Re: Received Smart Strings poor quality

[Pete]

I just emailed Ray (per his request) providing photos of my defective nodes.  I had to send him a link to the photos because the file was too large to email.  There are 344 photos of 344 defective nodes.     

This is about 20% of my entire smart string order.  I ordered 32 of the 50 node strings and 3 of the 128 node strings and every string has defects.  50% , 2 of 4 flex strips do not work, 1 of 6 rectangle strings do not work and one 50 node string does not work.

I was sent one 4-wire node string by mistake and the quality of that string compared to what we are experiencing is without comparison, almost perfect.  That means the capability is there, we’re just not getting it.

I let you know what the outcome of this is when I hear back from Ray.

Here is the link to photos of my defective nodes:

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Pete

[Pete]

I just emailed Ray (per his request) providing photos of my defective nodes.  I had to send him a link to the photos because the file was too large to email.  There are 344 photos of 344 defective nodes.     

This is about 20% of my entire smart string order.  I ordered 32 of the 50 node strings and 3 of the 128 node strings and every string has defects.  50% , 2 of 4 flex strips do not work, 1 of 6 rectangle strings do not work and one 50 node string does not work.

I was sent one 4-wire node string by mistake and the quality of that string compared to what we are experiencing is without comparison, almost perfect.  That means the capability is there, we’re just not getting it.

I let you know what the outcome of this is when I hear back from Ray.

Here is the link to photos of my defective nodes:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Pete

Here is the latest update - I just received an email from Ray and he wants to only send me replacement nodes 344 of them plus the other defective items.

I don't believe that his offer is acceptable as I paid good money expecting to receive a reasonable quality product.  It would take me many hours splicing 344 nodes into 35 strings not to mention the cost of the supplies needed to do this. 

I have emailed him back stating I wanted all my defective pixel strings replaced with defect free strings along with the other defective items.

We shall see what happens next!

Pete

[Corey872]

Wow, Pete those things look like sh!#!  I guess any form of QA is out the window.  Kudos to you for taking 340+ photos.  Hopefully they will work with you.


Edited by RJ for Language

[PJNMCT]

...time to go back and double check mine!!!

-Paul

[dmoore]

This is about 20% of my entire smart string order.  I ordered 32 of the 50 node strings and 3 of the 128 node strings and every string has defects.  50% , 2 of 4 flex strips do not work, 1 of 6 rectangle strings do not work and one 50 node string does not work.

Holy smokes - you are not kidding.  In the better than a year that I've been ordering from Ray I've never received that level of quality issues (I did get a few 5m pixel strips that were DOA).  I feel for ya.

[rm357]

i don't know if the nodes are all that bleeding edge. they have been around in a standard DMX 4 wire configuration for quite a while now so i don't thinks it's a case of never having made them before. i think Ray just didn't expect the amount of orders he got hit with when RJ released the details and now he is struggling and rushing (= poor quality) to get the orders all filled in a reasonable amount of time.

Just to put things in perspective, if we were running the smart strings on DMX, my planned display would take 10 universes. Pixelnet runs many times faster than DMX because it has to... Most of the software that we currently have available is probably going to struggle with this kind of channel count. I'm hoping that what we will have soon will be up to the task...

It is true that the core technologies have been around a few years, but the first commercial products that are similar just came out just last year. The stuff that you find at the big box stores requires you to cut the controller off and build your own if you want any control...

[fjaust]

i don't know if the nodes are all that bleeding edge. they have been around in a standard DMX 4 wire configuration for quite a while now so i don't thinks it's a case of never having made them before. i think Ray just didn't expect the amount of orders he got hit with when RJ released the details and now he is struggling and rushing (= poor quality) to get the orders all filled in a reasonable amount of time.

Just to put things in perspective, if we were running the smart strings on DMX, my planned display would take 10 universes. Pixelnet runs many times faster than DMX because it has to... Most of the software that we currently have available is probably going to struggle with this kind of channel count. I'm hoping that what we will have soon will be up to the task...

It is true that the core technologies have been around a few years, but the first commercial products that are similar just came out just last year. The stuff that you find at the big box stores requires you to cut the controller off and build your own if you want any control...

yes you are right. i did mean just the nodes and not what RJ has done with the Pixelnet protocol. my mistake for not explaining clearly.

[chrisatpsu]

i agree. they sell a lot of pixels that "look" like the ones for the smart strings. Even though the wires, and the guts may be a little deifferent, you'd think they'd have the molding down right.

[dmoore]

Just to put things in perspective, if we were running the smart strings on DMX, my planned display would take 10 universes. Pixelnet runs many times faster than DMX because it has to... Most of the software that we currently have available is probably going to struggle with this kind of channel count. I'm hoping that what we will have soon will be up to the task...

We did some testing last year with LSP at 8k channels at it worked...not super fast but it worked.  I ran 6 universes without too many issues (considering).  LSP 1.x is currently be re-written from single threaded to mutli-threaded so supporting 10 universes should be childs play if you go with LSP.

[tbone321]

Here is the latest update - I just received an email from Ray and he wants to only send me replacement nodes 344 of them plus the other defective items.

I don't believe that his offer is acceptable as I paid good money expecting to receive a reasonable quality product.  It would take me many hours splicing 344 nodes into 35 strings not to mention the cost of the supplies needed to do this. 

I have emailed him back stating I wanted all my defective pixel strings replaced with defect free strings along with the other defective items.

We shall see what happens next!

Pete

I would be a little careful asking to much or he may just request that you send the the strings back to him for replacement or refund.  I agree that you should get what you paid for but if he sends you that many replacement nodes and lets you keep the others I think that you would be way ahead even with the time and material cost to replace them. 

[RJ]

I do not think wanting them replaced is asking too much that is what should be done. Had I got them that way I would. I did let him know that if he was not going to make sure this is corrected and send good stuff out that I was going go direct to a factory and have them made for us at another factory.

RJ

[tbone321]

I'm not saying that it's wrong in any way to want them replaced but to me it would be more desireable to have the replacement nodes as well as the old ones.  I doubt that Ray could send him 35 strings without getting the old ones back and I don't know if he would be all to willing or be able to pay for the return shipping.  I have yet to fully inspect my nodes.  Hopefully tomorrow I will and then we will see what Ray can and will be able to do.  If he just sends me replacement nodes I will be good because I could always repair the defective nodes and use them for spares later.

[Pete]

I would be a little careful asking to much or he may just request that you send the the strings back to him for replacement or refund.  I agree that you should get what you paid for but if he sends you that many replacement nodes and lets you keep the others I think that you would be way ahead even with the time and material cost to replace them.  

Let me tell how it is . . .

It is not my intention to gain anything more than what I actually paid for.  To expect anything more would not be ethical or right.  I would like to think that all of us that have ordered these lights from Ray expect to receive a quality product defect free in return for our money.  

Should you or I accept defective products and then agree to receive additional parts to make repairs then this will eventually become the norm.  What you are saying is that you are willing to accept sub-standard quality to receive additional product in return for your time and additional cost to make repairs.  I for one am not.


FYI - I have offered Ray to send the defective parts back to him at my expense.

Pete

[foxathome]

As the originator of this thread, I feel like I opened a serious can of worms!
Thanks to everyone who has offered an opinion and helped to formulate my decisions.
If this were a product I purchased at a big box store I would definately return it. As part of a DIY community I feel that an extra investment of my time to be in in touch with the product I am delivering is worth a little extra effort. As such I elected to have two extra strings shipped to me (I had 90 bad nodes on 16 strings of 75) so I am either ahead by a number of nodes or behind my original 16 strings as they are all afflicted with the same low quality disease. I ordered and paid for the controller that Ray has available to control these strings and have asked him to include it in the shipment of the light strings without shipping charge. Additionally I've asked for an extension on the escrow of the original shipment until I receive the controller that will allow testing of the strings and a promise of replacement if strings fail during the season. Not an agressive approach, but one that I am comfortable with.
Thanks to eveyone in this community, this has been a fun ride and I'm dying to make these things BLINK!!!!

[inzeos]

I would be a little careful asking to much or he may just request that you send the the strings back to him for replacement or refund.  I agree that you should get what you paid for but if he sends you that many replacement nodes and lets you keep the others I think that you would be way ahead even with the time and material cost to replace them.  

Let me tell how it is . . .

It is not my intention to gain anything more than what I actually paid for.  To expect anything more would not be ethical or right.  I would like to think that all of us that have ordered these lights from Ray expect to receive a quality product defect free in return for our money.  

Should you or I accept defective products and then agree to receive additional parts to make repairs then this will eventually become the norm.  What you are saying is that you are willing to accept sub-standard quality to receive additional product in return for your time and additional cost to make repairs.  I for one am not.


FYI - I have offered Ray to send the defective parts back to him at my expense.

Pete

Pete,  sounds like you got nothing working as it should be.  I would hope your money is still in escrow.  With an order of that size I would refuse to accept it and have Ray pay shipping for the returns and the replacements.  I'm not sure how the mechanics of the escrow and timing work; however, I would with draw my money or at least have the timer reset until all your produce is received defective free.

It's one thing to splice one or two nodes in; however, a few hundred splices means a few hundred weak points in your strings, which could become a nightmare to identify and fix during your show.