What are the advantages of lor pixel connector?

Posted by Ken Macmaster on February 8th, 2021

Christmas Light Pixels are unique in the fact that we can control them via a computer…but not directly.

While our computer will put out a DMX, Art-Net, or e1.31 (sACN) type signal, our pixels are not able to understand that information directly.  We can’t just plug them into the computer via USB!

Pixels need the information simplified for their use.

What are Pixel Controller and How Does it Work?

At it’s simplest form, the pixel controller takes the data from the computer (usually running a sequencer program like xLights or Vixen, or a Rasberry Pi running FPP), and converts it into a format that lor pixel connector can use.

This “format” may be a variety of different protocols that may use either three or four wires to communicate the signal to the pixels.

The most important thing to understand when looking for a controller is that you need to match your controller to the type of pixels (the protocol) that you have bought or are planning to buy.

There’s nothing worse than buying a controller that’s not compatible with the lor pixel connector you bought!

Pixel controllers also can do a variety of other helpful things.

They can set a maximum intensity level for each string of pixels that are connected, and they can also do some fancy configuration to assign the exact data that you want to the exact lights that you want… especially if you didn’t wire everything the way that you intended when you first set up your software!

Often, the pixel controller that you buy will have multiple ports. This will allow you to drive multiple strings of pixels from that pixel controller.  Each string of pixels will have a maximum pixel count, usually 170, 340, 680, or 1020+ pixels.

Pay attention to this closely when you buy your controller – it will greatly govern the number of lights you can control overall!