the program along with updating the number of channels you selected can/ will cause a flicker.

Sorry if that has cause you a problem.

Rick R.

[Penfold]

I had SSC V2 and these didn't have a test firmware that I could use to burn the lights in.  I used the Colorfinder to 1.  burn in lights and 2.  to find colors and let the kids play around with making color. 

I think if I do experience problems in Vixen I will try the V3 mod and go from there.

Thanks all.
 

[sielbear]

How long is your lead wire from SSC to first node (counting length of all connectors, etc)?  I had flicker on lots of my strands- shortened the lead wire to bare minimums and flicker gone.

[Penfold]

My strands are pretty much the three wire connector from Ray and the trailing end of the nodes, so I would say they are about as short as you can get.

[sielbear]

I made the 3 conductor pigtails shorter and noticed a big improvement. Worth a shot if you don't find other relief.