F8-Distro Troubles? Pixels acting like they don't have power distro

[AdamNolen]

I am having trouble with my lights that are hooked up to the power distro board. They are 12v pixels and have power injection at every 200 lights. The first 150 work fine, but after that, they act like they need power injection. They are flickering, wrong color, etc. 

I am running mini trees that are 100 pixels each. And I have 3 groups of them. Group 1 has 3 trees, group 2 has 3 trees, and group 3 has 4 trees. Each group is controlled by a different port on the smart receiver. And each power injection is done via a different port on the power distro board. I am using 1 meanwell 350w power supply.  The SRx1 and the F8 distro board are connected to the same power supply.

Group 1 seems to be working fine. It is controlled by port 1 on the smart receiver. I have injected power between trees 2 and 3. So, essentially, between pixel 200 & 201. 

At Group 2, I am starting to see some issues. They are controlled by port 2 on the smart receiver. Again, with power injection between trees 2 and 3. Trees 1 & 2 in this group work just fine. But the last 30 pixels or so in the third tree are acting like they need power injection. Flickering, wrong colors (manly when they are supposed to be white), etc. 

Group 3 is riding the struggle bus. They are controlled by port 3 in the receiver. Power injection between trees 2 & 3. Then again at trees 3 & 4.  All of the pixels in Trees 3 and 4 are acting like they need power injection. Same as above (flickering, wrong colors, etc). 

My entire show has power injection essentially identical to this with no issues.  My megatree is almost exactly like this. 16 strands (100 pixels each) with an SRx1 controlling groups of 4 strands each. Power injection every 200 lights.  Runs beautifully. 

Any ideas?

[k6ccc]

At your power injection points, what wires are connected to what?  What I mean for example is the data wire from the source end is connected to the data ware towards the end of the string.  What about power and ground?

[AdamNolen]

I'm not sure I understand the question.  I have a 3 pin T connector at the power injection sites.  I have pulled the data pin out of the T where the power injection screws in.  I have not pulled the data pin out of the "straight through" portion of the T connector.  The power is connected to power, and the ground is connected to ground.

[k6ccc]

The biggest part of the question was related to making sure ground was connected through, and if power was isolated between sections.  Since you are sourcing all the power from the same power supply, have the power non-isolated is just fine (what I do too).

[AdamNolen]

yeah.  The ground is connected all the way through the string

[jnealand]

I hate using Ts for power injection as it seems to be too easy to get messed up.  I try to avoid power injection if at all possible.  If not possible my next choice is power balancing where power is only added at the end of the string and never mid string as it eliminates all the data issues.  I suspect power balancing would work fine here.  I run two 100 node mini trees together all over my yard and they work fine so I suspect you could easily hook 4 trees in a chain and add extra power at the end of the 400 which would mean no tree is farther away from power than 200 nodes.   That may not work for your physical layout due to cabling constraints but might be something to consider.