State of falcon pi cap?

[jeffmd]

So I've been a long time user of this guy, one stop solution for easily building a running a couple strands for a holiday display. Has worked flawlessly. It was no longer sold for a while and I read it was going to be forged into an all new device with more strand support. I stumbled in today and find the old design up on the site for sale (and thus no 4.x support) again and this forum seems kind quiet. Has it been superseded by anything or is it still the best solution to powering a small display of pixel lights with nothing more than a RasPi? 

[K-State Fan]

I use a couple of them. But have not updated anything for a few years.  I did see Kulp updated his K4-PB with e fuses that could be an option also.

[jnealand]

I use a bunch of them in addition to a bunch controllers from other vendors.  The new version will support DPI pixels with a lot more connections per cap.  The old ones work just fine as is.

[darylc]

What do you mean by no 4.x support?  The falcon pi caps work on FPP 7 even.

[tbone321]

What do you mean by no 4.x support?  The falcon pi caps work on FPP 7 even.

He means that it still only has 2 outputs for pixels.

[jeffmd]

Ahh no I ment no pi 4.0 support. And now with the 5 out which kind of flipped the network jacks around, things will hopefully settle. Was expecting a new design that had more headers. 

[darylc]

Why does it have no pi 4 support?

[K-State Fan]

The description of the PiCap does not list Pi4.

"The PiCap support PI B+, PI 2, PI 3 and PI Zero."

[gingrbredman]

The description of the PiCap does not list Pi4.

"The PiCap support PI B+, PI 2, PI 3 and PI Zero."

I must not have read that when I was looking. I just setup a pi 4 and the Picap tonight and it works fine. 

[darylc]

The description of the PiCap does not list Pi4.

"The PiCap support PI B+, PI 2, PI 3 and PI Zero."

Thanks, I sent David Pitts a message and he fixed that.  It now says: " The PiCap support PI B+, PI 2, PI 3, PI 4 and PI Zero. It does not support the PI B (Original). "

[TheMinionHouse]

I need 3 of them to finish two additions to our display, interactive props, and a parade float.  
Ahhh... scrambling here. 
I have 2 already in use, but only using 1 port on each.  But my props are some 150ft apart so it is gonna be difficult to that far just channels and triggers.   Plus, each prop is different in the effects based upon which input is triggered. 
I really need 2 more.. I can borrow one for the parade float. 

[MikeKrebs]

If you put RPi close to the pixels, you can get away with running directly off the GPIO or just put an extra pixel on the GPIO to get to the first real pixel.

[tbone321]

You can do that but doing so puts the PI at risk.  If you get a voltage spike on the data line, it can and will take out the Pi.  This happened to me but fortunately for me, it was just a Pi Zero and back when they were dirt cheap and cheaper than the PiHat. 

[TheMinionHouse]

Yeah.. I went to order a couple more zeros and you have to buy them in an overpriced kit for $85 that includes a case, and a power supply. $70 buck for a case, power supply, and a pretty box is a rip off.
I toss the case anyway, I 3d print my own.

[MikeKrebs]

https://rpilocator.com/?country=US
Should be able to get them closer to list.