Flex strips failing

[Mickpat]

I am using the same flex strips and setup from last year.  Tonight I went to video parts of my show and notice that some of my flex stips are failling.  3 stips remain partly lit all the time.  I disconnected the power from the hub and got differnet results, but the same strips have issues.  The strips worked fine yesterday.  Its been dry out with no rain.  A little cool, but it was much colder last year.  Any thoughts on why they would fail or what to check.  These are all SSC v1.  Here is a video.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.  Feeling ill.

[sielbear]

What happens when you move SSCs?  Do the problem strands follow the SSCs or do the same flex strips continue to act up?  This would start to isolate where the problem resides.  I'd swap two adjacent strands on the output of the SSC and see what happens.  If the problem follows the SSC change, it's an issue with SSC.  If the problem remains with the flex strip, you've likely got something odd going on with the flex strip.

I had one of my arches work perfectly the first day, completely misbehave the second day, and resume perfect functionality ever since.  I don't have a CLUE what fixed it.  I did some basic wiggle of the wires / disconnect and reconnect with no improvement.  I guess it was a Christmas miracle!!

[Mickpat]

I am hoping for a Christmas miracle.  All of the flex strips are on the roof so it will be this weekend before I have time to look at them.  I also didn't use pigtails which will make swapping them a real pain.  I basically have to take them down and resolder them.  I have two spares, but never expected 4 to go out the same day.  I am curious if more will fail this week. 

[sielbear]

Sorry to hear that - sounds like a bit of a pain.  I had to shorten the lead wires for about 10 of my strands on my Megatree.  It was going to be such a pain to take down I carried the iron out to the tree and setup shop for a couple of hours.  Wasn't ideal work conditions, but for the work I was doing, it was fine. 

You might consider cutting the lead wire in the middle and using that for your future soldering.  Just add some heat shrink tubing and you've got a pretty fast repair job. 

Are those 3 conductor cables?  If you like, I have some spare 3 conductor (male and female) I could spot you.  I shouldn't need them for the foreseeable future.  Let me know if you'd like me to send them your way.  Might make future jobs a bit easier and give some additional purpose to the soldering job this weekend.  Just let me know!

[Mickpat]

I think there maybe an issue with corrosion on the pigtails and cat5. 

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Right click on image to view original full size image.  Something is going on in there. 

I also notice that when I connect the cat5, the lights don't flash like they are getting power anymore.

I did apply some Noalox gel to prevent this, but maybe not enough.  I am going to use an eraser to try and clean these and see if that restores them.  I had this issue happen last year with my arches.  After they failed, I put them into the garage.  When I tested them later this summer, they worked fine.  Odd

 

[Mickpat]

Sorry to hear that - sounds like a bit of a pain.  I had to shorten the lead wires for about 10 of my strands on my Megatree.  It was going to be such a pain to take down I carried the iron out to the tree and setup shop for a couple of hours.  Wasn't ideal work conditions, but for the work I was doing, it was fine. 

You might consider cutting the lead wire in the middle and using that for your future soldering.  Just add some heat shrink tubing and you've got a pretty fast repair job. 

Are those 3 conductor cables?  If you like, I have some spare 3 conductor (male and female) I could spot you.  I shouldn't need them for the foreseeable future.  Let me know if you'd like me to send them your way.  Might make future jobs a bit easier and give some additional purpose to the soldering job this weekend.  Just let me know!

Thanks for the suggestion.  Splicing would work fine.  I was able to access a few of them through a window.  I am thinking there is an issue with the pigtail.  See pix.   I had the same issue happen last year with my arches.  Worked fine one day and failed the next.  This would be a easy fix, but need to figure out how to keep it from happening.

[Jeffl]

I had an issue like this last year with my BetaBrite signal cable that was a cat5 connector.  I used a fine wire brush on the male end and had to replace the female end.

Moisture and corrosion like this can cause havoc.

[gatorengineer]

Mickpat, from the pictures, I see heat damage.  In fact, I would go out on a limb and say it was on fire for a short amount of time.  At the bottom of the connection is rough plastic.  That is pyrolysis.  What likely happened is it got hot then the plastic around the connection caught fire.  The rub is that the plastic will not support combustion.  It will burn, but it has to have a heat source.  Once the heat is removed, it will auto-extinguish.  Then again, maybe the heat just got far enough away that it quite burning.  I'd have to see it in our lab, but this is what I do for a living.  The corrosion you are seeing is probably from the heat which causes the metal to oxidize.

The cause could be from corrosion (high resistance heating), bad connection or something else.  Maybe the stuff you put in there caused it.  I don't know.

I'd like to take a look at it if you wouldn't mind, but it's up to you.

[keitha43]

I had this happen with my Rainbow Floods that had cat5 connectors in supposedly waterproof housing that screwed together 2 years ago. I replaced those housings with 4 wire connectors similar to the 3 wire we use here. I haven't seen the issue with my nodes last year. I just had them in small cheap clear plastic tupperware type containers with notches cut out on either side for the cable and it kept the cat 5 piece suspended off the bottom of the container in case any moisture got in through the notches. I didn't use any chemicals.

[gatorengineer]

Most will think the water causes the problem directly.  This is not true.  The water would cool it enough to keep the fire from starting, but it's the effects the water has on everything.  When corrosion builds up, arcing can happen.  Yes, arcing does happen at 12 volts and lower.  The arc builds up extreme heat and ignites other items nearby.  The other issue that happens is you get a bad connection so higher than designed for amps have to flow which builds up heat.  Those are the two most common failure scenarios.

So, while keeping water out is important to prevent this, it is not the direct cause, but only its side effects that cause problems.

[Mickpat]

Here is the thread from last year where I had a similar issue. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.  After adding Noalax, they ran fine all season. 

gatorengineer, I can send you the pigtail.  PM me you address.

Would it just be a poor connection that is causing the issue?  Or maybe an inadequate power supply?  I am thinking I didn't apply enough noalax to the connector or they were not fully connected.

[bwhite505]

Why couldn't we just use the four pin waterproof connectors from Ray.  Just solder the three power together to one lead and the same with the ground the data and data ground.  This would completely eliminate the cat 5 pigtail.

Brian

[caretaker]

Here is the thread from last year where I had a similar issue. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.  After adding Noalax, they ran fine all season. 

gatorengineer, I can send you the pigtail.  PM me you address.

Would it just be a poor connection that is causing the issue?  Or maybe an inadequate power supply?  I am thinking I didn't apply enough noalax to the connector or they were not fully connected.

You may have not got enough NoAlox in there allowing the moisture in. GatorEngineer will be able to tell you more after he looks at it. 

[gatorengineer]

PM sent. 

If you guys get anything else like this, whether 120 volt or 5 volt, let me know.  I'll take a look at it.

[sielbear]

Interesting!!

I sprayed the heck out of my connections with corrosionx. Sprayed till a pool formed in the connector. Fingers crossed!