Thread: Matrix Size and Spacing

Hello. Getting ready to Order for Ray Wu...however, my question is . I'm going to do a 16x42 pixel matrix tree. using the e681 controller. What is a good distance to space my pixels when I order for Ray.. I was going to go with about 3 Inches part, that would give me about 10.5ft tall, and little over 6ft at the base. it's not going to be a 3d Mega Tree, I'm wanting to do some patterns and video (animated patterns and color changes, snow falling, Santa dancing...stuff like that.. Not high quality stuff) I guess I'm just little confused on this part...any suggestions?

Most of Ray's standard spacing is 3.5" so a 50 Pixel string is just a little under 15 feet. I know I ordered 75 pixel strings for my 17; Mega Tree and I could have gone with 50 pixel strings and been OK. Word to the wise test and burn in your strings before releasing your payment and make sure there IP68 and double check them to make sure there sealed well. Also you will want to support them with paracord or something similar as the nodes cannot take the strain of supporting themselves.

For my tree I am going to use 5050 ultra bright led strips, 2801 ic. They will be mounted on plastic siding end strips so they can me hooked on the top and bottom of the "Steel" rings top and bottom. (makes for easy tear down and set up) the siding will keep the strips straight. The strips at the top will be touching each other.(about 1/2" centers) the bottom of the tree will be 4 inches apart. I am still working on design of the star. I expect my tree to be 6 dmx universes when finished.

Originally Posted by Wizard

For my tree I am going to use 5050 ultra bright led strips, 2801 ic. They will be mounted on plastic siding end strips so they can me hooked on the top and bottom of the "Steel" rings top and bottom. (makes for easy tear down and set up) the siding will keep the strips straight. The strips at the top will be touching each other.(about 1/2" centers) the bottom of the tree will be 4 inches apart. I am still working on design of the star. I expect my tree to be 6 dmx universes when finished.

Nice Idea......

I used something like this on my eaves this year. What I discovered was that the J-channels have much more bend to them than I would have thought. You may need something inside the channel to support them (like a steel cable). Also I have the first generation of Ray's strings and had quite a few failures (even after extended two-week burn-in). I used RJ's method of sealing with Plasti-Dip but rain still got into the nodes. I found my spacing to be about 3.1" between nodes so I just used 3" centers - each hole being 29/64" I also hot-glued the nodes onto the inside of the J-channel. It might also be a good idea to use cable-ties every few nodes just to secure everything in place.
Good Luck!

1st generation? Not sure which ones these are but this is what I was looking at purchasing. They are IP68, so should be good to go. what you think?

Buy led module, led pixel module, 3001 led module, 4096 scale,led pixel module, 3001IC,DC5V input,IP68;50pcs a string at Aliexpress.com

I used the the 12v SmartStrings (Wholesale 50 node LED pixel string) and they were not IP68.
As with much of the stuff from Ray (China) the quality will vary so be sure to inspect everything and test before you release the payments from escrow.
Are those pixels individually addressable?

I assumed they are… I'm learning. Linked them off of Sandevices website. How do you know? they are only three wire, do I need a 4 wire setup, or looking for a certain chip? I saw a RGB Power Point somewhere explaining the difference, now I'm not sure where I have seen it.

Smart strips have an IC in them examples 6802, 2801. these will self address and give you single pixel control of RGB. my strips are 2801 ic 50 pixels per meter and 150 channels

Why not ask Ray to send you some samples for testing?