DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Zeus => Topic started by: RJ on January 08, 2014,
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Can anyone that was able to get and use their Zeus's give me feedback on things I need to look at on them for bug fixes, changes etc?
RJ
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the only issue I had with my two zues was channels sticking on full. for the most part my 2 zues ran great once set up properly, but the last week of the show being up and running, I had about 30 channels on one string that would stay on full even after a reboot several times. I did not reflash the pic due to the show was almost done and weather has been a doozy this year so I would just unplug the power to the zues overnight and plug it back in the next day. even after doing that everyday and night for a week, they would still stay lit full on threw half of a string, right in the middle. the nodes prior to and after were working fine.
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Normally that would be a string issue with a node not passing data along so the nodes after it stay struck where they are. You can also see this the voltage at the end of a string gets to low. Not to say we could not have an issue but I would look there first.
RJ
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You may also swap the string with the stuck channels with the one next to it during the "reboot". If the problem follows the port, then the issue is with the Zeus and if the problem still stays with the string, then the problem is the string.
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RJ, I had zero issues with the Zues. I ran it for 5 hours every night for 34 nights. I never powered it down. On the Zues I used 12 of the 16 ports to control my first year version of Flex RGBs I purchased, when we start SSCs and active hubs a few years ago. Each port controlled 99 nodes each. It is an amazing device.
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I've discovered that one channel that was acting up on a Zeus for me ... controlled an up and down pair of conduit (128 SS nodes) went from working perfectly, to occasionally getting stuck on both sections, to later working fine on the up section, then dying on the down section at a certain node. I think a node was perhaps failing and eventually died and stopped passing signal. It actually worked better after the node died, because the nodes up to that point become reliable ... and I just lost the downward 64 nodes only which was a smaller issues than having both of them stopping. I don't blame that on the Zeus, but it could have caused some other problems I was seeing when going from zeus to zues .... since the problem all originated zeus on this channel which I now know has the failed SS node on it. Overall it worked awesome ... running 3 on a 24 string pixel tree and running 1 on 8 string matrix. I even blew a fuse somehow while programming it ... but its nice to know that works and they were easy to replace. Its a nice improvement over the SS hub fuses which blow but are harder to replace. I think the ability to address to 2 pixelnet universe range might be a nice enhancement and as well as a second pixelnet out. Again, overall very satisfied and impressed with the zeus. It was also a much easier build for me than doing 16 ssc(s). Soldering the fuse holders in was a bit challenging but learned a few tricks to me even that fairly easy. THanks RJ !!
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I am wondering of there is an issue with power distribution. Low power and / or excessive voltage drop can cause many of these issues.
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Glad to here guys
Tbone - the traces are heavy on the Zeus is heavy so there should be very little drop there. Not to say it is not the issue but it should have anything 16 ports of a hub will handle without issues.
RJ
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Glad to here guys
Tbone - the traces are heavy on the Zeus is heavy so there should be very little drop there. Not to say it is not the issue but it should have anything 16 ports of a hub will handle without issues.
RJ
Man, it sucks when you read your own post later and can't understand it. <fp.
I have a hard time typing on small keyboards. I meant the traces are heavy on the Zeus so I would not expect this to be the issue.
RJ
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Do you feel for the cost to build it, that you get a lot of bang for the dollar? Or did we miss the mark on it?
RJ
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Without a doubt the Zeus was extremely cost effective. The cost per 128ch SS controller is far less than even the SSC v4 and it saved me both money and time because the zeus is a quicker/easier build than 16 SSC(s) and they all share a single cheap battery box enclosure (no pvc cutting, caps, drilling) ... and even attaching the waterproof connectors to the Zeus was faster/easier than soldering on to SSCs. Yes, its not going to replace the SS HUB(s) and SSC's ... but for a pixel tree or matrix ... excellent price/value. I was initially tempted at the Zeus8, but I decided the extra channels made the Zeus16 a better buy ... and it was nice having that extra capacity in case a channel blew a fuse or otherwise had issues. Note: I did blow one fuse and had I needed all 8 channels on a Zeus8 I might have been in trouble ... but with the Zeus16, I just moved used the next spare channel, reprogrammed its info ... and skipped replacing the fuse till after the season was over.
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Glad to here guys
Tbone - the traces are heavy on the Zeus is heavy so there should be very little drop there. Not to say it is not the issue but it should have anything 16 ports of a hub will handle without issues.
RJ
Man, it sucks when you read your own post later and can't understand it. <fp.
I have a hard time typing on small keyboards. I meant the traces are heavy on the Zeus so I would not expect this to be the issue.
RJ
I understood you the first time so there was no need to correct what you said. I have not built mine yet and have no doubt that you took current draw into consideration when designing the traces but there are many things that could cause voltage issues. I just opened the box and am looking at the board and one possible issue that I see is that the holes for the fuse holders are way larger than the pins on the fuse holders and this can lead to possible issues with soldering. If those fuse holders wiggle while the solder is cooling down it could cause a cold solder joint an we know how well they conduct. If people don't strip the wires on the strings properly, you could have excessive breakage at the connection, again causing significant voltage drops. As for the device itself, I think that it is a great idea and for it's intended puproses, you simply can't get more bang for the buck. Great job RJ.
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The Zeus has proved to be a very robust design for me so far. I Placed the Zeus16 in a battery box and hooked it up to my 12 string by 80 node, (folded over to produce a 24 by 40 node) megatree. Testing went so well that in my excitement, I failed to replace the top on the battery box. Of course it started to rain overnight. The next day my wife called me at work and informed me that the megatree had turned on by itself. I had her unplug it and she replaced the missing cover, but the damage was done. I brought everything back into the house when I got home from work. I pulled the pigtails off and let the board dry in front of a hair dryer set on low for about 6 hours. After a indoor test I hooked everything back up outside and it has worked flawlessly every night since. This includes the -15 degree actual, -40 degree windchill of the past couple of nights. Needless to say, I am impressed.
Thanks RJ.
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Do you feel for the cost to build it, that you get a lot of bang for the dollar? Or did we miss the mark on it?
RJ
most cost efficient piece i believe you've built yet. AWESOME IS THE WORD! i used two of them on my mega tree and will have 2 more for this year for a matrix.
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<wd.. <wd..
The Zeus has proved to be a very robust design for me so far. I Placed the Zeus16 in a battery box and hooked it up to my 12 string by 80 node, (folded over to produce a 24 by 40 node) megatree. Testing went so well that in my excitement, I failed to replace the top on the battery box. Of course it started to rain overnight. The next day my wife called me at work and informed me that the megatree had turned on by itself. I had her unplug it and she replaced the missing cover, but the damage was done. I brought everything back into the house when I got home from work. I pulled the pigtails off and let the board dry in front of a hair dryer set on low for about 6 hours. After a indoor test I hooked everything back up outside and it has worked flawlessly every night since. This includes the -15 degree actual, -40 degree windchill of the past couple of nights. Needless to say, I am impressed.
Thanks RJ.
Wow! Can't wait to get mine in the next couple days and play...
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Is this the only ones to comment? I know only a certain number were able to get them and build them this year but if you did let me know what your experience was like with it so I can improve it.
RJ
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As I said before, the zeus worked perfectly well, outside of one minor issue, that was solved fairly easily by reprogramming it.
The addition of manually changeable fuses is (to me) one of the best breakthrough in the design compared to a HUB/SSC solution. In 2012, I had a few fuses blowing on some HUBS, and there was no way I could have changed them during the season. This year I was looking forward to having some blow on the Zeus :P
It would be great to be able to maximize the outputs. Currently the maximum load is 16 strings of 85 pixels, as anything above that ends up on more than one pixelnet universe. It is not uncommon to have megatrees with 32 strings of 50 nodes (16 folded strings of 100 nodes) or matrices of more than 1360 pixels. Of course, that means bigger PS but anyone going for those kind of numbers will not be stopped by the price difference between a 600W PS and a 800+W PS.
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I just received my 3 Zeus 8's and was able to get them built and test this weekend RJ the cost of the controller is just unbelievable for the controller I have built and all I am doing at this time is playing with it. I am new to pixelNet this year and I still need to get my head wrapped around it. I have seen a few times if I turn the Zeus on before the PixelNet EtherDongle
Some of the pixels will come on but as soon as I turn the dongle on they go out other than that I have seen no other issues at this time. Great Job
Richard
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What might be very nice is the ability to jumper a zues16 so that the first 8 channels use a certain pixelnet universe and the second 8 channels use a second pixelnet universe. Yes, very often they might be set the same, but if you had say 16 128 node strings, that's over 6k channels .... So would be nice to be able to split those up into two pixelnet universes somehow. Another nice to have would be an option for a second pixelnet out.
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What might be very nice is the ability to jumper a zues16 so that the first 8 channels use a certain pixelnet universe and the second 8 channels use a second pixelnet universe. Yes, very often they might be set the same, but if you had say 16 128 node strings, that's over 6k channels .... So would be nice to be able to split those up into two pixelnet universes somehow. Another nice to have would be an option for a second pixelnet out.
It would add about $10 but I could make it where each string could be set to any of the four universes. the design was done as is for cost reasons. I was trying to make a very cost effective device.
This would be something we would need to decide if people want soon before coops are running.
RJ
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It would add about $10 but I could make it where each string could be set to any of the four universes. the design was done as is for cost reasons. I was trying to make a very cost effective device.
This would be something we would need to decide if people want soon before coops are running.
RJ
RJ,
This might be a really nice option for quite a few people. It would allow the end user the ability to set up their software easier by utilizing the hardware option. I know I used Vixen 3 last year and I'll actually handle all my set up via the software, but for some other software, it might be easier for the end user to set it up in the hardware. It would just make it that more versatile of a product. Would also be nice for utilizing larger PS with multiple options.
Just my 0.02!
Duane
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The focus on being cost effective is very much appreciated!
I would not want any coop to be held up because of these 'nice to haves'.
I will say that for my own show, I seem to have a lot of unused pixelnet channels in various pixelnet universes ... so having the ability to set each channel to its own universe would be a significant bonus for me (well worth the $10) because I could utilize a lot of the unused ranges I have ... and that would eventually save me from having to get a third etherdongle at some point. Most of those unused pixelnet channel ranges were created by having to assign each active/or/passive hub/zeus to a single pixelnet universe and usually the leftover channels were insufficient to assign another hub or zeus to.
For example ... here are my free/unused pixelnet channels for my two etherdongles (4 pixelnet/PN universes each). You can see that it would be hard to fit a fully loaded zeus into any of these free ranges, except the one totally free 4096 universe. And if the Zeus had (16) 128 node strings on it ... the 6192 channel could then be spread out into 4 different universes to help fill those empty ranges.
ED#=etherdongle
PN-U#=pixelnet universe#
ED#1-PN-U#1 - 1401 free (range#1)
180 free (range#2)
293 free (range#3)
ED#1-PN-U#2 - 2425 free
ED#1-PN-U#3 - 647 free (range#1)
121 free (range#2)
47 free (range#3)
ED#1-PN-U#4 - 4096 free
ED#2-PN-U#1 - 613 free
ED#2-PN-U#2 - 613 free
ED#2-PN-U#3 - 1774 free
ED#2-PN-U#4 - 1000 free
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$10.00 does not seem like much if it gives the user a little more flexibility and it still keeps it cheaper than the other pixel controllers I use.
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RJ, can the pcb be updated to allow optional components like we do with the 12v option on the hubs? Without the options you are on the universe like the current Zeus, with the options installed you get to pick.
Either way I'm in, the extra $10 for the flexibility would be worth it.
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RJ, can the pcb be updated to allow optional components like we do with the 12v option on the hubs? Without the options you are on the universe like the current Zeus, with the options installed you get to pick.
Either way I'm in, the extra $10 for the flexibility would be worth it.
I would like to see a 12v ONLY version (dual 12v input)....with 16 ports some of the bench supplies I have wouldn't support the full load to drive 16 ports.
Additionally, (and i'm thinking about down the road when you might want to look at retiring a product like the active hub), add the ability to connect one port to a downstream SSC. Then we have flexibility to connect display items in the yard at a longer distance. If costs become an issue with that design, then maybe not a good idea.
Also the ability to vacuum the floor in my house would be nice, and perhaps catch up on some laundry on Sundays for me. Oh wait....I'm getting off topic now aren't i.
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Not to focus too much on my last comment, but I'm just starting to drool at the thought of being able to "plug up" (use up) all these unused pixelnet ranges with a zeus board. Because even using a hub (or current zeus), your "landlocked to a single pixelnet universe" and the free ranges that one pixelnet universe has (usually not enough) ... but if RJ were to make this assignable on a new zeus16, then a zeus could use up free pixelnet channels on 'up to' 4 pixelnet universes which would be a dream. I was originally thinking just 2 universes by the way RJ is thinking is far better, because its far more versatile.
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Ok this is what I came up with. It has a four way jumper for each string and allows you to choose which universe each string is listening to. The additional cost on a 100 unit coops is $9.15 for the extra parts. Before I order proto pcbs is everyone on board with the cost increase for this capability?
If so I will order a couple of boards and see if the beta guys will run them throught the paces so we can get ready for a coop.
RJ
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WOW
I"m certainly ok with it (for the reasons listed above) ...
THANKS RJ !!! <res.
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+1 for me as well..
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I think this is a great idea!
Kevin
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WOW, thanks RJ; that was quick.
I think for the small increase in cost it sure gives you a lot more flexibility. With the way the channels have been expanding over the last few years, having the ability to choose the universe is becoming a requirement.
Denny
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Ok this is what I came up with. It has a four way jumper for each string and allows you to choose which universe each string is listening to. The additional cost on a 100 unit coops is $9.15 for the extra parts. Before I order proto pcbs is everyone on board with the cost increase for this capability?
RJ
It seems to me that to anyone who might want to go more than 1365 pixels in an single location (big matrix/megatree, addition pixel strings nearby) or to just give some room for expansion $9.15 is a ridiculously low price to pay. I'm a little sorry that I already bought and put together 2 Zeus 16s, because this will be hard for me to pass on. It theoretically increases the number of potential channels from 4096 to 6144 an increase of 50%.
Due to the underwhelming response to my Zeus 4 suggestion :) I am assuming that a Zeus 4 is not in the cards for a coop at this time.
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Awesome 9 bucks is nothing compared to the benefits you gain.
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Due to the underwhelming response to my Zeus 4 suggestion :) I am assuming that a Zeus 4 is not in the cards for a coop at this time.
Yeah unless more people have a need for it it would not be cost effective to do. The biggest issue for most I think is the cost would not be very much different from the zeus 8. If we could do it for half the cost it likely would be more attractive to members but that isn't possible.
RJ
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Would you be planning on adding the option to the Zeus 8 as well ?
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Would you be planning on adding the option to the Zeus 8 as well ?
. I was not planning it as space may be an issue. Not sure yet.
RJ
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That is an awesome option for the Zeus for the price
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I think it is a great idea and the additional cost is minimal.
I just have a quick question, that if you would prefer, we could take offline. I will post it here and if you find that you want to discuss privately, then just send a reply via a message.
Couldn't this functionality be achieved in software? Do you have 3 additional i/o pins available so you could connect the other 3 universes to each of the PICs and select the universe in software? I am not taking a stab at anything you are doing, just asking a question.
Thanks,
Charles/Egenoup
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Unfortunately, that won't likely work since the serial input of the PIC is only connected to one pin on the package. It's not until you get to the PIC32 family of chips where you can connect the serial input to one of many pins and select which one you are using in software.
/mike
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This sounds like a great idea and would save on both hardware cost and board space. The two issues that I see with doing this is that you would not know from looking at the board what universe the port is connected too and that it would once again make the configuration utility incompatible between the Zeus and the V4 SSC.
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That answers that!.... Never mind my question then... I sometimes forget which microcontrollers have hardware serial vs software... but thanks for the clarification.
My vote is for additional hardware for the added functionality. <wd..
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5 protos pcbs have been ordered. It will be about 3 weeks. I will need at least one person willing to build it and test it for me.
RJ
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I will put my name in the hat
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I'd love to build and test a Zeus.
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It appears that for those that have unassembled Zeus kits, the difference would be the 'new' PCB and the 15 pins and jumpers... (I hope I didn't miss anything). This upgrade kit would be could be included in the COOP.
Larry
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and three additional Rs485 chips and sockets.
RJ
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Would you be planning on adding the option to the Zeus 8 as well ?
. I was not planning it as space may be an issue. Not sure yet.
RJ
The Zeus 16 ver2 is saving me this year. I forgot I ordered two of them and was trying to figure out how to solve my issues with the hardware I had. My situation could have taken advantage of the Zeus 8 with the selectable universes if one was available. My situation is five 18 x 42 matrixes wrapped around palm tree trunks. I am using six 128 node strings. The problems were 2304 channels per matrix and the trees being at least 20 feet apart with only 4 universes of 4096 channels. Some are a further distance then that. I would have been wasting a bunch of channels, Zeus ports and boards to get it done. I know there are more parts I could buy to get around the issues but when I realized I had the Zeus 16 ver2 boards it made my day. It will allow me to use those channels on the other universes that would have gone to waist. If the Zeus 8 had the ability to fit this option it could have been done with five of them and not having to use the 16. I appreciate your designs and hope one day to see the option on all Zeus Boards. Thanks again.
Jerome