*Closed* 2017 Micro Hardware Co-Op - uSC, uAmp, Afterburner

[mklabunde]

Got mine on Saturday hooked one up last night had it running down 40 feet of cable and worked great 

What type of cable were you using and how far from the controller did you insert it.  Sorry, also how many pixels were at the other end?

I wasn't wanting to post this here since it's a group buy, but not sure where else it belongs.

I run 50 pixels 55' away from my F16v1 with no issues.  I'm not using a uAmp or Afterburner.  For my cable run I use 23awg solid cat6.  I use 4 conductors for 12v, 2 for ground, and 2 for data.  I initially thought I'd need an Afterburner but was pleasantly surprised I'm having success without.  Interestingly enough, I got major flickering and loss of data when trying to run only 35' of 24awg stranded cat6 with the same 50pixels.

Solid, hmm but I see you live in Texas doesn't get down to -15 there much  I live in Wisconsin and I won't trust solid cable to afraid that it may break in the cold.  I run all stranded cable, found 1000' rolls of stranded CAT5 cable.  Lot's cheaper that way building them.  I just can't believe how much they charge for pre-made cat5 cables when you can make them for pennies on the dollar.

Mark

[PeteyHall]

Thanks.  I've historically used cat5 for longer runs (>20') but if I can keep with the 18/3 and just throw a uAmp right after the pigtail, I'd rather go that way now (I'm tired of having to strip/untwist/solder/etc the cat cables).

[lrhorer]

I run 50 pixels 55' away from my F16v1 with no issues.  I'm not using a uAmp or Afterburner.  For my cable run I use 23awg solid cat6.  I use 4 conductors for 12v, 2 for ground

Why would you do that?  It doesn't make much sense.  The ground lead carries just as much current as the 12V lead.  Three + three makes much more sense.

[txag2008]

I run 50 pixels 55' away from my F16v1 with no issues.  I'm not using a uAmp or Afterburner.  For my cable run I use 23awg solid cat6.  I use 4 conductors for 12v, 2 for ground

Why would you do that?  It doesn't make much sense.  The ground lead carries just as much current as the 12V lead.  Three + three makes much more sense.

Now that you mention it, that's a good point.  Regardless, it's working for me so I'm reluctant to fix it.  Probably helps that I'm only driving 50 nodes.

[lrhorer]

     Indeed.  Assuming those are 60ma nodes, that is 3A at peak brightness.  At 55 feet, one of your leads has a resistance of .56 ohms, and the other has a resistance of .28 ohms, for a total of .84 ohms.  That equates to a voltage drop of 2.52 Volts, which is a bit beyond where I would be comfortable running 12V pixels, especially if they are in a linear configuration more than a few feet long.  If they are 30ma pixels and the pixel string is not too long, then you're probably fine.

     Just for comparison, if you were to make it 3 + 3, instead of 2 + 4, the voltage drop would be 2.24V.  'Not a huge difference, but something, especially if one is right on the edge.

[zwiller]

It's probably only me but I find white gets awfully pink colored unless feeding it strong power/short runs even though it "works".  You might get away with it on a distant prop but side by side with a strong run, it would be noticeable.  Bullet nodes are a bit more forgiving and strips seem OK but modules, especially rectangles are BRUTAL and have huge voltage drop.  This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of distributed layout. 

[corey872]

OK all orders have been shipped!  Thanks to everyone for your order and participation in the 2017 co-op.  I will be closing this thread, but if you have an order issue, please PM me here on falconchristmas.

if you are looking for extra boards, please keep an eye on the For Sale section.  All remaining boards will be going on sale on a first come, first served basis.  Please note, as always, there will be a slight increase in price out of respect for those who when through the co-op process.  The group buy / co-op format is always the cheapest way to get the boards.

Thanks again, enjoy the boards and have a Happy Halloween & Merry Christmas!

[corey872]

All extra boards are now listed in the FOR SALE section.

http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,7739.msg73677.html#msg73677

Thanks for your interest
Corey