DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Express => Topic started by: memphislights on July 30, 2012,
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I remember in the early LE versions, 2-4, RJ originally specified a 3300uf, and possibly a 2200uf capacitor before that. I was able to have multiple LEs connected to a single power cord and power them all on at the same time. Since I swapped over to primarily LE v5s, all with the 4700uf capacitor, it seems that even with only 2 LEs plugged into the same extension cord, both fail to post. A single LE on the same cord posts fine.
I plan on swapping a few LE caps back to lower values to test the theory that the capacitor is possibly drawing too much current at startup and messing with the posting process.
Anyone have any ideas if this could be a legitimate cause of the issue that I am seeing?
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Last Year using LED lights I had 7 LE v5 all plugged into 1 wall outlet using multiple extention cords. Not sure if this could be yout issue, but make sure all have the same hot and common lines wired into the LE's.
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Polarity is/was the same on all units. The problem is not simply having multiple LEs plugged into a single outlet. The problem occurs if you have 2+ LEs on a single extension cord, with a 3 way plug for example, and plug in the extension cord.
If the 1st LE connected and post was running, then plugging in a 2nd LE on the same cord is not an issue.
I can run multiple LEs on a single extension if I power on one at a time.
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What does the AC input voltage when additional expresses are plugged in? By itself, the express does not draw that much power. Changing the capacitor will not help.
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I have to agree with PK. You really need to see what the voltage drop is on that line because the LE doesn't pull that much power ad a voltage drop high enough to interfear with the postig process could be a fire hazzard wjhen the unita are powered up and pulling real power controlling lights. Have you tred a differet cord or a circui on a different breaker?
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Can someone define what he means by "posting" for we who are a electronically challenged??? <fp.
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Greetings,,,
Starting up and having all the leds, etc, coming up to proper start post position.
Keith
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For what it's worth it comes from "POST" --> Power On Self Test.
-Mike
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Like I said earlier, with a single circuit / power cord, if I power on one at a time, there is no issue. It only seems to happen if more than one LE is powered on at the same time.
99% of the display is LED, so overall power draw should not be an issue. Had the same issue plugged into a dedicated circuit, no load on the LE (no lights plugged into output). Have tried different power cords and of different lengths. Tried the Walmart surge protector with the RFI filter. Have tried multiple dedicated outlets at my house and friend's house where the display is run.
I finally have access to a kill-a-watt again, so I can test to see if there is an excessive voltage drop, which I cannot imagine either. The voltage drop may be quicker than the kill-a-watt may register though.
The reason that I was suspecting the size of the capacitor is that hardly ever had this issue with the v3 and v4 LEs. The PIC did not change, although the 3.3v voltage regulator has changed. That is why I am kinda zeroing in on the 4700uf filter/smoothing capacitor as a possible culprit. The issue also happens across multiple LE v5s, which is about all that is left after selling off the older v4s.
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The reason that I'm asking is that there are a whole lot of V5 LE's out therre and this is the first time I heard of this problem. If it was just an issue with the cap then it should happen regardless of any other LE's powering up which is what is making me think voltage drop. What is the line voltage at your house now and how lon have you been having this issue?
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How heavy an extension cord are you using. I had 2 v5 expresses on a 12 gauge 50 ft extension with no issues.
If you are trying to run them off of the little 18 and 16 gauge cords of any significant length, I could see the potential for that causing issues, regardless of what kind of lights are attached.
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Verify the 4700 uF has the white stripe (negative lead) facing to the right away towards the voltage regulator.
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have tried the following...
power strip with 6ft 14ga cord,
direct outlet with a 3 way plug,
25ft 16ga with a 3-way plug,
25ft 16ga with integral 3-way plug.
wall to 3-way with one LE connected, and an LE connected to a 25ft extension
tried coiling cables to increase inductance
have had the issue 2 seasons now, but 2 seasons ago was a mix of v3, v4, and v5s. There were only a few v5s, so it was not that big of a deal. now that the display is almost all v5s, it is more of a problem when having to go out and reset multiple groups of controllers.
If I stagger the startup, then everything works fine. If I flip on a single circuit to power on 2 LEs on a single cord, it will almost always result in neither LE posting.
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Maybe this will help what i did i had 1 extension cored with a 3 female end than i plugged in a couple more extenstion cords on and plugged a total of 4 expresses without any problems. I also did the same with 4 on the second cord and every night unplugged only the 2 going into the outlet and the next night plugged them back in without any problem.
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Maybe this will help what i did i had 1 extension cored with a 3 female end than i plugged in a couple more extenstion cords on and plugged a total of 412 expresses without any problems. I also did the same with 4 on the second cord and every night unplugged only the 2 going into the outlet and the next night plugged them back in without any problem.
412 Expresses ?
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412 LEs?? 6600 channels??
Where is this display? I've got to see it!!
I know that Jeff T. has a big show in Frisco... where is yours?
Reading past postings I see you built your first LE on Dec. 2010... you've been building these at 20/month?? WOW!
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I have plugged multiple LEs into one extension cord every season and never had a problem. I have V4s and V5s. Once they are powered up I never turn them off unless there is a problem or I am taking the show down. Since I have mostly LEDs I could run almost my whole show off one outlet, and that includes a 32 string megatree, total for all LEDs is less than 3a. On the other hand my incan mini trees pull 18a all by themselves and my arches run about another 18a. I have 3 fully populated LEs running the mini trees and they run off one outlet, one 50' 12ga extension cord connected to one 25' 12ga 3 outlet cord, I use only one outlet since I never turn all the lights on at the same time and I am outlet challenged from a physical location perspective. Next year the mini trees will be all LED..
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I have plugged multiple LEs into one extension cord every season and never had a problem. I have V4s and V5s. Once they are powered up I never turn them off unless there is a problem or I am taking the show down. Since I have mostly LEDs I could run almost my whole show off one outlet, and that includes a 32 string megatree, total for all LEDs is less than 3a. On the other hand my incan mini trees pull 18a all by themselves and my arches run about another 18a. I have 3 fully populated LEs running the mini trees and they run off one outlet, one 50' 12ga extension cord connected to one 25' 12ga 3 outlet cord, I use only one outlet since I never turn all the lights on at the same time and I am outlet challenged from a physical location perspective. Next year the mini trees will be all LED..
Never once have you been tempted to turn them all on at the same time??? ::)
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I use only one outlet since I never turn all the lights on at the same time and I am outlet challenged from a physical location perspective. Next year the mini trees will be all LED..
Never once have you been tempted to turn them all on at the same time??? ::)
I tried it once, that was enough. I do use 20amp gfci breakers
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That was a fat finger on this small android.
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I just had an issue tonight as I was testing my new batch of new LE's. I powered two up and one stayed on about 20 seconds and then quit. Unplugged it, plugged it in an it wouldn't start. Plug it into the wall and it worked fine. After messing around I found it was a bad outlet on the power strip I was using. When I moved it just right it would make it quit or turn on.
There for a few minutes I thought I had the same issue. :)
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...tried coiling cables to increase inductance
<la..
You're joking aren't you? (Coiling power cables is not a good idea, at all. How do you spell "fire?")
:) joe
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Coil was probably a poor choice of words. It was like three or four 8in loops. At the time, I was trying any suggestion to get around the problem.
Did some testing when I got home. Of course, with the last 6 LEs I built this year, no problems at all now. I am pretty sure that I did have the problem when I built them earlier this year. Go figure. Oddly enough, even though I am pretty sure that I reprogrammed and tested all 6 of the LEs, three of them had to be reprogrammed tonight. Could be I just missed programming them, but I am usually pretty good about testing each one as I complete one.
I'll pull some of last year's LEs down out of the attic and try again. If it works, good for me. I am more than happy to say that I am hallucinating and go on about my year.
I did think about a couple of other differences between the 6 I built this year, and almost all of the others. This batch does not have the hot and neutrals jumpered for a single input power cord yet.
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Well, pulled 3 random samples down from the attic. No issues. I dunno. I guess that I will have to wait till November to see if the issue pops up again.
For reference, I tried with and without a string of LEDs on every channel. It worked fine. I even tried cooling the regulators with canned air. Still works.
I guess at this point I cannot prove sanity.