Ready to run – HE123D 48 output differential pixel board

AU$400.00 inc. GST (where applicable)

HE123D 48 output pixel board ready to run

1 in stock

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Description

THIS PAGE AND THE MANUAL LINKED ARE WORKS IN PROGESS.

The HE123D is a pixel board based on the single board computer BeagleBone Black (BBB). A Beaglebone Green (BBG) can be used instead of a BBB. The HE123D uses design elements of the RGB123 48 output pixel board that can be controlled with Falcon Player (FPP). The HE123D is the motherboard that the BBB/BBG plugs into.

The HE123D ready to run (HE123D-RTR) has the following

  • HE123D with BBG and 16GB micro SD card with FPP7.5 installed and partially configured. The installed version may change.
  • 290x190x140 waterproof enclosure with mounting feet included
  • 12V 5A 60W 110-240V power supply
  • 12 waterproof bulkhead mount RJ45 connectors for the 48 differential pixel outputs
  • 1 waterproof bulkhead mount RJ45 connector for the ethernet connection to the BBG
  • 4 hole cable gland for installing the mains power cable through and also for connecting to the user inputs in desired.
  • Map of connection positions attached to inside of the box lid.

NOTE: Some photo show no Beaglebone Green installed in place. The Beaglebone Green is installed.

Under Falcon Player (FPP) version 4.x and later the maximum pixels per output are 800 per output at 40fps and 1600 at 20fps. This gives a maximum number of pixels of 38,400 at 40fps or 76,800 at 20fps. That’s with all 48 ports fully loaded.

An incomplete/ in progress manual is at HE123-User-Manual-V1.5-early-draft.pdf

When setting up under Xlights there is now a number of features that allow easier integration.

On the controllers tab there’s effectively 7 steps to add a HE123.

  1. Add an Ethernet.
  2. Add Hanson Electronics as the Vendor
  3. Select HE123D
  4. Assign a static IP or set to multicast or a static IP. Static IP is better.
  5. Select DDP as the protocol. E1.31 can/could also be selected.
  6. Select the start universe/s
  7. Save

Receiver boards to suit.

HE123-RX2 4 channel RS422 to pixel receiver
-RJ45 connector to 4 channels powered, buffered pixel outputs

PSdiff4 4 channel RS422 to pixel receiver
-RJ45 connector to 4 channels powered, buffered pixel outputs. Mounts direct to 12V server power supply and has 4 pixel outputs and 4 power injection outputs

PSdiff8 8 channel RS422 to pixel receiver
-RJ45 connector to 8 channels powered, buffered pixel outputs. Mounts direct to 12V server power supply and has 8 pixel outputs

PS1diff4 4 channel RS422 to pixel receiver
-RJ45 connector to 4 channels powered, buffered pixel outputs. Mounts direct to  power supply and has 4 pixel outputs and 4 power injection outputs. The PS2diff4 has the opposite order of V- and V-.

The HE123D can be used to control Falcon Smart remotes.

The HE123D ready to run controller will either come with an installed eeprom licence or the number will be emailed to you.

From FPP6 a licence from Falcon Christmas is required to get the full functionality of the board. Without this each output is limited to 50 pixels. The licence can be purchased at the link below and instructions on how to install it are on the link after that. It’s a one time purchase and once installed is stored on the eeprom of the controller, so even if you reimage the FPP installation it’ll still be valid on that board.

https://shop.falconplayer.com/product-category/licensekeys/   The 48 port key is $USD30.
https://shop.falconplayer.com/2022/04/28/howto-eeprom-signing/

IF FPP doesn’t detect an eeprom image indicating the cape type an eeprom image can be created from

https://apps.mortonlights.com/he123d/

Additional information

Weight 1.5 kg
Dimensions 35 × 25 × 20 cm

HE123 Setup

HE123 Setup
The below screenshots show the most basic setup for setting up the HE123 with 170 pixels and 1 universe per output. The screenshots are for FPP version 3.5 and are for the most basic setup with the BBB/HE123 running in bridge mode rather than master or slave.

The 1st stage of the installation is burning the Falcon Player image to a micro SD card. This involves downloading the .zip image from github and burning the image with Balena Etcher (or similar). Process and links at

I recommend doing an initial configuration via plugging in the BBB to a USB port of a PC via the supplied cable that comes with the BBB plugged into P4. Don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’t plug the BBB onto the HE123 until the initial configuration is done.

Install the micro SD card with FPP on it into the BBB, plug in the usb cable to the BBB and the other end to a PC. A virtual Ethernet port is created. The computer will ask for permission to setup the comm port if it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s the 1st time that a BBB virtual comm port has been created.

Access to the BBB can be made at initial setup via a web browser and the 192.168.7.2 IP when connected from a PC direct to the BBB via a USB cable.

The second screenshot shows the network setup page with a static IP set to 10.0.0.160 which is a suitable IP for my computer network.

10.0.0.x and 192.168.0.x are the 2 most common ranges. Choose the range that suits your computer. The netmask of 255.255.0.0 allows connection between 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.255.255. The gateway IP is the IP of the router that it is connected to.

Set the clock date, time and time zone. If the BBB is to be used for a standalone installation also set the RTC as DS1307. The setting of RTC requires that the BBB needs a reboot. Save.

Under the Input/Output setup under the Input setting set the Bridge universes. In the example I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ve set 48 universes of 510 channels which gives 170 pixels per output. Save.

Under Input/Output setup under the Output tab on the BBB Strings tab enable the BBB String Cape and set to RGBCape48F. Set the start channels and number of pixels for the outputs. Save.

Under Status/Control click on the Status setting and change the mode to Bridge mode. It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s worth enabling the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”Live Update of Statistics\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\” while doing the initial setup and testing.
(Restart the FPPD if it asks to).

FPP can now be shutdown via the button at the bottom. When all the lights are off the USB cable can be disconnected and the BBB plugged onto the HE123 and it will be ready to be booted up and can be accessed in a web browser via the IP configured in the setup. It will usually be possible to access the BBB/FPP via http://fpp in a browser.

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