Are you planning to set up a light display? Well, if that is the case, then you need to have a strategy in hand to fix the broken pixels. What you need to keep in mind is that when you set up the pixels in different weathers, then they will break.
The good news is that it is not a difficult task to fix the pixels. We will talk about the process here.
Monitoring the pixels
When you get the pixels, then it is essential that you test them. What you need to do is power up the pixels. For example, you may run your pixels on white light for about one to two hours. It is also essential to run your pixels on color changing pattern.
The pattern will help you identify any essential issues with your pixels. There are times when the initial strings look pretty good. However, you start to get bad pixels after sometime.
Fixing broken pixels
You should always have a few strands of extra pixels. You can identify the bad strands of light and try pulling them out of service. You can fix these strands whenever you have the time. The good news is that you can easily fix the pixels with soldering iron.
When you use solder sleeves, then make sure that you heat up the wires. You can heat the wires by making use of the heat gun. The heating needs to get performed before the wires are in the solder sleeves.
There are times when the wire does not heat up well. As a result, the solder sleeve does not adhere to it. The consequence of this is that you may have to deal with a bad connection.
It is also essential to diagnose problems related to pixels because it becomes easy to find the solution.
Diagnosing the bad pixels
There are times when a pixel does not light up in the first place. The best solution is to replace the pixel that does not respond. There are times when pixels light for some colors. You can leave these pixels in the chain because they do pass the data.
When you see lighting up like effects in the pixel chain, then it means that there is water intrusion problem. These means that water has reached your connectors. Always use dielectric grease so that water does not reach the electric parts.
When you identify bad pixels, then you should always mark these pixels. The reason is that fixing will not be a problem in this situation. You should unplug the power to the bad pixels which you are planning to fix.
Use the wire cutters to cut out the bad pixels. There are times when a bad pixel is stopping the data flow. Well, in this case, remove the first non-working pixel. At the same time, you need to remove the last pixel too.
Follow these essential to fix the broken pixels. Secondly, make sure that you invest in a quality pixel control board also. For example, PixLite 4 MkII Pixel Control Board device is a good option, so go for it.