Kulp K8pi boards for sale

[JonD]

Kulp K8pi boards for sale.

Boards were purchased brand new this June and were only used in testing.

QTY 3 $50.00 each Kulp K8pi Controller board.  (Does not include the Raspberry Pi, but does include the SD Card Extender, 32gb SD card with FPP 7.0 installed, and plastic risers needed to attach the Pi to the Kulp controller) 
QTY 1 $25.00 Partially defective Kulp K8Pi board. (Pi4 does not boot when powered from Kulp K8Pi board. You must power the Pi separately from the USB port. Original board was replaced, but replacement board had the same issue.  Appears to work fine when the Pi4 is power from the USB port using a buck converter)  I incorrectly assumed the replacement board had the same issue as the original.  After further testing it was not consistently booting up when powered from the USB either.  I am just going to throw this one away as it has no value.

F-Tester is indicating performance issues with all of the K8Pi controllers attached to a Pi4.  The test indicates the lights will randomly drop after so many frames.  The drops are typically not noticeable, but you might be able to notice it on some light strings.  A few people have suggested the Kulp K8Pi works fine with a Pi3b+ and they only see drops when it is attached to a Pi4. 

Guessing shipping would be around $10.00 for 1 item or all of them.

[jnealand]

I will buy 3 of the Pi4s.  DM on the way.

[JonB256]

Kulp K8pi boards and Raspberry Pi4

F-Tester is indicating performance issues with all of the K8Pi controllers.  Tests indicate the lights will randomly drop after so many frames.  The drops are typically not noticeable, but you might be able to notice it on some light strings. 

I also have a K8Pi with a Pi4 and when I watch closely during tests, there is an odd flicker at times. In my string outputs at first, I configured all 3 Diff Outputs as SmartV2. The flicker is less noticeable when I set the 3 Diff outputs as Standard.

I don't have the tester. Almost bought one at Expo.

[berming]

I'll take 1 of the pi4 with card if available.


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[JonD]

I also have a K8Pi with a Pi4 and when I watch closely during tests, there is an odd flicker at times. In my string outputs at first, I configured all 3 Diff Outputs as SmartV2

I noticed something was off when I attached some strawberry C9s.  Wasn't terrible, but I got the F-Tester out and it confirmed there were some drops happening.  Later I attached some lights I bought from Ray Wu and did not notice the issue any more.  These are new boards and it is quite possible a firmware or software update will resolve the issue in the future.  Since I am aware of it, I did not feel right selling them without mentioning it.

I don't have the tester. Almost bought one at Expo

To be honest I thought it was going to be a waste of money.  I typically have at least a couple of spares for every thing and haven't need one for all these years.  It has surprisingly been really handy.  It is nice when building controllers.  I can put the controller in test mode and just move the F-Tester from port to port.  It confirms which port I am attached to and that it is playing correctly.  It was also handy when I installed my permanent lighting.  I had one run kind of long, but the lights seemed to playing fine.  I attached it to the end and it showed me that the voltage was too low and the string needed to be power injected.  (A multi-meter would have told the same, but it would not have been as handy)  When testing ports and voltages you need to power it from a USB power brick.  Otherwise, it takes too long to power up every string and the tester itself will pull power from the string which throws off the voltage test.

Only thing that I did not like is it only comes in xconnect pigtails.  I think Pitts will throw in some gender benders, but I just took mine apart and soldered some Ray Wu pigtails on.

[JonD]

I'll take 1 of the pi4 with card if available.


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[JonB256]

Playing with my K8Pi (waiting for F-tester). In Test mode from FPP, there is a minor "hitch" in the lights. In a show, it would likely be invisible but I haven't gotten there yet.

But, if I use the Test mode on the K8Pi itself using the OLED and buttons, it is perfect. No hitches at all.

Next test will be with a sequence. Soon. One as a player, one as a Remote.

Update:  moved the K8Pi to a Pi 3B+ instead of a Pi 4.  No visible hitches (will verify with F-Test when it arrives)

[JonD]

But, if I use the Test mode on the K8Pi itself using the OLED and buttons, it is perfect. No hitches at all.

That was not the issue in my case.  The F-tester was detecting frame drops from any device I was testing from.  (K8Pi board tests, FPP tests, and Xlights tests)

In a show, it would likely be invisible

I don't know about completely invisible, but not sure someone watching a display with thousands of lights would notice it.  I noticed right away with the strawberry C9 lights, but I know what they are supposed to be doing.  Using the Ray Wu lights I didn't notice any drops, but the F-Tester was still showing they were there.  In fact the F-Tester results were pretty consistent, the difference was typically the light string used.  

I hooked the tester up to my Falcons to make sure it wasn't a tester issue, and the Falcons were not showing any drops. (of course they made the f-tester)

Update:  moved the K8Pi to a Pi 3B+ instead of a Pi 4.  No visible hitches

When I reached out to support it was mentioned that this had been a Pi4 issue in the past, and did not seem to be an issue with the Pi 3b+.