I need some help troubleshooting an issue I’m having getting some smart strings from Ray to work properly.
I first hooked up a batch of 20 square nodes to a TH2010-X controller – also from Ray. (These are the square nodes on the wiki and can be seen at You are not allowed to view links.
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Using a laptop-type power adapter rated to output 6000 mA (6 amps) and after wiring the controller to the square nodes, the first 15 light out of 20 worked properly. My assumption at the time was either:
1) #16 is bad and needs to be removed – and splice in some new ones or
2) The power adapter did not have enough power for the entire string.
See Wiring diagram below.
Wiring in the pics is:
Black - 12v + from power supply
Yellow - 12 -, COM or GND from power supply
Red - Smart string 12v +
Green - Smart string 12v -, COM
Blue - Smart string data
According to the wiki, 120 square nodes should consume 3.96 amps – well below the adapter’s 6amp capacity and I was only trying to power 20.
If power was an issue, I tried overcoming it by powering the unit with a 900-watt PC power supply that I will use later in an active hub – (74 amps of 12 vDC).
With the PC power supply – same results – 15 lit out of 20. <scratching head>
Thinking I had some bad nodes, I switched over to a 75-node smart string that I had just received in the same shipment. The wiki say 128 nodes should use 3.79 amps and therefore 75 should be no problem.
Hooked it all up according to wiring diagram and …
Same results – 15 nodes lit out of 20.
Hmmm.
Pull out another 75-node smart string … same result, 15 outta 20.
I find it nearly impossible that three strings can have identical failures, so I have ruled out #16 is bad on all three.
The controller seems to be working fine and I have seen many folks here using them to “burn in†RGB strings, so I thought this would be a germane topic.
Now I’m really stumped and don’t know what to do next.
Help?! Please.
What next? What am I doing wrong.