To daisy chain models or not?

[HuskerInTexas53]

I have four Sandevice controllers (all E682s) in my show and I know the pixel limit and cord lengths with each port.  I have just added a Falcon16V4 to the mix so am back to learning.

My question:  I am going to put 3 singing trees (Boscoyo with 252 pixels each) on the new controller.  Not much else on the new Falcon controller yet, so I have plenty of ports.  Is the general preference to daisy chain the models on a single port (756 total pixels), or to put each model on a separate port.

I know either would work.  The daisy chain would make it easier for cable management.  The 756 pixels on a Falcon port should be no problem according to my understanding?  The separate port would eliminate any concern about power (old E682 experience).

All thoughts appreciated.

[Poporacer]

My question:  I am going to put 3 singing trees (Boscoyo with 252 pixels each) on the new controller.  Not much else on the new Falcon controller yet, so I have plenty of ports.  Is the general preference to daisy chain the models on a single port (756 total pixels), or to put each model on a separate port.

This is a typical Chevy, vs Ford question. There is no wrong way (except for the ones that don't work) and the best way is the way that works for YOU.

Daisy chaining will probably require you to add some sort of power injection. You could daisy chain two of them to help with that and use 2 ports for the 3 trees.

The 756 pixels on a Falcon port should be no problem according to my understanding?

CONTROLLING it is a breeze for the Falcon. The power is another issue.

[k6ccc]

It's all personal preferences.  Personally, I would not put each of your 252 pixel trees on a single port - and it has nothing to do with power injection.  The majority of my pixels are 5 volts so power injection is just a way of life for me, except on short strings.
My mentality is failure reduction.  Pixels WILL fail.  Several failure modes are pretty low impact - a single pixel goes black for example.  Several are far more impact - all downstream pixels going full white for example.  If you have 600 pixels downstream of the failed pixel that all of a sudden go to 100% full white, that has a massive impact.

[JonD]

Is the general preference to daisy chain the models on a single port (756 total pixels), or to put each model on a separate port.

The Falcon can support 1024 pixels per port up to 1 expansion card.  If you have two expansion cards, or one expansion card and using the on board receiver ports, there is a 704 pixel pixel per port limit.  756 pixels could be an issue if you have a lot of expansion installed. 

Some people have small front yards and all their lights are consolidated in a small area, others are covering several acres.  5v vs 12v and distance all plays a roll.  Are you installing everything yourself, or do you have a lot of friends and family helping.  Are most of your props 100 lights, or 300+ lights.  You should be looking at the pros and cons of each and applying that info to what works well for you.  If it works and your happy, it is all good. 

In our case, the cost per port plus power injection, vs the cost per port non-power injected was minimal.  It was easier just to assign everything its own port.  Using 12v lights and keeping below 200 pixels (per port) allows us to avoid power injection completely.  Every prop on its own port, allows us to move a prop from one location to another without much hassle.  If a light goes bad, it only takes out a few lights.  When I pull everything out of storage, I don't have to remember which order the props need to be reconnected.  We can print out the port list and my family can plug everything in without me supervising the installation.  My only advice is to try to keep your display as consistent as possible regardless how you move forward.

[jnealand]

I'm with k6ccc on this.  I use 12 FPP remotes which equals 12 controllers.  Other than a couple of matices I keep all my ports less than 250 pixels.  Seems like when a pixel decides to fail it will always be in the worst spot for repair or take out the most other pixels.  sigh