Packing universes: reducing channels per universe to minimize network traffic?

[MartinMueller2003]

It's likely not possible if he's got older hardware with no SD card support


I believe it's possible to compile for the 4MB ESP-01 variants. The 4mb versions weren't common though when the V1/V2 ESPixelSticks were shipping, so if you've got ESP-01s from back then, they are likely variants with smaller flash.

the 01 version does not have enough i/o pins for an sd card.

[MikeKrebs]

Which channels are wifi and which are for your fpp?
Are you using one of the FPP as your player or something else?
You could introduce a second access point that would be "local" to some number of your ESPs. You'd have to use wifi channels that are separate and you might get better throughput. You might also become the neighborhood hated neighbor cluttering up the wifi every night.
What speed is your show in fps? Is it possible to slow it down just a little?

[davdue]

The newer ESPixelStick firmware won't load on the older ESP8266 modules due to the larger memory requirement of the newer versions. I don't recall where the version cutoff is, or specifically which modules can go forward, but do your research there before proceeding down that path.

Option 1, switch to DDP. This gets more channels into less packets.

Option 2. switch to local sequences on each controller with FPP multisync keeping it together.

Need more info on what these options mean.

Option 1: What is DDP? Is that a setting in FPP?

Option 2: My complete show is wireless. I got tired of continually fighting RJ45 connector issues in the freezing cold weather. What do you mean by local? I currently have 1 master RPi 3B+ with 2 remote Pi Zero's.

V4 software runs on V3 hardware which uses the ESP8266 D1 Mini as the CPU card. It will not run on the ESP01 versions of the PixelStick Hardware.

You are going to have lag as long as you are pushing data over the WiFi infrastructure. The more data you push, the worse the lag will be. Moving to a model where NO data is passed over the network and only a small periodic sync is sent from the show player to the controllers is the best thing for WiFi.

DDP is WAY more efficient than E1.31 so it can help, but will not solve your problem.

I have the ESPixelPop Tiny's with ESP01's purchased before the issues with the memory chips and then a few after that. They were all purchased from Addicore in the 2018 & 2019 timeframe. They are all 1MB flash units.

How would that be done with the hardware that the OP has? I'm assuming that he one has versions of the hardware that don't incorporate an SD card reader.

Just as a side note, 4MB versions of the ESP8266-01 module are available, so I'm conjecturing that the amount of Flash memory on the ESP module is not the issue.

I am not oppossed to purchasing new hardware if I can get it all in and updated pretty quickly. What I don't want to do is go back to RJ45 running around my yard. Can I add another WAP and have 2 WiFi networks and split up the ESP's on each network to get the traffic down on each one or is just the fact that the 2.4GHz is congested in general?

[P. Short]

Try looking up 'DDP E131' or 'DDP Setting" on this site, I think the in-site search function needs more than 3 letters in the search request.

[MikeKrebs]

Option 1: What is DDP? Is that a setting in FPP?

DDP is protocol similar to e1.31 in that it is a standard for transmitting data that we can use to control lights. The packet size is larger, has less overhead bytes and does away with universes in favor of a channel based approach. So, you gain speed by reducing the amount of data transmitted. Yes, you find it in FPP in the output in the drop down where you selected E1.31. The controllers need to support it as well so you will have to check which version of firmware you are running. I don't remember which version has DDP but it might be one of the v3 that should work on your controllers.

I am not oppossed to purchasing new hardware if I can get it all in and updated pretty quickly.

If you were to look at new controllers, you could DIY them or look around for an esp32 based light controller. A ESP32 based controller with SDCard with level shifted LED ouputs that Martin has worked with (EspPixelStick firmware V4) is the quinled https://quinled.info/quinled-esp32-a...x-led-channel/ The sdcard versions can have the sequences loaded on the ESP32 and then use multisync from your player to play local. Elimnates more than 99% of the traffic for those controller. Even a few might help you with the lag you are seeing. Choose your controllers that have the highest number of channels on them. Also, as you will see when you investigate, the quinled ESP32 has 3 outputs, so depending on your layout, you might be able to drive two or three props eliminating an extra controller in the process.

[MartinMueller2003]

I have a bunch of the Quin Led cards that I test with, but they are not the only platforms the V4 software supports. If you start up the latest flash tool and look at the platform list you will get a feel for your options. You cam even roll your own using something like the LoLin ESP32 Pro or a ttgo t8. For those you would add a level shifter on your selected output GPIOs and you are good to go.

[P. Short]

If you were to look at new controllers, you could DIY them

People still do that?

[MartinMueller2003]

I do

[davdue]

DDP is protocol similar to e1.31 in that it is a standard for transmitting data that we can use to control lights. The packet size is larger, has less overhead bytes and does away with universes in favor of a channel based approach. So, you gain speed by reducing the amount of data transmitted. Yes, you find it in FPP in the output in the drop down where you selected E1.31. The controllers need to support it as well so you will have to check which version of firmware you are running. I don't remember which version has DDP but it might be one of the v3 that should work on your controllers.


If you were to look at new controllers, you could DIY them or look around for an esp32 based light controller. A ESP32 based controller with SDCard with level shifted LED ouputs that Martin has worked with (EspPixelStick firmware V4) is the quinled https://quinled.info/quinled-esp32-a...x-led-channel/ The sdcard versions can have the sequences loaded on the ESP32 and then use multisync from your player to play local. Elimnates more than 99% of the traffic for those controller. Even a few might help you with the lag you are seeing. Choose your controllers that have the highest number of channels on them. Also, as you will see when you investigate, the quinled ESP32 has 3 outputs, so depending on your layout, you might be able to drive two or three props eliminating an extra controller in the process.

I thought I had posted this but I guess I never did. Probably because I re-downloaded my Wifi Analyzer program and found that I need to use channel 3. I am going to see what my WAP is set at. I definitely can't use 9 or 11.

What I have read about DDP it is a much more efficient protocol which should help with the traffic congestion problems. I am currently running a version 4.2 FPP. It looks like all I have to do is change my channel output screen from E1.31 to DDP. Is that correct. I don't see anything that would change in my Vixen controller setup or in the ESPixelstick V3 setup.

It looks like I need to go download the V4 pixelstick software and see what I can do there. The local control makes sense now.

I do

I have always been DIY. Even back in the AC days I built my own SSR's and Olsen595 boards. I refuse to pay hundreds of dollars for a built board when I can spend a little time soldering them up and building the control box. Once I look at the list in the V4 software where is a good place to learn about those new ESP32 based controller boards. The Wiki here doesn't seem to have any updated info about newer pixelstick type boards or will my ESPixelPop boards work with the ESP32's?

[MartinMueller2003]

The V4 software is currently targeted to run on an ESP8266 D1 Mini (or larger aka ESP32) CPU card. The ESP01 version with 4MB of flash should work but I do not have one and have never tried it. There is one build target for the ESP01S that might help.

IMO, the real issue with the ESP01 is that there is no way to add SD Card support to it and that is proving to be a critical issue in the WiFi network. To reduce network load requires the addition of local storage on the controllers, something that the ESP01 cannot support.

It might be simpler to look in this directory:

https://github.com/MartinMueller2003...ormDefinitions

There you will find a list of the supported platforms with names that can be looked up on the web.