Currently they only offer Evo's with 4 inch spacing. This means that props that require you to cut & splice in-between pixels can turn into a very tedious task. The wire being so thin and 4 wires instead of three makes it even more difficult. I do love the appearance of the Evo's that's why I purchased 1,300 of them. However I used them on four 360 mini trees. That is 300 evos per tree. If you look at the mini tree wiring layout in Xlights each tree required me to splice in six 4 wire strands. That is 48 splices per tree X 4 making a total of 192 splices! All splices were soldered, protected with heat shrink, then wrapped with electrical tape and tested with Ohm meter and a falcon controller before put in the display. So I am sure Mattos knows that certain models/props require them to be cut, so the 3 year warranty is then useless=meaning no warranty if you cut them. The other concern is how fragile they are. Our mini trees are across our driveway, They must me moved twice per day so the wife can get her car in & out coming & going to work. The connector on Evo's due to the thin wires have a tendency to twist and snap off flush with the connector making it impossible to repair. Had to buy another 100 just so I could cut the 4pin male end off it. Then another tree had stopped working, during my trouble shooting I unplugged a working evo tree and plugged in the none working evo tree to rule out a bad x-connect extension which turned out to be fine. Then when I plugged the working evo mini tree back in to the exact same extension & port it never worked again. So out of 1,3 Evos pixels, I now only have 600 evos that still work. I have decided to NEVER use evo pixels for anything they simply cannot compare to the old bullet pixels as far as being tough & strong. I can never trust them with such thin wires. I never seen wires snap like threads before, this has been a nightmare for me and I have learnt my lesson. The Evo's, even the working ones are going in the trash and being replaced with the 12mm bullet standard that has served all of us well over the years.
Great review. I think I'm going to try a set of these where weight of the prop is an issue. Anyone tried these with Boscoyo or Gilbet Engineering props?
When comparing Evo pixels v/s resistors, you absolutely have to note that evos are a native 12v pixel. So when you say they “suffer” from voltage drop, it is actually not suffering. It is the. Suture of a native device. A resistor or regulator can run as low as 6 volts whereas an evo has to have 9 volts. It’s kind of like trying to plug a usb an into a usb c port and saying the cable is bad. They are different and need to be operated within those parameters. Because of the lower current draw, you can balance power from the same output and obtain desired performance.
You are correct, being native 12 volt they perform differently and as seen must be planned differently in usage than resistor bullets. I did show and mention that they work with the power added at the end of the string but if I did that for the full test then it wouldn't be a comparison of what we are used to seeing with bullets
Currently they only offer Evo's with 4 inch spacing. This means that props that require you to cut & splice in-between pixels can turn into a very tedious task. The wire being so thin and 4 wires instead of three makes it even more difficult. I do love the appearance of the Evo's that's why I purchased 1,300 of them. However I used them on four 360 mini trees. That is 300 evos per tree. If you look at the mini tree wiring layout in Xlights each tree required me to splice in six 4 wire strands. That is 48 splices per tree X 4 making a total of 192 splices! All splices were soldered, protected with heat shrink, then wrapped with electrical tape and tested with Ohm meter and a falcon controller before put in the display. So I am sure Mattos knows that certain models/props require them to be cut, so the 3 year warranty is then useless=meaning no warranty if you cut them. The other concern is how fragile they are. Our mini trees are across our driveway, They must me moved twice per day so the wife can get her car in & out coming & going to work. The connector on Evo's due to the thin wires have a tendency to twist and snap off flush with the connector making it impossible to repair. Had to buy another 100 just so I could cut the 4pin male end off it. Then another tree had stopped working, during my trouble shooting I unplugged a working evo tree and plugged in the none working evo tree to rule out a bad x-connect extension which turned out to be fine. Then when I plugged the working evo mini tree back in to the exact same extension & port it never worked again. So out of 1,3 Evos pixels, I now only have 600 evos that still work. I have decided to NEVER use evo pixels for anything they simply cannot compare to the old bullet pixels as far as being tough & strong. I can never trust them with such thin wires. I never seen wires snap like threads before, this has been a nightmare for me and I have learnt my lesson. The Evo's, even the working ones are going in the trash and being replaced with the 12mm bullet standard that has served all of us well over the years.
Many thanks for the content Nicely done and well presented....
Thanks!
Great review. I think I'm going to try a set of these where weight of the prop is an issue. Anyone tried these with Boscoyo or Gilbet Engineering props?
Should work with them too, just might be tight if they don't have the nubs so then they more pop in
Nice!
Thanks!
When comparing Evo pixels v/s resistors, you absolutely have to note that evos are a native 12v pixel. So when you say they “suffer” from voltage drop, it is actually not suffering. It is the. Suture of a native device. A resistor or regulator can run as low as 6 volts whereas an evo has to have 9 volts. It’s kind of like trying to plug a usb an into a usb c port and saying the cable is bad. They are different and need to be operated within those parameters. Because of the lower current draw, you can balance power from the same output and obtain desired performance.
You are correct, being native 12 volt they perform differently and as seen must be planned differently in usage than resistor bullets. I did show and mention that they work with the power added at the end of the string but if I did that for the full test then it wouldn't be a comparison of what we are used to seeing with bullets
Also the need for a higher voltage before problems occur is amplified by the small wire gauge choice