Is 1000-2000 WS2811s a use case for the [Pro] Output Exapnder?

Ideas and Tips
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Hi @dan-allan!

Use a Pro Expander (over a normal expander) when the pluggable terminals or fused power distribution make it worth the premium to you. They’re especially good for 12V projects, given the 15A distribution limit. A calculation that a lot of people don’t do is the value of their time in all the wiring, which is why I commonly reach for a Pro expander whenever I’m billing a client for my time. If it saves me an hour of making wire harnesses, it’s worth it.

I see you meant 60A supply; so yes, you’ll want to do your own power distribution and fusing, and the Pro could work for power distro if you wanted to wire <=500 pixels per expander. Fast frame rates for sure using one expander per 500 pixels, but also consider the overall pixel render rate per PB: ~48Kpixels per second. So while it will allow you to compute up to 5000 pixels of data, when you configure it for 2000 pixels, you’re getting 48K/2K = 24 FPS - you’re right on the margin where splitting the project to a second PB in sync mode may give you the frame rate flexibility (up to 48 FPS) that will look best.

Multiple data lines, or “channels”, do the following:

  1. They’re a nice wiring convenience for star topologies
  2. They can double the data rate possible when limited by WS281X protocol speed
  3. They can provide isolation so sections can fail independently
  4. They let you keep your serial runs under some number of pixels (500, 250, or 170 per channel are common choices) which is better for signal reliability over longer distances.

The following threads will give you some more insight into how to do the math to predict the speedup from using an output expander with WS2811s:

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