DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Smart String => Topic started by: chrisatpsu on December 28, 2011,
-
How have your nodes failed?
-
you forgot "White"
lol
Rick R.
-
can you edit it so anyone can make changes to the list?
-
Another symptom was a wet node could cause other nodes to turn white or weird colors farther down the line even if there was nothing wrong with those nodes.
-
The "second batch" (new style - new weatherproofing) of Ray's nodes started flipping out last night, we had a nice thick fog permeate the air.
The "first round" of Ray's nodes have been dropping like flies. Some stick on a color, some run at 1/2 brightness, some fail altogether - and all were double dipped in Plasti-Dip. <sigh>
We've not had a single issue with the SSC's or the hubs -OR- anything else of RJ's. If Ray could build to 1/10th of RJ's quality I'd be a reasonably happy fellow. :)
I should add, we're not using PC power supplies but the 12V 40A units Ray sells and no unit is running over 12 amps.
:) joe
-
i meant for the poll to be after everything was up outside.
-
i meant for the poll to be after everything was up outside.
The fog was OUTSIDE. We don't usually have fog inside unless I'm cooking... :)
:) joe
-
i meant for everyone, once they weeded out the problem nodes, then hung them up outside,
i wanted to see what happened to the nodes once in the elements, and how bad of an issue it was (until dried, or fubar)
-
It would be interesting to separate this poll out from IP67 vs IP68.
Turns out that I had a mixture, when I originally thought that I had all IP68.
My results cannot (at this time) be attributed to IP68.
-
I misunderstood the intent of your survey. I agree with Steve, separating out the IP67 verses IP68. I’m not happy with the IP67 nodes at all, of 1300-some nodes nearly 300 have passed on.
Of the 512 IP68 nodes, nine have failed and after sitting “full on white†all day in bright sunshine and currently 52 degrees, they’ve not “repaired themselves.â€
:) joe
-
When I had my strings up I had one string that was on all the time with mostly white but there were other colors mixed in. I had about 4 strings where the top half stayed on with random colors. After I took them down and put them in the basement and connected them back to the hub with a random sequence on Vixen and 3/4 of the strings were fine but some were stuck at some point or another. If I squeezed the node just after the last working node of a string I could get the string working again fully but often after a few minutes it would stop again. When I inspected some of those nodes in question I noticed the normally clear casing had a brown tint to it. I am working on a new way to use them on the mega tree that will allow me better waterproof my pixel nodes.
-
the poll is somewhat skewed, because there is no option for folks who had no problems whatsoever. I understand your trying to gauge what kind of failures, etc. All of my nodes problems were DOA variety. Since they have been outside, no problems at all.
-
the poll is somewhat skewed, because there is no option for folks who had no problems whatsoever. I understand your trying to gauge what kind of failures, etc. All of my nodes problems were DOA variety. Since they have been outside, no problems at all.
You must have been lucky enough to get the ip68 version. My lone strand of ip68 hasn't had any issues with rain and wasn't dipped in plasti-dip. Of my older nodes I replaced around 70 out of 1008 after the first rain. And approximately 8-10 every other rainstorm. I always wait 24 hours after rain before trying to run the nodes.
-
I haven't dipped or otherwise waterproofed any of my nodes ... but I did installed them into a fairly weatherproof enclosure and caulked it. It also can drain out the bottom of my skirted enclosure as needed. But that said, it doesn't rain in Colorado in December and would be a fairly rare weather event here. I have had a LOT of snow, but its a dry air snow and never had any of the moisture or humidity related issues that most people encounter. The material I mounted the nodes into is the material you buy from Home Depot for doing shower wall wraps with. Its like a thin plastic leather material. My node are mounted into enclosures through holes drilled into that material and and then caulked around the edges. Its not 100% watertight, but probably plenty water tight for snow.
-
The material I mounted the nodes into is the material you buy from Home Depot for doing shower wall wraps with. Its like a thin plastic leather material. My node are mounted into enclosures through holes drilled into that material and and then caulked around the edges. Its not 100% watertight, but probably plenty water tight for snow.
What you describe almost seems like "indoor use". ;)
-
Well thats true, I built an enclosure to mount them into and caulked it up. Those are my star toppers. I knew the nodes might not be water resistant, so this was the solution. I had a structure for the star anyways, so this was just a skirt around it to protect the nodes. I honestly didn't trust them in the elements, but hopefully they wouldn't have any issues. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this post in any way.
-
i'm not really trying to get a feel for what happens to these nodes all encompassing, just focusing on those nodes that had failures once in the weather.
i really just want to see what happens when the leaky ones get in the rain, do they fry themselves, or recover once dryed.
thread hijacking is ok in this thread as long as it's related to waterproofing nodes : )
-
I did have 2 that caught fire until the ribbon cable melted in half. The first 1 didn't blow any fuses on the hub. The 2nd did. As to drying I always waited 24 hrs after rain before testing. I never had one recover myself even using a hair dryer. But I didn't wait more than 2 days before replacing.
-
As per my post in the other failure thread. I have a 1920 node Megatree. We have not had any bad weather until this week, but it has been very cold with frost and thaw every day. This week it has rained every day and I have had no failures yet. I do have 2 nodes that stay on green until the show runs, but they have been that way since day 1. Mine are the newer IP68 nodes with no treatment at all except CorrosionX in the Cat5 plugins.
-
I've placed my SSC's in thick wall clear plastic bags, and zip tied where the cables come out, i know it's not IP68, but maybe IP67 and enough coverage to keep them from sitting in water.
-
i'm considering getting plastic bag tubing that you could trim to any length -- and using zip ties as you suggest.
the other option is the press and seal (which will no doubt be more expensive).
any thoughts about which might be more water-tight? (i have 'dry-river beds' that aren't so dry on christmas day. :) )
any problems with removing the press and seal? annoying residue?
thx
-
my SSC's just have silicone caulk on all the entry points and they have been out in all the elements like that ... have about 20" of snow like that and they are working fine. I do keep them off the ground, so it would take 2+ feet of snow to bury them.
My SS HUB in the battery box has been completely buried ... but I found it must have a little heat ... cause it melted the snow around the battery box in just a couple of days and basically unburied itself nicely.