E680 + WS2801 5v pixel Megatree. HOly cow that's one bright tree!

**Gary Martin** · 12-05-2011, 11:23 AM

Let me start by saying I have no videos yet. ;) For this year I put 2,016 pixels onto our 24' megatree. I was worried they wouldn't be bright enough as there were 96, 70 count LED stringers on there the previous year. So I put both the LED stringers and the pixel strings up together, to make sure I had enough oomph to go around. The pixel addition is 48 strings of 42 count pixels (5.5" spacing) running on three of Jim's E680 controllers. Three 50 amp 5vdc power supplies, one for each E680.

The 2801 based, 5v pixels are blowing the LED (from CDI) stringers out of the water! They have to be 2 to 3 times brighter, it's simply amazing. I am having to go back and turn down my master levels to half or less to get comparable light.

I'm using Madrix to control the pixels and the lights are too bright to match the on-screen effects. For example, I setup a radial sweep that is a square wave upfront with a fade on the back. On screen, only about 1/3rd of the pixels are red, the rest of the effect is black. On the pixels, you can see a small black radial sweep moving, with an extremely bright red front edge and still strong red most of the rest of the way around! I had to turn that one down to 30% power for it to look like the on-screen version!

Man, if you're on the fence about adopting pixels, take the plunge. It's simply amazing what these things put out.

And yes, in the next week or so I'll get some video put together and posted.

Update: Early video added: http://vimeo.com/33516475

**fathead45** · 12-05-2011, 04:15 PM

im with ya, love them. have my matrix and a star with megatree and arches next year. what supposed to be this year but no funds. have much issue with dead ones? also any extra waterproofing? also from ray?

**Gary Martin** · 12-06-2011, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by fathead45

im with ya, love them. have my matrix and a star with megatree and arches next year. what supposed to be this year but no funds. have much issue with dead ones? also any extra waterproofing? also from ray?

I did a special order with Ray. 5.5" spacing, IP 68 (hard epoxy filled) and 42 pixels per string. The order was for 50 strings, end result was 2 or 3 strings I had to patch a spare pixel into and two strings that had major issues, Ray just flat out replaced. End result, all 50 strings work and I have about 30 spare pixels too. Price on these, even with the special options, was about $35 per string. Wires are UV resistant too. I still zip tied them onto paracord and that was absolutely worth the effort since the paracord doesn't stretch much. It holds it's tension very well and keeps the tree looking good. (There are some detail pics on our FB page of this: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2927014&type=3 )

I think if you are just very specific on your order, and don't buy existing stock, you can get exactly what you want and end up with a very good product.

**kychristmas** · 12-06-2011, 09:11 AM

Excellent Gary. Love the great PICs. Great information for those of us planning on moving to Pixels.

**CaptKirk** · 12-06-2011, 01:36 PM

Gary-

Do you have a link to Ray's store for the specific pixels upon which your order was based?

THX, Kirk

**Donny M. Carter** · 12-06-2011, 02:04 PM

Gary, Please shoot some video of that mega tree! Thanks!

Donny

**fathead45** · 12-06-2011, 02:40 PM

thanks gary, yea ray is a good guy, been dealing with him since the beginning and he will make the length you want. how do you like the extra spacing? cant wait to see video b/c i will be doing this next year.

**mschell** · 12-06-2011, 04:29 PM

Gary,
Thanks for the info and the details. Will be interested in seeing how much the paracord stretches and how the pixels hold up.

I bought 16 or so strings from Ray - nothing special as to spacing or sealing. I've got a row of 6 strings in coroplast set just below my gutters this year. Megatree or mini-mega didn't make it this year but will probably happen next year. I need a grid too, like Fasteddy to do some pictures, so we'll see how they all weather the winter...

Definitely want pictures with pixels lit!

**fathead45** · 12-06-2011, 07:02 PM

mschell, i have a matrix of pixels, eddys is the strips so it looks a bit diff. after i get my coroplast this weekend i will be post pics of it. looks good so far. hopefully macrosill get the new pixel forum going soon.

**mschell** · 12-06-2011, 09:02 PM

fh45,
Thanks for the info. I just remember eddys "12 days" sequence.

Now that you mention the strips, I may look at going that direction too. I love strips, since they are already spaced out in one direction without having to drill more holes...

And with the E680/681, it's easy to handle differently pixel protocols as needed. Just need to have enough power for whatever I choose!