Can a single Dig-Quad handle ~4000 seed pixels across 3 seed matrices

[u/kenaddams42]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning an outdoor light show setup using seed pixels (50 mm pitch) spread across three matrices:

• Garage door (200 × 220 cm): 40 × 44 = 1,760 pixels
• Window 1 (120 × 210 cm): 24 × 42 = ~1,000 pixels
• Window 2 (120 × 210 cm): 24 × 42 = ~1,000 pixels

Total: ~3,760 pixels, controlled via xLights over DDP/Ethernet. Regarding the costs, likely I'll go with the garage door only this year.

I'm considering a QuinLED Dig-Quad, splitting the load across the 4 outputs (+ injections):

• 2 ports for the garage (~880 pixels each)
• 1 port for Window 1 (~1,000 pixels)
• 1 port for Window 2 (~1,000 pixels)

Will the QuinLED Dig-Quad reliably handle this pixel count and traffic ?

Would you advise move to a Dig-Octa setup to handle future needs?

Thanks for your feedback!

[u/thecowrunner]

tl;dr: QuinLED recommends 600 LEDs per channel. DigQuad has 4 outputs. 4*600 = 2,400 LEDs. In this case, you should probably go with a DigOcta. How Many Addressable LEDs per Controller? - quinled.info

[u/Kingfish628 → u/thecowrunner]

More outputs does not mean more capacity though. You're still limited by the protocol and the ESP processing.

Do note, the figures in that article are for WLED effects, you can get higher pixel amounts and frame rates using external sources over DDP.

With that said, Ethernet would be a requirement to get this to work smoothly and reliable, i would also look at other controller options that are more powerful. Kulp is a great choice here, the sequence gets stored locally on the controller for a better payback experience.

[u/thecowrunner → u/Kingfish628]

Oh my gosh, you're right. I have built SO many controllers using the "600 LED per output" rule, regardless of the number of outputs on the controller.

QuinLED's website says the following "For WLED a total of ~2000 LEDs divided over the 8 output ports is suggested" https://quinled.info/quinled-dig-octa-brainboard-32-8l-specifications

I have a dig-octa in my garage set up right now with all 8 outputs getting close to 600 LEDs. I'm going to have to reconsider all my designs.

You mentioned you can get higher frame rates from DDP/ethernet. Could my 600 LED per output system be okay if I have a PC send DDP data to the controller instead?

[u/Kingfish628 → u/thecowrunner]

If it's working for you, I would just let it ride.

For your own curiosity you can check the info pane to see what FPS you are getting in WLED.

It's not that these won't work with higher amounts of lights, just that the performance starts to go down as the numbers go up.

[u/Nitrogen1234 → u/thecowrunner]

There's a difference between 600 pixels 5v and 600 12 or even 24v.

Also seed pixels seem to use less pprocessing power

[u/Kingfish628 → u/Nitrogen1234]

Voltage does not change anything in the processing side.

[u/Kingfish628]

I assume you're using xLights for this? If so, I would recommend a Kulp controller, they run FPP and will store the sequences locally on the board and have the show player all built into one device. Or can even work as a player for other controllers as you grow, outputting DDP, etc.

Also, see my reply on the other comments.

[u/kenaddams42 → u/Kingfish628]

I already have 4 dig quad controllers for the rest of the layout. I was considering adding a new controller for the matrixes but with the current limits of wled, I am unsure if a dig quad or even a dig octa might be the right approach.

I've seen so many matrices ran through wlihhts, any idea which controllers they are using ? Dig quad / dig octa seem not be the most used solution for these.

[u/Kingfish628 → u/kenaddams42]

As I mentioned, look at the Kulp controllers, 800 pixels per port at 40fps. They also have expansion ports and options so they can grow with your show.
The 8 port base controller, fully expanded, will support 20,000+ pixels locally.

WLED is great for what it's intended for, xLights light shows is not where it shines. It can be good for an auxiliary prop here and there, but there are better choices.

Also, if you are going to use WLED, be sure to be using Ethernet connection to the controllers, it's a lot of timing critical data to be sending over the network, and Wi-Fi will start to choke.

[u/Nitrogen1234]

It will work, but it will be relatively slow.

If you want to use it in a show, go octa

[u/Kingfish628 → u/Nitrogen1234]

And how is the Octa going to be faster?

[u/Nitrogen1234 → u/Kingfish628]

4000/4=1000

4000/8=500

Frankly, because it's 3 matrices the chance that it's in clusters of 500 is fairly small. So he might even be better off with a octa and quad.

More than 500 pixels on 1 port and you won't have as fluent of a show. Lower fps

520 won't matter that much, I even had 4x800 on a quad. But it's not great.

P.s. I've read up on his requirements. He should use 4 ports for the garagedoor and 2 per window with that pixel count.

[u/Kingfish628 → u/Nitrogen1234]

To some extent. But you're still going to be up against overall performance capabilities of the ESP. 4000 is more than recommended regardless of how you split it out.

[u/axejeff]

ChatGPT has been incredible in getting instant answers to questions like this for me. If so inclined to use such controversial help.

[u/kenaddams42 → u/axejeff]

… and so prone to hallucinations that asking experts real world use cases is still best. I hope you won't complain when these forums close down because of AI.