P5 Matrix on FPP 8.0 help

[cmora111]

I have 8 P5 panels configured 2w x 4h. I am using the colorlight card. I have it all configured in LEDVISION and all tests work. When I connect it to the RPi 3B+ FPP 8.0, I've configured the Input/Output Setup->LED Panels. When I run the Test Pattern I'm not getting anything.. I have one network. 192.168.68.x. I have the FPP on 192.168.68.204 on the default interface and it is setup as a player only, the Gbit USB adapter is setup as 192.168.68.205.

I have multiple controllers, and they all worked fine for the past 3 years. I've added the P5 Matrix this year. I would love to get it working before Christmas. FPP Led Panels is setup correctly as far as I can tell. 

Is the problem with the network configuration? I've used the same class c network an multiple machines in the past. How does the colorlight card get an address? Is this the problem? I've watched many videos on configuring it trying to figure it out but am at a loss. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks
Carlos

[tbone321]

What are you using to connect to the colorlight card.  It requires a gigabit connection.  

[k6ccc]

I have one network. 192.168.68.x. I have the FPP on 192.168.68.204 on the default interface and it is setup as a player only, the Gbit USB adapter is setup as 192.168.68.205.

Flag on the play.  I am assuming you are using a Gigabit USB adapter to communicate with the ColorLight.  Although that does not use IP at all, you can't really have two interfaces on the same IP subnet.  Change the IP on the Gigabit USB adapter to some other subnet - 192.168.69.whatever for example.  It may or may not be part of the problem, but it will make the Pi a lot happier.

[cmora111]

I am using a Gigbit USB adapter for the colorlight card. I have used the same class c network on the pi before without a problem. the routing takes care of where the address is. I will change it to some other class c ip and see if that helps.

[cmora111]

changing the subnet did not help solve the issue.

Any other ideas?

[k6ccc]

Frankly I'm surprised that the Pi even let you assign two adapters to the same /24 network.  As I said, I did not know if it would make any difference since the ColorLight does not use IP at all.  However it should never be done - it WILL screw up routing.

About the only other thing is verify that in the Panel setup on FPP that you have the correct interface selected for the ColorLight card.

[MikeKrebs]

Try a "lower" version of firmware on the colorlight? What version is installed?

[breese]

The Gig network connection for the colorlight card needs to be DHCP.
The colorlight has its own protocol and will communicate with the PI connection as DHCP/

[k6ccc]

The Gig network connection for the colorlight card needs to be DHCP.
The colorlight has its own protocol and will communicate with the PI connection as DHCP/

That is not correct.  The ColorLight does have it's own protocol, but does not need or use IP at all.  It makes no difference what IP you set or if you use DHCP on the port of the Pi that communicates with the ColorLight.  Way back years ago when I used a pair of ColorLights, each of RasPi had that port set to static IP with the third octet being one higher than the IP of the built in wired port (my E1.31 LAN).  So for example, the RasPi wired connection for my P10 matrix was 192.198.131.81, the ColorLight port was 192.168.132.81, and the WiFi was 192.168.203.81.  The only reason for giving the ColorLight port an IP was because if you don't it will self assign a 169.x.y.z address which just annoys me as that indicates a failure
.

[cmora111]

I've tried 3 different recommended ColorLight versions with the same results. I've changed the IP address to be DHCP, that didn't help.

A couple of questions:

1. Can you run the P5 Matrix on the same FPP that is running the show, using the built in ethernet port to play and the USB GigE for the ColorLight?
    If so, how do you configure it?

2. When discovering without an IP it defaults to using the FPP player only (built in) address and asigns it DDP protocol.
    How should the panel be hooked up to xLights.

[caniac]

I've tried 3 different recommended ColorLight versions with the same results. I've changed the IP address to be DHCP, that didn't help.

A couple of questions:

1. Can you run the P5 Matrix on the same FPP that is running the show, using the built in ethernet port to play and the USB GigE for the ColorLight?
    If so, how do you configure it?

2. When discovering without an IP it defaults to using the FPP player only (built in) address and asigns it DDP protocol.
    How should the panel be hooked up to xLights.

from my experience I have ALWAYS used a dedicated Pi for my P5/P10 panels.  and those Pi's have the sequence and any videos that are needed.  As I understand it Pi's don't have the smarts that a BeagleBone does and can't do two things at once but can do one thing really really well.

[darylc]

from my experience I have ALWAYS used a dedicated Pi for my P5/P10 panels.  and those Pi's have the sequence and any videos that are needed.  As I understand it Pi's don't have the smarts that a BeagleBone does and can't do two things at once but can do one thing really really well.

Fyi I've _never_ done this.  I always run my panels from my main show player.  Last year I ran two completely different colorlight matricies from my main show player.  Pi's (especially 3/4/5) are much more capable than beaglebones in almost every way except perhaps driving directly attached pixels.