Well I finally got all (4) Zeus boards connected this weekend ... (3) on a 23 string RGB half megatree and (1) on a 8 string RGB matrix.
I noticed right away that I have certain lights which were "flickering" and also would randomly blink when OFF. They would also blink and produce random artifacts while xlights/nutcracker was sending data as well. So long story short, it didn't look good ... lots of noise.
So I noticed that it appeared that only the first 9 strings connected to Zeus#1 were having this problem and only on half megatree it was attached to.
I had the Zeus boards connected as follows:
Half Megatree========== Matrix=====
etherdongle --> Zeus1 ---> Zeus2 ---> Zeus3 ---> Matrix Zeus4
So as I said, all the problems seemed to be coming from Zeus1 connected channels.
Eventually I pulled that board and reprogrammed all channels and also change cat5 cords -- made no difference.
So finally after much trial and error to no avail, I ran my incoming pixelnet into Zeus#2 instead ... then the #3 ... then to #1. At turned out that none of them were terminated. Suddenly they worked perfectly.
ED -> Z#2 -> Z#2 -> Z#1 (not terminated)
So I terminated Z#1 and it made the Z#1 channels appear awful again. So I removed the termination and again all was well.
So then I thought maybe Z#1 output was bad, so I ran Z#2 -> Z#3 -> Z#4 (matrix) -> Z#1 ... and then Z#4 (the matrix) got the crazy light flickering problems instead! So I realized it was still terminated so I remove it ... but still no good. So I then terminated at Z#4 and still no good ... in face Z#4 and Z#1 were both bad now!!
So I went back to my known good arrangment of Z2 -> Z3 -> Z1 and no termination anywhere and life was good again. In fact, running the matrix on its own was also good (on Z#4) ... but termination seemed to make bad again. So again, I'm wondering when termination should ever be used, since it seems to only hurt me. Again, doing this all at about zero degrees F.
So now I realize I need to split my PN signal somewhere before I send one line to Z2,Z3 and Z1 and another line to Z4 (matrix). I had been using a PN splitter but the power cord detached and it seemed to not work anymore. Not sure what happened since its not fused, but when I put the cord back on ... it seems dead and I'm not sure how to test it other than it doesn't seem to work on anything but the passthru port.
So now thinking I'll use my space SS Active Hub as PN splitter since I can't find any way to make Z4 (matrix) interconnect with my Z1-Z3 (half megatree) without getting the artifacts/noise problem again.
Anyways, I just wanted to share my story because I was literally going nuts for hours and hours trying to figure out of I had bad nodes, a bad zeus, a bad cord ... or what. As it turns out, switching the order of interconnected and breaking the rules of termination ... worked, but it all seemed very illogical to me!
In fact while doing all this -- I recalled the scene in Christmas Vacation where Chevy Chase is out going crazy in his yard ... and really thinking that I was WORSE !!! LOL !!!
Scott
