Another group buy that i find interesting?  Thank you ma’am, may I have another?

This time the group buy is for a device that I am not actually sure how much use I would get…  a buffer/line driver from RobG  on diychristmas.org, along with other items (flood drivers).  I have heard that with the right wire setup on the Falcon F16v2, some pretty long distances can be had to the first pixel.  Fair notice, there are other boards like this (uAmp for example) that do something similar.

The premise is pretty basic.  If you run your data too long before your first pixel, the signal degrades (drops voltage) and stuff doesn’t work.  You may ask why just the first pixel?  That is because each
pixel repeats the data down the line to the next.  Without any devices like this in a long run, people can resort to just splicing in a normal pixel to act as a repeater (referred to as a null pixel).  Obviously you would not want that lighting up so you can just make sure it is excluded in sequencing or you can set this up in the controller (if supported, which most are now) by telling the controller the first pixel is a null and it will leave it off.  So this board is a tiny guy that you would use in place of a null pixel and the board will use the incoming power to boost the data headed down the line.  A quick solder and heat shrink, done.

That said, why this board over another option like the uAmp (to the left here) or a null pixel?  It does cost more than a pixel but I do not have to account for it in the sequencer or controller.  Against uAmp, I honestly do not know other than the uAmp is more expensive, has strain relief holes, and it has leds on it that I would just heat shrink over and require clear shrink if I wanted to see them.  Perhaps the uAmp conditions the data so well that I am fool to not get that instead.  They are certainly very popular.

Side note:  Ray Wu also sells 3 and 4 conductor “null pixels” with waterproof connectors on either side to pass it through… for only $1.  Description says to use every 10 feet.  Honestly I think the cost/effort of so many connectors might kill heavy usage of something like that for me.

Good news is that this buffer/line driver is only $1.50 per unit, so I ordered 10 for ~$19 after shipping.  Worst case, I wasted $20, but I do not think so.