F4v2 Pixel Controller. Operation Manual. Revision v1.0.0

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Leonard Hubbard
5 years ago
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1 F4v2 Pixel Controller Operation Manual Revision v1.0.0 The F4v2 pixel controller has the ability to drive 640 pixels per output port and each output a different node type. The controller can receive data from E131, Pixelnet or be connected directly to the Raspberry PI. The current beta is only for the E131 version. WARNING! Please do not connect power to F4v2, until you have read the power section of this manual.

2 SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Please read this manual in full before powering on. INTRODUCTION The F4v2 pixel controller pictured below has the ability to drive 640 pixels per output port and each output can be a different node type. The controller can receive data from E131 or in the near future be connected directly to the Raspberry PI to take advantage of the full capabilities of the Falcon Player (FPP). In the future the F4V2 will have two expansion boards, one will expand controller to twelve local ports and the other will add eight differential string ports (two RS-485 jacks). Note: 12-bit pixels string types are limited to 340 pixels per string for 4 port mode. Note: The current version supports only E131 at this time. Ethernet Connector Port 3 Port 4 RS-485 Output OLED Display Port 1 Port 2 5amp Fuses Power Selection V1 Pixel Power

3 1.0 Power and Power connections The F4v2 can be powered directly from the V2 (right side of board) pixel port power connector or from external power connector. The F4v2 can be powered from 5V DC directly or from 7v to 24V DC, the controller requires a stable DC supply and care should be taken if powering from the same supply as pixels if using 5V. Power jumpers are provided and must be set to match the incoming power configuration as detailed below. A. External connection using V Pixel power connection Greater than 7V on V input Pixel Power Connection. (1 & 2), (3 & 4) V on V input Pixel Power Connection. Please note only one jumper. (2&3) 2.0 Webpage Connection The user interface to setup the F4v2 is an embedded webpage. The unit is setup as default to acquire an address via DHCP but also has a default address of If your network does not have a DHCP server please use this address to connect to unit. More information on how to connect will be coming. 3.0 Device Settings 4.0 RS-485 Serial Ports The F4V2 has one dedicated RS-485 circuit. It is located the right side of the board. The serial port can be configured to output DMX, Pixelnet or Renard. When DMX is selected the output is fixed at 250Kbps, Pixelnet is fixed at 1Mbps and when Renard is selected the user can set the baudrate and number of stop bits. The output s start address can be set to any start address in the range of data received by the controller. It is not necessary to have the first channel of the output be the first channel in an E131 universe. The RS-485 pinouts. DMX Mode Pin Description 1 Output Output 1 -

4 3 No Connection 4 No Connection 5 No Connection 6 No Connection 7 Ground 8 No Connection LOR Mode Pin Description 1 No Connection 2 No Connection 3 No Connection 4 Output Output 1-6 Ground 7 No Connection 8 No Connection 5.0 Firmware update Via USB and PC Software. The Firmware Programmer can be downloaded at the link below along with the required firmware. In order to update the firmware please power down the unit. Connect a micro USB cable to the processor board and your computer. Press the boot button and continue holding while you reapply power to the unit. After unit powers up the second and third LEDS should blink at the same time once per second. Now open the Falcon software update program, select the new firmware file and press update. A status bar should indicate the progress be PATIENT, this could take a minute or two. When the files have been confirmed sent by the software, power down unplug the USB cable and power up the controller. A web page version of this process will be implemented soon. See here for download of update tool and Firmware. Note: If after an update the OLED screen does not light-up and only the power led is lit on FPGA board please boot into bootloader mode (method used to update firmware) and press the "Reset to Factory Settings" on the Firmware programmer application. Then power down and power up controller.

5 6.0 Run/Test Mode The controller has two modes of operation, run and test. After the controller boots up it will be in the run mode as and the second LED will be lit. In order to toggle to test mode hold the boot button for one second or longer. The controller will toggle to test mode and the third LED will light. To go back to run mode press and hold the boot again. 7.0 Reset IP Address to default To reset the controller back to DHCP mode and also the address to press and hold the boot button for longer than 10 seconds. When the reset has occurred the second and third LEDs will alternate back and forth for a few seconds. Release the button. The controller has now been reset to default address and DHCP mode.

F16v2 Pixel Controller. Operation Manual. Revision v1.0.1

F16v2 Pixel Controller. Operation Manual. Revision v1.0.1 F16v2 Pixel Controller Operation Manual Revision v1.0.1 The F16v2 pixel controller has the ability to drive 640 pixels per output port and each output a different node type. The controller can receive