Greetings earthling... first of all...I'm a 65 year old, retired construction worker, who dabbles in everything...I am creating 2 light bars, to be mounted on my vehicle (outdoors), which support 4 moving-head lights...these bars are 41" long and made of wood. I have drilled holes for 66 INDIVIDUAL, 5mm RGB, COMMON CATHODE LEDs...at all different angles and such (in each bar). I have a DMX512 controller and need the parts that go in-between...and to the 66 INDEPENDANT lights on each bar (132 total). I've watched several of your videos and like your style...PLEASE keep it up!!!

Hey, I started watching your videos about a year ago - I just wanted to say thanks. I got my display up for the first time this year largely because of the help you provide in your videos. Thanks for taking the time to walk people through everything, you do a great job. Merry Christmas!

My first year. Been watching you for several years trying to learn. Doing a 800 light mega tree and 2 smaller 400 light mega trees. Oh and a star. I'm hooked.

This was a huge help for me. I didn't realize adding differential receivers I had to click the blue button in the middle. I kept adding smart receivers to each port (Port 17 for A, Port 18 for B, etc,) which obviously didn't work for me. I saw the RIGHT way to do this on port 17 thanks to your great thoroughness and you saved me hours of frustration. Thanks Jeff!

Differential makes me think of opamp circuits but I see a ttl flip-flop, pic avr and an esp. Bravo on the over engineering of a hardware shift register.

After working on the SR's ALL DAY yesterday, the description above is correct " Smart (chain-able) differential deceivers". MY own fault, really thought I could 'extend' 4 ports (1-4) out to model use 1024 pixel each, THEN add SR#2 to port 5, and extend ANOTHER 4 ports out to model.... doesn't work that way... but learned a lot, and as always enjoy the knowledge!! Yourrrrr Grrrreat!!

Nice to see Darrel again........ You need to make sure your supervisor (four legged) comes to the pre production meetings. Have a great Christmas Jeff!!

Stopped by your place. The light show was great. Thank You.

Thank you for your quick reply on this Christmas Eve!! I have been searching for the right Master of how To’s on KZfaq for a long time. Your the best I’ve found. Excellent presentations. I’m a fan. Thanks again and from my family to yours Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Great Information Jeff. I am confused about the slider bar, but when needed, I will fiddle with it and figure it out. Being a first year guy, I have figured out a lot by just trial and error.

Thanks for this info... learning a lot from your Video.... thanks again.. I like your explosion it scares me for wrong connection...hehe

Great Job explaining everything with this. I've been needing to do a firmware update but have been afraid to. You make it look easy so it's time to try (after Christmas) as everything is running right now.

Hi Jeff, Not sure if your monitoring for questions anymore on Smart Receivers. I have 2 Falcon 16V3 Controllers and using 2 Smart Receivers on each so total of 4. I've sent the dip switches appropriately and triple checked it, I've also made sure A has Term dips off and B has Term dips On for both. I've verified all 3 wires are appropriately seeded to Date, GND, V. I cut off all pre-tin ends on pigtails, and did a tug test. I also daisy chained A to B correctly and have 1 CAT6 cable back to Falcon 16V3 and in top black Diff port. My Falcon has Software 2.59. I also use LOR not Xlights. In FPP I selected Port Config to 1a,2a,3a,4a and 1b,2b,3b,4b, I also turned Port 3 & 4 to Pixel Data and 1 & 2 to Serial. Here are the issues I need Help with: 1) When I power on the board before I power through the Controller all 8 Props light up White - Is this Normal? 2) When I turn on my Falcon Controller and have the Cat6 plugged in my Smart Receivers doesn't have all 4 LED lights on. a) One Board only 1 LED light on. b) Second Board I have 2 LED lights on. 3) When I test using the Smart Receiver test button all 8 props light up correctly in all 4 modes, but when I use Test on Falcon 16V3 nothing happens 4) When I hold the test button on the Smart Receiver I get all 4 lights to come on then the props turn off, If I power cycle the Props turn back on but this time instead of all white some have 1 red pixel, some have anywhere between 15 to 20 pixels and others don't have any pixels on. Any advise on what to try and test is GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I don't own any falcon controllers, just came for the laughs! Great vid and fantastic presentation.

Your videos are so entertaining that I accidentally learn stuff...

Welcome back Jeff glad to see ya ✌🏻 ✌🏻

I am number 4! love the introduction. Thanks for the Video!

I just ordered my Falcon F48 controller and two Receivers... Going to start small and plan well to have some permanent (Accent) RGB lighting and props.

I still love this intro.. so great !

Always a perfect video! Merry christmas!!

I used to only watch Pete joe will and diy power wall...you're the 5th you're crack...subd and you make things totally understandable....I faced the same problem where u had to buy a new mitre saw and a new blade I again am facing the same problem with Pvc so bought a new saw blade all the way from south Africa just imagine this my country doesnt have what im looking for🙄 the 3rd is holes are smaller sp need a step drill...anyways my power walls items are already but cant move from step 1 to step 2 unless I get a clean cut PVC and I really don't want to buy online I want a proper diy lol but thanks all the way honestly you're crack🤣🤣 double subscribed keep dem videos coming

Ah, I just bought [2] of these and the mini Fv4 that goes where an F48 would... couldn't figure out why they wouldn't transmit data.... you revealed that answer. Firmware 2.55 !!!

Great and informative video as usual. Thanks!

Just started this hobby trying to get ready for next year and have been watching alot of your videos and you are the only reason I have gotten as far as I have and I thank you for that. I just got my Pi 4 and got that all setup with your help and I got my f16v3 coming hopefully the end of this week. My question is on the Pi setup you have us setting up a show network and our home network but I see on the f16v3 you only have your home IP in the controller. Can you explain how you connect the Pi to the controller and also are able to connect to the controller through the web on your home network as well? Thank you for everything you do for the community.

hi i was wondering if i understood this correctly the smart recievers daisy chained through uses the max pixels per output for that pcb controller is split across those 3 smart recivers in total so 400 on Smart A 400 on Smart B 224 on Smart C

Awesome video, very helpful....now i think ill buy some since i was not sure about them because of the issue they were having when they first came out....

5:45 or so is the best moment of this whole video

Great video. Thanks! I'm working to configure these receivers on my new Kulp K40D-PB. Will xlights push a config to the Kulp as well?

Great tutorial.

Awesome video Jeff! Super thorough and now I can see how these differential receivers can be a total game changer. On a unrelated note, do you know how to use Xlights for AC lights controlled by a LOR controller? I've seen the F16V3 used as a DMX bridge for the LOR controller and I think Keith Westley demonstrated a way to sequence traditional 120V AC lights. Just curious to see if you know anything about this because I have a bunch of AC lights with my pixels. Thank you! Can't wait for your final build and 2019 Christmas show.

So am I to understand from this that with the F48 I no longer need the Raspberry Pi? Thanks

Great stuff, as always!

Hi Jeff you helped me before need it again. I upgraded to F16v3 , F16V3 Differential Expansion Board w/ribbon cable (4 rj45 ports) and two 4-String Differential SmartReceiver Boards. Can't get it working. First Q on the smart receivers do the dip switches need to be in NORMAL or A and B ? Do I need to setup in controller serial output section and or in the layout section. Watched a lot of video got close? Clear as mud hope you can help. Thank You

Maybe I am just confused...The boards can only run 200 pixels? I need 200 for each port (200x4) x the 3 cards or 2400 pixels total. I will have 12 props with 200 pixels on each spread throughout my yard. I was hoping these little jems would solve my issue. Looking for solutions, really would like to buy Falcon boards.

Great video as always. Last year I had a mega tree with 800 pixels, ran off one port of a F16 (data only, power & injection thru a distro board). This year I plan on adding an additional tree and placing both 100' or so away from my controller. My question is: I will continue using my F16 controller, If I use a Smart Differential Receiver, actually two, one for tree 1, the other tree 2, are they capable of running 800 pixels per receiver, and, could the 800 pixels still be ran from one port of the receiver? Keep up the good work, and thanks in advance.

What was the name and type of the 3 D Printer you where talking about. Thanks Jack

I have a f4v3 I also have a f16v3 expansion board if I get a f16v3 differential board could I use the cat5 through the ribbon to make the f16v3 expansion work

What happens to the Falcon controller’s original ports 1,2,3,4 when you add the smart receiver and turns into 1a,2a, etc? Do they still work and can you connect any other strings to it ?

What ics are they on the older boards and what ic makes the new ones smart. I'm just curious as I go about all this completely different and build my own controller and code procedural effects based on where I have sensors or not.

How far i can go from smart differential receiver to the first led. Cause i want to to led in the facia on roof . But i i don want to hide the receiver. For clean look.

Go fish!!!!! LOL As always, you deliver! Great video!

@18:50 wow.... the serial output ports MUST BE SET TO PIXEL DATA. It took me 45 minutes to find this....thanks for just grazing over it and not telling anyone this... it is defaulted to DMX.

Can a 4 port differential handle 794 12v pixels? I plan on having a 30X100 mega tree using 15 ports off an F16 with the star using port 16. Then I want to add 7- 32 node arches, 6- 70 node mini trees, 2- 48 node canes and 1- 54 node wreath and control these with a 4 port differential receiver . Would a differential receiver work for this or would I need another F16 for these props?

Jeff, I have watched this many times and asked support forums, I can not get this working. I am using an F16 and one Smart receiver to do some mini trees out by the street. I have the boxes built and testing. The smart receiver will runs strings in test mode fine but when setup as a smart receiver in the F16 and the smart board set to A and terminated the first string is flickering and others doing nothing. I only have Data LED 1 and 4 lit up when plugged in, I have tried multiple cat5e patch cables, it is plugged into the 4 channel port on the F16 not network. The only anomaly that I am working with is I use Vixen not xLights. I can not setup the controller with in Vixen, so what else do I need to setup in the F16? Serial Ports out....what do they need to be? Pixel or DMX and so on? I am on FalconChristmas and have a thread started with pictures of the settings.

I'm just stared out with pixels. I got 500 pixels want to use. what do I need to get my system up an running? Thanks Robert

At 14.00 You have a closeup of the receiver. What are you using at the end of your power cables? Those yellow connector things. Thanks!

How many Pixels per port can handle this receiver.? And how do you power all three receivers? Individually?

Are they poe or just logic for the shift registers in the leds?

I have a Falcon F16V3 Controller. I have a Differential Expansion board. I have both Traditional Differential Receivers (TDR) and Smart Differential Receivers (SDR) .... So here is the question... Can i Plug in a single TDR into the expansion board by itself. Then on another plug on that expansion board, plug some SDR's and Daisy chain those? Or does the mere fact that i have an old TDR on the expansion board just ruin everything?

Great video as always! Have a question, you I did not hear you mention anything about the Falcon f48. Would these work with them as well for the daisy chain? Just ordered some before seeing your video. I would assume they work as a standard Differential Receiver. Do like the ability to do a test on the pixels from just there, great way to test new pixels.

How many pixels can you hook it up in one smart receiver.

1. Great video! 2. Those explosions scared the living daylights out of me 😅 3. If I understand correctly, each port (RJ45) on Differential expansion Board supports 340 total Pixels or is it 340 pixels per port? 🧐

If you have a multi controller (2 or 3 or more) on a Daisy chain connection or in a splitter network, How do you manage its configuration, I mean does it have to be on a separate configuration? For instance using F16v3, will it be all the same format?? or will they be configured separate individually.??

Do you have a video on the San devices 682 and 6804? I have a 6804 I'm trying to use a 6804 with fpp on ok and xlights. I must be missing something , I can't get the two to talk. I will order the f48 soon, I really like the concept, but I want to use the 6804 for Easter props and maybe small shows for my garage across the road from my house or the back deck facing the river. I built the 6804 so I would mind of like to see if in action. Test patterns in it work great. Thanks for your videos you are awesome.

Do you have any show running yet? I will most likely be in Austin Sunday night so I can be at a fire alarm inspection Monday morning and thought it would be fun to drive by and see it in person.

Greetings again earthling...I asked if you would send a more private email, so I could send images and such...I'm not sure if you saw that request so... I have 4 moving head lights, that I put on TWO wooden light bars, on top of my van...once I saw that bar just taking up a very thin space...I thought I would drill holes in the wood at all different angles...and put INDIVIDUAL 5mm, RGB, 4pin, common cathode...in the now 136 holes!!! I want to keep them ALL separated, so that is where I'm uncertain and do not wish to waste my SS money on the wrong stuff!!! I am novice thinking, and it looks like those recommended Falcon F16 v3 (TIMES 3) and 6 expansion modules, gives me 144 "ports" (and have room for)...which I am novice figuring is my only way to do this??? I realize the wire needs to be very compact too...so please recommend something small and together in 3 conductor or 4??? Also planning to use those shrinking solder rings I've seen and glue (not shrink-wrap the connection to isolate and still stay small...if there is a cheaper and/or easier way, to do any of this...please help me with that, as I'm 65 and this newer stuff is a challenge. I've watched many more of yours' and others' videos...no one seems to be doing this with the now outdated LEDs...I'm preferring them because of the narrow 25 degree beam...that I hope to project outward , from the top of my van on each side...each bar is 41 inches long and has 68 lights in each one...so, I'm hoping to be able to do BIRD/ANGEL WINGS FLAPPING and stationary wing with propeller rotating...maybe even JUST TO PARTY WITH!!! PLEASE HELP...THANKS (HUSTUSA@HUSTUSA.com)

Hi Jeff, I'm attempting to upgrade my F16v3 from V2 (which the unit came with), to the latest version (v 2.55). However, when I update the Bootloader (as per your video) it just stays on the “Bootloader: Loading FPGA” Screen, and then doesn’t go on to the “Loading Firmware” step. Is this an issue with the older Firmware, or could it be because the Factor Reset wasn’t completed fully? I have followed the steps to perform a Factor Reset, but after I do it, I still see the static IP Address I set for the F16 come up, which makes me think a full reset didn’t take place. Any advise would be gratefully accepted.

If you do this does port one on the F16 become unusable?

Your videos are great! But setting up these differential receivers, is this set up the same as with the F4 falcon controller? I have that controller with the expansion board for the 2 differential receivers.

Ok so you can connect them to a f16v3 expansion board and you can Daisy chain 3 in one line, can this be done on for all 4 ports on each expansion board as long as you don't go over pixel count? So if my math is right you would have 16 spi ports on the board and with 2 expansion boards you could have 24 more ports to plug into? Can the same be done with the f48 ? Giving you 12 ports per spot on the board port? That would give you 144 ports to plug into?

In your future videos, could you please review and explain the Pixel2Things controller? I hear we can use this to connect traditional AC lights to pixel controllers like the F16V3. I'm wondering if this new controller can handle a mix of 120V incandescent lights and 120V led lights. Thanks Jeff!

If you setup the controller (F16v3) in xlights using the differential expansion board, do you choose "one expantion board" in the setup? If so, it adds ports 17 through 32. Do you have a video on confiquing this? I ask because the blue "+" sign is only on ports 1, 5, 9, 13. Where are the ports 17-32? Confused.

New into this and getting ready for 2021. What got me confused about the receivers (excuse my knowledge like I said am new )is : It’s coming from the main controller and split into three receivers so you can hook it up to a different props in different locations. My question is: will you be able to give different orders to the 3 receivers to do different things even though they are connected to the same port from the main controller?

Hi Jeff, I’m still making things for my 1st year as a pixel programmer..LOL. I thought arches might be a good thing to add. Can you tell me how many lights you use in yours, and how long a pipe you Make yours from. I have some strips left and thought this might be a nice touch.

Are the cat5 cables feeding true network communication? If so there is a 3ft/1m minimum length between devices for proper sin wave?

So if i wanted to use one of these to run 200 pixels each port, Can these handle 800 pixels provided i use power injection?

Few Questions ? (First time for Light show and very new to pixel controllers, sorry if the question does not make any sense) 1. is the smart receiver allow A,B,C for all four strings .. ? I can make it work for one string (serial port setup for Serial 1 --> pixel data and port 5) then on the receiver I can see 5 A , 5 B, 5C working but not for 6, 7,8 string , now the expectation is 6 ABC, 7 ABC and 8 ABC should WORK OR NOT ... ? 2.Try to use serial port 2, 3 (it is not suppose to work) for smart receiver on the F16V3, it still works if I select pixel data and port (say port 9) I can see (9A works .. i dont have more receivers to test the 9B, 9C) how ever port 10A,B,C, 11, 12 is not working... ?!?

Thanks for this video! I have a question: you say the smart receivers need to be powered with at least 5.3V daisy chaining them. so are you using 12V pixels and a 12V power source in the later part in the video? I would like to use 5V pixels and daisy chain two smart receivers. I am unclear how I could achieve this.

@09:59 is there a need for a terminator at the end of the chain like in standard DMX (pro stage lights) chains?

Jeff- Your content is awesome. Thanks for the tech advice. Unfortunately I am having issues with the smart receivers. Any resources you can suggest/to reach to and get assistance? I've contacted D Pitts and entered the ZOOM chat and didn't receive a response... Ready to omit the smart receivers altogether from my display. Any help at all is greatly appreciated Thanks David D

Is there any place you know of where I can get the dimensions of the falcon f16v3 ? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

What gauge wire do you use for your connections? And I know you mentioned don’t tin the wires but do you still Ferrell crimp all your wires? Also off topic question what gauge wire do you use for your extension cables? 14/3?

Great video. The product description on the webpage still says 5.3 (as well as the documentation). Did he not update the webpage yet or is he back to shipping 5.3 rather then 5? Thanks!

haha Where were you this morning? I had planned one of these for my pixel tree this year. This morning I realized does this work with only the F16V3? I quickly ordered a expansion board.... I thought about it and emailed support, they got back to me quickly and said I can run this directly off of the F16V3. Still kept my order from Falcon though for next year haha.

ZED it is ... awesome.

If I purchase the four port expansion board can I run three smart controllers from each port? For a total of twelve from the expansion board and another three from to one port on the f16? Or is the maximum 3 total? Thanks again. I received my f16 today in the mail and was busy testing all day.

Ok real question,do you all leave you’re boards powered up all the time for the schedule to work? I have to manually play my play list everyday even though have it set up to start and stop at certain time of day

Can the smart receivers run from the F16v3 differential expansion board?

Quick question.i noticed each smart reciver was running the same effect.can they run separate effects through the sequencer in xlight.. And can each port run separate effects This is probably a dumb question Great video Jeff learned a great deal on this one.

If I connect the Smart Differential from the DMX 1 port on my F16V3 will it automatically update my port configuration? Right now it shows 16 ports in the web configuration-if I connect one will it update to 20 ports, then 24, etc?

Any idea if POE has ever been considered for the boards? I've wondered whether that'd be an option in future board development to save running power too. If this has actually been done, then ignore my stoppidness lol

how do you know the data direction, i have a male and female connection on the beginneg and end of the 50 pixel. does it matter with one i cut away ? need blank wire für falcon to connect

I'm absolutely loving your videos and presentations of this information. My question that I've yet to figure out - what's the advantage/disadvantage between utilizing the F16v3 versus the F48 for a new setup? I'm starting to cost out my plans for a brand new build. There's no local resource that I've been able to find yet to bounce questions off of and look over my notes. Is there a way I could send it to you for review before I start spending money?

Awesome channel!!! Question can i buy something like what you have that's is plug & play?

I want to set up music lights can you help me I need a tutorial please

Do you still use your V2?

Around the 6 min mark you mentioned the sum of the pixels cannot exceed what you would have in a classic differential receiver. Can you explain this in more depth? For example, if using a F48 it sounds like it’s possible to have 144 channels (12 differential controller x 12 (4x3) smart receiver but can not exceed a certain pixel count. What would be the max on each channel? Hope that makes sense.

I made my Halloween show but sadly I dont think ill make Christmas :(

omg i thought you had a clone for a second.. hahaha

Ok so complete dumba** question I noticed most ppl use x lights to program the falcon f48 controller but my question is will that controller work inside vixen3?

#jeff for president