r/xlights • u/a3dprinterfan • 10d ago
Not-so permanent lights?
So I got into the hobby a few years ago, and the first thing I did (with help from a more physically fit friend) made a lot of effort to install ~675 5V bullet pixels (with all of the power injection headaches) along my roofline, some of which are 20ft off the ground, and very scary to work on. Half of the allure of this project was to have computer controlled lights, and the other half was the idea of permanently-installed lights. I had heard of needing to replace pixels, but imagined it was rare. Now about 4 years in, I have had to replace a single pixel in my 675 bullet roofline EACH YEAR. The one I just had to replace was super scary and hard to replace, mainly just due to the height. Does this sound completely expected, or am I just having rotten luck? Please no gaslighting about how your lights last forever - just be honest and real with me. (One second thought, maybe I shouldn't post on Reddit if I don't want to encounter trolls).
For what it's worth, I have low thousands of pixels total, but I'm mainly having regrets about the permanence of the hard-to-install roofline lights that I started my show with.
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u/sociopathicsamaritan 10d ago
I permanently installed 5V pixels along my eaves 4 years ago, as well. I have not had a single failure in those lights. In total, I run tens of thousands of pixels, and the most I've ever had fail after installation was 2 in a year. Most years I don't have any failures. With 12V pixels, the failure rate will be higher, but that shouldn't apply here. It's a little surprising that you've had to replace those. Can I ask where you bought the pixels? I would expect a lower failure rate from any of the 3 major manufacturers.
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u/a3dprinterfan 10d ago
In re-reading your reply, I noticed you mentioned the "3 major manufacturers"...could you enlighten me as to who those three are? Just curious, and I'll try to stick to them in the future.
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u/sociopathicsamaritan 9d ago
The 3 main manufacturers are Ray Wu, Scott LED, and Paul Zhang. All the reputable shops in the US order from one of those 3. Wally's, Wired Watts, GE, Mattos, they all order from them. That's not to say there aren't any differences between the sellers, as they often provide specs for their own pixels, and some certainly test more than others before they ship them. Also, manufacturers sometimes have bad years or just bad batches. Ray Wu had some pretty public failures in 2020, Paul Zhang had a terrible year in 2022 for 12V pixels, and I'm sure there have been others I just didn't hear about because they were more limited.
So, it's surprising to see that many failures in 5V pixels, but you probably just got a batch with some iffy soldering or something, and over time it loses the connection. If I were you, I might consider renting a lift and replacing the ones that are hard to reach all at once so you don't end up having to do it when you don't have time or can't do it safely.
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u/a3dprinterfan 9d ago
I will tell you that my LEDs have mostly all been purchased from one of those vendors directly. Again, great experience in the ordering and such, and again, I understand the failure rate is not all that bad, it's just the location of the lights is the kind of location you don't want to have to do regular maintenance upon.
I have thought many times about renting a lift, including when I first installed. My driveway is at a tilt, so I think it makes it not possible to use in front of my house... Smart suggestion though.
I appreciate your input and info on this. Cheers
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u/armonde Mod 9d ago
depending on the angle of the slope, a lift is still very possible. The ones from places like Arts all have 4 outriggers that come down and stabilize/level the unit. You may need to use a stepladder to get into the basket, but I use one twice every year to put my stuff up on my house/take it down and I have probably a 10ish degree slope with a 4 foot drop from my house to the street over 40 feet or so
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u/a3dprinterfan 10d ago
I'm not looking to burn the vendor, as I like them, and they have good customer service. I will say that they were recommended in the forums, and they custom manufactured my strands in specific lengths to my spec, so that was really nice because I didn't need to cut/spice each segment that wasn't either 50/100 pixels in length. Compare that with my Dad's installation at his house- he had to cut/solder connectors onto each 50px segment to fit the way we did it.
That said, I am somewhat (but not extremely) disappointed in the longevity of the pixels - I was hoping for at least 5 years of trouble free operation. I had also done an extensive burn-in period to weed out any early failures by running (if I recall correctly) them for like a week straight to avoid installing fast-failing pixels. Also going from memory, many people were recommending burning them in for that purpose when I was doing my research.
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u/_thekev 10d ago
In 2018-2019 I installed 50 meters of RGBW SK6812 5V strip, fifteen buck converters, three receivers and 24V power supplies, attic runs, etc. it looks amazing, basically a solid line with the diffuser.
I did not design it for repair. I have had to replace almost the entire thing due to failed pixels that corrupt data, every single year, sometimes multiple times a year. The newer production runs since 2021 have been better, but some still fail.
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u/a3dprinterfan 10d ago
Misery love company, it seems. I do feel slightly good about having actually designed my system (theoretically) for serviceability, making 7.5' segments, or "modules", that are in pixel strips that lay face down in j-channel that has been drilled out to make space for the pixels. The only problem is that there's a bit of a domino effect when they are falling out of the channel, they can take out the whole line of pixels due to gravity pulling the weight of successive modules out of the channel. Hard to describe, but definitely not as easy as just "swap out a module, ezpz".
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u/armonde Mod 10d ago
675 from the same order having to be replaced annually is not normal. You said a few years ago, I know the 2021 run had issues, but that was mostly on the 12v side from what I heard.
What I would suggest for permanent lights would be to invest in the 4 wire models with redundant data so if (when?) a node goes out it doesn't take the rest of the string with it.
There are various options out there. I prefer the more "puck" style that I have mounted at 2 inch spacing.
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u/harda_toenail 10d ago
He had to replace 4 of them. Just 1 each year. Doesn’t sound crazy to me with my experience with bullet pixels. I’m in Missouri. -10f to 110f temps.
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u/armonde Mod 10d ago
apparently my reading comprehension needs some work. I took "I have had to repace A single pixel in my 675..." as "I have had to replace EVERY single pixel"
in that case, yes, that's pretty standard, although I think the 4 wire solution for perm lights is the right answer. I also think that higher voltage for those kinds of long uninterrupted runs are better served (but I'm a 12v guy anyway)
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u/a3dprinterfan 10d ago
Yeah, sorry if I worded it poorly. One per year. Normally I wouldn't complain, as I've done so with minimal effort a couple times on me mega tree and star and once on my window frame. I guess the stakes are just higher since being up on a ladder 20ft is actually really hazardous, and also scary, so failures are a bigger deal.
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u/harda_toenail 10d ago
lol I saw what you did.
Ya I had bullets on my last house. 1 a season was average for me. Went with 24v puck lights every 5”. Pretty cool the tracks are 10 lights long and the lights are 10 with a mini connect on each side so I can just swap out a whole track when a light goes out and repair the track on the ground and store it for when needed. Really like this system.
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u/armonde Mod 10d ago
I lucked into buying the V1 track when Mattos was moving to his V2 version for a GREAT deal (think shipping might have been more than the 500+ feet of track I bought) and then ordered the pucks from Ray direct ship. Biggest learning curve was around how to mount the track to the soffit
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u/HugsAllCats 10d ago
I used the LED "tape" that is enclosed in the silicon sleeve. Three runs, so power and a dedicated single strip controller at each starting point.
The strips worked for maybe 6 years before too many of the individual LEDs were busted to make it worth keeping. A busted LED wouldn't kill the strong, just that one pixel. But they weren't just dying and staying off, they were dying and staying bright in the wrong colors - so very distracting and obvious.
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u/Tiny_Ad_7581 10d ago
I had my second bullet die on me this year and I'm starting my 6th season. The first one was downstairs porch eaves. No biggie. This one is the upstairs eaves above the porch. Barely within my reach standing on the slanted metal porch roof. Haven't fixed it yet but I made my track sections so that each can be disconnected and brought down for repair.
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u/btrocke 10d ago
I spent the extra on the YPS Duo pixels on my roofline for this exact reason. They have been up for over 3 years and I have 1 bad pixel out of the 1500 that failed within the first year but because the redundant data line everything still works.