Refurbished products have either had minor repair work (such as a triac replacement, pixel port repair, loose RJ45 port repair, etc), or were returned by a customer after minimal or no use during the money back guarantee warranty period. All refurbished controllers and products have been tested and are in good working condition.
Assembled Garage Sale Pixies will indicate if the controller is 5V or 12V. Ensure you purchase compatible pixels to avoid damaging your controller. Issues caused due to connection of improper voltage pixels are NOT covered under warranty.
Inventory will be added as more products are refurbished and tested at our facility. Check back frequently in the off-season to see newly added Garage Sale items.
Pixies
All "Pixie" controllers are considered Generation 3 (G3) and are capable of operating at high speed ELOR networks. Version numbers (V) refer to sourcing changes for standard board components, and do not have any impact on controller performance.
Pixel Controllers
19.2K-57.6K-115K
500K high speed
1000K high speed
ELOR (Enhanced) Pro Level
DMX 512
E1.31 (DMX over Ethernet)
Pixie2
2 SPI ports, each with 100 pixel addressability
Pixie4
4 SPI ports, each with 170 pixel addressability
Pixie8
8 SPI ports, each with 170 pixel addressability
Pixie16
16 SPI ports, each with 170 pixel addressability
CC Devices
Cosmic Color devices were the precursor to Pixie controllers. These controllers have slightly different capabilities in network speed compared to current Pixies.
Cosmic Color Bulbs/Pixels/Floods/Ribbons
19.2K-57.6K-115K
500K high speed
1000K high speed
ELOR (Enhanced) Pro Level
DMX 512
E1.31 (DMX over Ethernet)
CCB-100
Cosmic Color Bulbs using latest available firmware.
CCC-II
Cosmic Controller II
CCP-100
Cosmic Color Pixels using latest available firmware.
CCR-150
Cosmic Color Ribbon using latest available firmware.
Our three different easy-to-use smart pixel "Pixie" controllers have either 4, 8 or 16 ports for smart pixels strands or props. A "smart pixel" strand of lights means that every individual bulb on the strand can be controlled - choose the color and the brightness level for every bulb (either individually or by using pre-set effects/patterns). On average, each port of a Pixie can control up to 100 smart RGB pixels over a standard LOR network.
LOR USB adapter-to-controller connection operating at up to 1000kbps eliminates the need for a LAN.
This controller is fully assembled and ready for use with the smart pixels included in this package.
Pixie4D:4 SPI port smart pixel controller
Pixie8D:8 SPI port smart pixel controller
Pixie16D:16 SPI port smart pixel controller
This controller is supplied with screw terminal plugs for each pixel port. The pixel ribbons/strings are connected to these plugs which are then pushed into the port connectors on the board. This arrangement simplifies prop storage, assembly and damaged component replacement.
Pixel controller pixel ribbon/string connector
Unit ID Configuration
In the hardware configuration settings, you'll assign each Pixie controller a "Base Unit ID," then our software will automatically number all of the other ports for you behind the scenes. While a standard AC controller (like our CTB16PC) takes up one Unit ID for the whole controller, each PORT on a Pixie controller gets its own Unit ID because each strand of smart pixels is made up of dozens of channels on its own.
For example, you could set the Base Unit ID of a Pixie8 to be Unit ID 11, and our software would automatically number the ports on the Pixie8 as follows:Unit IDs 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
We use hexadecimal numbering here at Light-O-Rama, which means there are six extra Unit IDs in every set of 10 standard numbers. This means that assigning a Pixie16 a Base Unit ID of 01 would mean the ports would be assigned to the next 15 sequentialUnit IDs:01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09,0A, 0B, 0C, 0D, 0E, 0F,10.This makes it easy to keep track of numbering for smart pixel controllers with 16 ports (our most popular Pixie controller). If your display only contains Pixie16 controllers, you could give them base Unit IDs of 01, 11, 21, 31, 41 etc. without worrying about overlapping or conflicting assignments.
Pixie Product Specs
Each Pixie controllers supports all Light-O-Rama pixel ICs including WS2811 400KHz, WS2811 800KHz, WS2812, WS2801, LDP6803 and SM16716. The controllers also each include a test button that runs red, green or blue down the pixels strings for simple verification of your connections and pixel strings.
Pixie 4
Pixie8
Pixie16
4 SPI Ports (each with replaceable ATM 4 amp fuse)
8 SPI Ports (each with replaceable ATM 4 amp fuse)
16 SPI Ports (each with replaceable ATM 4 amp fuse)
Each port can handle up to 170 smart pixels*
Each port can handle up to 170 smart pixels*
Each port can handle up to 170 smart pixels*
Three inputs for interactive shows
Three inputs for interactive shows
Three inputs for interactive shows
Uses 4 consecutive LOR Unit IDs
Uses 8 consecutive LOR Unit IDs
Uses 16 consecutive LOR Unit IDs
Current: 15 amps maximum
(15 amps for ports 1-4 )
Current: 30amps maximum
(15 amps for ports 1-4 and 15 amps for ports 5-8 )
Current: 30amps maximum
(15 amps for ports 1-8 and 15 amps for ports 9-16 )
*Each Pixie4/8/16 controller port is fused at 4 amps and can each typically power up to 100 pixels at 100% brightness. Using more pixels on a port at 100% brightness requires power injection for which Light-O-Rama does not provide instruction. Reducing the pixel dimming curve to 30% and/or using less complex pixel effects (non-gradients) may allow you to use more than 100 pixel per port (maximum of 170).
We strongly suggest running your LOR data network at 500K Enhanced or faster when using Pixie4/8/16 controllers (required when using LOR Pixel Motion Effects). We recommend a maximum of 2400 smart pixels per network at 500K Enhanced or a maximum of 4800 smart pixels per network at 1000K Enhanced. Altering pixel dimming curves, using (or not-using) complex Motion Effects, and the length of your pixel extensions (distance from controller to first pixel) may affect these recommendations (higher or lower) for your personal situation.
Light-O-Rama regular network support is primarily for compatibility with old Cosmic Color Ribbon and Cosmic Color Bulb sequences. Compatibility (resolution/macros/color effects) mode is only supported for 50 pixel/port configurations when running on a Light-O-Rama regular network. You can run a Light-O-Rama regular network with any number of pixels/port up to 170, but the complexity of Light-O-Rama regular network commands may cause a lack of smoothness with more than 50 pixels/port. Sequences already written for original generation Cosmic Color Ribbon and Cosmic Color Bulb controllers can be used with this controller by changing the Unit IDs to align with the Pixie 4/8/16.
How does it all fit together?
1. The Light-O-Rama ShowTime Sequencing Suite works on your personal computer running Microsoft Windows and allows you to design your own shows. The ShowTime Sequencing Suite then runs your shows and sends the right commands at the right time to the various control channels. The ShowTime Sequencing Suite can even keep music and video synchronized to the controller commands.
2.Speakers to play the music accompanying your show are attached to the computer sound card.
3. Your personal computer communicates to the Light-O-Rama controllers using a device plugged into the computer’s serial or USB communications port. The blue line shows the standard serial output of the computer (RS-232 or USB) connected to our adapter that transforms the signal to the native Light-O-Rama network protocol (the green line) that then connects to our various types of controllers over standard computer network wire. For smart pixels (the orange line) it’s best to use a USB485-HS converter to handle the high data demands of smart pixels (either in a RED case, or a BLACK case with a "High Speed" sticker). We recommend Cat 5 LAN cables available from us and off-the-shelf from your local big box store in the computer section.
4. Various Light-O-Rama controller boards (such as a CTB32L 16 channel high voltage light controller) can be connected in any order on a Light-O-Rama network.
5.Various Light-O-Rama controller boards (such as a CTB16PC 16 channel high voltage light controller) can be connected in any order on a Light-O-Rama network.
6. Various Light-O-Rama controller boards including a low voltage CMB16D can be connected to the Light-O-Rama network.
7.Various smart pixel controllers like this Pixie4 can be connected to the Light-O-Rama data network. We suggest a high speed enhanced network for smart pixels.
8.Various smart pixel controllers like this Pixie8 can be connected to the Light-O-Rama data network. We suggest a high speed enhanced network for smart pixels.
9.Various smart pixel controllers like this Pixie16 connected to a pixel tree kit can be connected to the Light-O-Rama data network. We suggest a high speed enhanced network for smart pixels.
View the manual for the Pixie controllers byclicking here.
