Author Topic: some flicker on green and white on sscv3  (Read 2574 times)

Offline mmciver

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some flicker on green and white on sscv3
« on: December 17, 2016, »
Hello everyone,

I have not been on in awhile but I am trying to get some of my pixel creations working so that I can put them up and play with them before I take down the display and store it.

BTW my show is up and working right now, but I love to tinker during the holidays, helps me get everything set and cables for next year so all i have to do is sequence:)

I have had great luck with the LYNX controllers and etherdongles, etc.  but these pixels tend to drive me a little nuts:)

I have a Merry Christmas sign that has multiple sscv3's running it.  The merry sign has less than 80 rectangular pixels.  I am not sure of the current draw, but I am running my test smarthub with a 350 watt supply.

In test mode everything works fine until green comes up, at that point I see a little flicker on the last r and y.  not bad.
when it switches to white i see flicker on all the letters.

Can anyone give me a hand in figuring this out?   

Thank you!

MIke.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone!
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Offline mmciver

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Re: some flicker on green and white on sscv3
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2016, »
I rechecked the wiki and if i calculated correctly the nodes are 52ma and at 80 nodes it should pull a little over 4amps.  the power supply should put out 18 amps, so I should have enough power.

I double checked the results on another power supply and a smartstring passive hub.  same results.

I have been working with pixels about 3 years and have yet to get any up due to frustration with flicker and bad pixels.  I really want to get my merry christmas sign, and candles up, but they just aren't functioning properly in test mode.

Getting them into a sequencer model to make them easy to sequence is the next challenge, but one thing at a time!  :)

MIke.
650000 lights!
160 Channels - 2010 numbers
RGB elements
Combo Mega Tree
Never enough lights!

Offline tbone321

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Re: some flicker on green and white on sscv3
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2016, »
That sounds like not enough power going to the nodes.  What kind of power supply are you using?  If that is a PC power supply, it may not be big enough.  Remember that the 350W rating is the total for all outputs, including the 3.3V and 5V outputs.  If you are using a 12V PS, that should be enough power and I would look at your cables between the PS and the hob as well as the cables between the hub and the controllers.  You might also want to do a voltage measurement at both the power supply and the end of the strings both with all nodes off and all nodes white.  A low voltage or significant drop at the PS between all off and all white shows an issue with the PS and a significant drop at the end of the strings indicates while the PS maintains voltage indicates an issue with your cabling (too small or bad end connectors).
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Offline mmciver

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Re: some flicker on green and white on sscv3
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2016, »
Tbone,

Thanks for the input.  I checked the power supply and it shows that it is putting out 12.04 volts.  I am only running 20 feet of cat6 cable to the SSC and it is only about 18 inches from the ssc to the first node.

I am using the 3 prong water proof connectors from the SSC to the nodes.  I will check my drop at the end of the line of nodes.  If that is too great than I suppose the only option I have left is to run 2 SSC's on the sign.

The PS I am using is a PC supply but it shows 19 amps of 12 volts and I should be way under that at 4.1.

I did see in the wiki that the SSC3 only likes 4 amps.  Could that be it?

Mike.
650000 lights!
160 Channels - 2010 numbers
RGB elements
Combo Mega Tree
Never enough lights!

Offline tbone321

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Re: some flicker on green and white on sscv3
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2016, »
The hub is fused for 5A per port and the traces in the SSC can handle 5A as well.  As said before, take a voltage measurement at the end of the string at both all off and all on white to see how much drop there is.  If the drop seems excessive on the string but not at the supply, check the RJ45 connectors on the hub and on the pigtail on the controller.  We get away with using Cat5 by using 3 pairs for power between the hub and the SSC and if one or more pins are corroded, broken, or bent, that can cause a significant voltage drop.
If at first you don't succeed,
your not cut out for sky diving