Kulp Pixel Controller Basic Tutorial

[@peleger1]

I think since ive struggled so badly, on and off for a full year actually, I thought maybe those of you that tried to point me in the right direction, heres a huge THANK YOU! I kept trying to refigure my settings and one day what was working would not work for me the next time. I went into my router settings i was too scared to mess with for months finally. I changed the setting in the router, finally theres been some success.
My show (8-50 pixel strand and then you 😅1megatree, 50 pixel star I made, 300-small spiral tree strip I built with clear tube, and another 300 strip so nothing too crazy) are now working now.
Last thing is getting sound and not just text displaying on the radio.
But, next year i will have good show i bet. Thanks!

[@peleger1]

I've used this video 100 times, have struggled more than anyone for sure, and now have 2 sequences playing. Of course and par for the course I have my radio station displayed out in the car buy silence is all I am getting. No static like other non stations but quietness only.
I swear this whole thing has fought me on and off for a year and when I finally built sequences, moved em over to the player I get no sound. I can't imagine what I missed now.

[@ohiowalnut]

Hi Phil, great tutorial! I haven't seen this issue anywhere yet, sorry if this is common knowledge, I found that the only power supply entry that will power the beagle bone, is the first one you ran yours from. I connected the new k32 a-b (haven't found much documentation for this model yet), to my power supply at the top left, then bottom left side, only to find no power getting to the beagle bone, so I reconnected to the port which runs 9 through 16 and the beagle bone lit up as well as the little screen. Wanted to pass this on to anyone with my same issue. Thanks Phil!

[@qualar]

Yes that is correct.

[@kevkev5935]

I am just getting started in the world of pixel lighting and the nuts and bolts that go with it. Your video is fantastic and explains this quite well.

[@qualar]

Check out my xlights training videos ua-cam.com/channels/_kJnUCPWt7DMFWhFVfMtMA.html

[@kevkev5935]

​@@qualar You've put together quite the repository. This is a wealth of great info. Thank you so much! I've been up quite late each night tinkering with Xlights my K16 and a even a couple of smart receivers. I was having issue after issue getting the receivers to play nicely with the controller, but managed to get through it. The new FPP 5.2 UI is night and day to the previous versions, so there was a bit of a learning curve. I get the feeling this is going to be one of those hobbies that grows exponentially between holiday :)

[@qualar]

@@kevkev5935 Thank you.

[@markswartz2109]

Thank you for all your help this last Saturday on Zoom. Im sure as i get closer to finishing my K32 A/B that i will be back in the Zoom Room for more Help.

[@qualar]

My pleasure. Anytime.

[@fgmrendy]

@@qualar hi ..I have a question.Can I conect directly via ethernet cable with out the antenna wireless to an ethernet splitter to my laptop?

[@qualar]

@@fgmrendy Yes

[@qualar]

@@fgmrendy Sorry don't understand your question.

[@TheOoze777]

Thank you for this video. I'm new to all of this and trying to learn as much as I can.
If you could provide the model numbers of the components you used in this video it would be a big help. Thanks.

[@JohnRuckart66]

Great video! Thanks!!

[@Florida-Ken]

Nice video Phil, I'm looking forward to more, take care.

[@xlightstrainingnuggets9736]

ua-cam.com/channels/_kJnUCPWt7DMFWhFVfMtMA.html

[@johnnagy1575]

falcon has more info on set ups . I bought a K32A-b V1.2 . dont know how to use it

[@pablomeza2894]

Hello, very good video. I have a problem with the FM transmitter, at 4 meters you can't hear anything and you can also hear it very low. Sorry for the English, it is with a translator. thank you.

[@qualar]

@@pablomeza2894 Have you made sure your aerial wire is the correct length?

[@pablomeza2894]

@@qualar What length is recommended? thank you

[@qualar]

@@pablomeza2894 It all depends on the frequency you are going to use.

[@halo3player45]

I have the controller working through fpp and can run test commands/ sequences. x lights is connected to the controller. I can upload my outputs from x lights to fpp. For some reason I can’t output to lights from x lights. Any Ideas on a setting to look for I might be missing?

[@qualar]

Difficult without seeing. You would be best going to the Xlights zoom room .

[@Top40MashUpz]

why is that when you touched the OLED, the screen came on? or just coincidence? or magic touch? :D

[@qualar]

😁. It was just a coincidence. Oled doesn't come on immediately.

[@KellenMadsensLife]

Any thought Phil on why my visualize option doesn't show up in Xlights when I've connected my Kulp16? the button is grayed out.

[@qualar]

Its probably one of the checkboxes in the Setting Grid see here manual.xlights.org/xlights/chapters/chapter-four-set-up/lighting-networks

[@KellenMadsensLife]

@@qualar you were absolutely right, maker and model weren't auto populated. Thanks!

[@qualar]

@@KellenMadsensLife Glad I could help.

[@michaelungaro1822]

do kulp controllers need the beaglebone? can i just connect it directly to the network and use it with a 3rd party software? like jynx for example?

[@qualar]

Need a Beaglebone. Mine came with it.

[@DeivesBenderDB2]

Hi, where did you buy this board?

[@qualar]

kulplights.com/

[@sudman]

Fantastic Video! Thank you for the great detailed explanation. I am completely new and information like this is invaluable. Could you share a link to the FM transmitter wire? I am a little unclear on what to use and how to connect it properly. Also, how do you like the wifi ? I just bought a 32A-B and wasnt sure if i should go Ethernet or Wifi. Thank you!

[@qualar]

Just use any thin piece of wire. Thick wire is worse for this aerial. WiFi works perfectly.

[@rmsmatos1970]

Great video Phil. Are you based in Portugal?

[@qualar]

Yes

[@jwellin8693]

I was curious was there anything else you needed to do that you didn't show in this video to get the FM transmitter to work? I am having a lot of issues trying to get it to broadcast music. I was able to get music through FM by plugging my phone into the 3.5mm jack but can't get music through the FPP mp3 files that are being played from my sequence. I have the latest version of fpp 5.4.1 and updated plugin from kulp (verified that it is the one by Kulp.

[@qualar]

No I didn't do anything extra and it worked first time.

[@jwellin8693]

@@qualar Thanks for the reply, I have a work around to get it to work. I am using a pi to output the sound through its 3.5 mm jack to the FM transmitter its less than ideal but don't know what else to do

[@SJIS20]

Upload input is greyed out..why is that?

[@blackdave8525]

Hi how much did you pay for this ? , i got a kulp k8 sent to the UK and i got charged nearly £48 extra charge once it arrived export charge , certainly was not amused by that .

[@qualar]

That's standard when importing from US. I didn't pay duty because I got an American friend to get it for me .

[@adigururaj]

Great Video!
New to all this though. I have a question.
I'm building a Megatree with 32 strands of 50 pixels each. Can I use the K16 or do I need to use the K32 because it has 32 ports?
I see in your video that even though you used K16, your xLights had more than 16 ports configured. Can we do that?

[@qualar]

Yes you can easily do a 32 stand megatree on a K16 and a lot more. 1 port can handle multiple props and/or multiple strands of a megatree.

[@adigururaj]

@@qualar Thanks. Do you have an example to show how I can connect multiple strands to 1 output port?

[@qualar]

@@adigururaj You just configure it in Xlights by dragging the prop or strand to the desired port. If you go to the Xlights zoom room they can talk you through the process if you are unsure.

[@peleger1]

I followed this perfectly. I plug in my set of pixels, quick flash, and then nothing. I've gotten a single light on a few occasions on solid. Both a red single and sometimes it's a single blue light. I push test and nothing happens. I've connected and disconnected everything numerous times with same results. I confirmed 11.98 volts. Only the right side. Allow the boot up. I can't understand why no lights when I plug in my string. 100 pixel string is what I plug in.

[@qualar]

Before diagnosing the board I would check that the pixels are OK first. Also are your pixels 12v pixels?

[@peleger1]

@Gadget Phil yes, 12 volt pixels. I have the jumper on 12v as well. I've tried different pixels in different ports, all lights are on by the fuses. The beaglebone black has the solid blue light and the others flicking just like the video shows. I did have the right and left powered up using the same power source on my first set-up. Confirmed 12v on both sides. Went through the screen options, selected test that way as well. When I plug in the pixels in any port, my power supply fan speed increases by quite a bit like it's being draw on, when I disconnect the pixel string, fan goes back to slower speed. I've yet to attempt to move onto the next steps connecting to my wifi because I'm pretty sure if I'm not getting lights to go on at this step then I won't get the lights to light up after finishing the setup.

[@qualar]

@@peleger1 Its hard to say what the problem is. The video I posted was me opening and connecting from new so I didn't do any extra steps. I know there was a time that some boards has a faulty chip. Maybe email Kulp and explain the issue.

[@peleger1]

@@qualar thanks for trying to help me. I'll give them a chance

[@blackdave8525]

@@peleger1 I had the same issue , i would do a complete reflash of the sd card then make sure the pixels are ws2811 , seems when connecting to blocks the 3 wires it is back to front , its negative data then positive , go to channel inputs add them to what channel , but doing a test they should show anyway .

[@lawrencemirafuentes4007]

Great video! How did you install the WIFI adapter?

[@qualar]

Just plugged it in. If you get the correct one drivers are already there.

[@retardmonkeys1767]

Hi i have an issue with my kulp and xlights i wonder if you could help on this , its all up and running but i have a few props and a tree , seems the effect off the tree is syncing with the props , what i have tried to do in xlights is have all props doing there own colors but there all syncing with the tree effects and being a novice i do not understand why this is happening , any help welcome .

[@qualar]

Are you using the visualizer to assign your props to the board?

[@retardmonkeys1767]

@@qualar Yes your right i have tree in port 1 then port 2 arches and so forth .

[@qualar]

@@retardmonkeys1767 In Xlights go to your layout and check for channel overlaps.

[@retardmonkeys1767]

@@qualar I think the channel output in fpp are wrong and will have a look later and change the channel outputs on xlights , i think that may be the issues why there all syncing the same time ,

[@charonnisis]

Is the antenna for the fm transmitter a commercial piece? If so, where did you buy it?

[@qualar]

No just a thin piece of wire cut to the correct length based on your frequency.

[@charonnisis]

@@qualar how is it attached?

[@qualar]

@@charonnisis You can just solder it directly. i put a pinheader on so i could remove it.

[@terrymagill7350]

@@qualar Silly quiestion, what size pinheader and where can they be bought?

[@qualar]

@@terrymagill7350 Which pinheader are you referring. If antenna it's just a standard size used on pc motherboards.

[@sr82901]

Well done sir

[@qualar]

Thank you

[@smarthomegioan5015]

May I ask how much it cost?

[@qualar]

kulplights.com/

[@smarthomegioan5015]

@@qualar thanks! I'm in Vietnam don't know if I can buy it?

[@tonylou8424]

hello Phil i do like this can you send me all the bits what you ordered so i know what you shown in your box so i will end up with it to you can send me a message on facebook

[@xlightstrainingnuggets9736]

Will need to show you next time in zoom room.

[@tonylou8424]

@@xlightstrainingnuggets9736 ok as you no i am not to good with worlds