DiGidot C4 Manual page 48

Can't find your IC?
The DiGidot C4 supports the most SPI protocols of all Art-Net to SPI controllers on the
market. However technology is evolving rapidly and we're not always the first to know
when there's new product IC chip with a new protocol on the market.
In case you have or want to use an IC that is not listed in our supported IC's overview,
please contact support@digidot.eu. We will do our best to support your IC with a new
firmware update soon after.
Need to cover greater cable distances between the
outputs and first LED/IC?
If the cables between the outputs and LED/IC are longer than 2 metres (6.5 ft), we
recommend to boost the signal in order to make sure that the system will work prop-
erly. Please use DiGidot range extending equipment such as Tx and Rx modules, which
can be found on our website www.digidot.eu. This does not apply to DMX.
NOTE: Please note that SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) protocols are originally designed for
on board data communication between microcontrollers and other high speed processing
components. Because SPI protocols are mostly communicating at extremely high speeds
(in the MHz range) and were not designed to leave a PCB (Printed Circuit Board), long
cable runs to transfer the data signal, are not accounted for. This means that a lot of
malfunctions occur when cable lengths are too long.
Some LED's/colors are not responding correctly
This is a common issue that occurs when the voltage drops below a certain minimum.
Please check the voltage at the end of the LED strip and note that if you're running a 5
Vdc products for example, the data signal runs also on this level.
If the voltage drops to 3.5 Vdc for example, this means that the IC's are not able to
work properly and the data packets become corrupted. The LED's also require a certain
minimum voltage (forward voltage), which varies per LED and color.
Reasons for voltage drops:
Too long cable runs between power supply and LED product.
Inappropriate wire gauge between power supply and LED product.
Design of LED product that does not allow for high enough currents to pass (too
small copper lanes and high resistance). Some LED strips for example cannot
be daisy chained because of this. Contact your LED product manufacturer for
technical specifications.
Based on the amount of current draw (amount of simultaneous LED's/colors being lit),
the voltage may fluctuate and cause an intermittent fault. This means that in some
cases everything might seem to work fine and sometimes when content or colours
change, it might not.
Solutions:
1. Check the voltage with a voltage meter at the beginning of the line. If the voltage
dropped at the beginning already, compared to the PSU voltage, please shorten the
supply cables, increase wire gauges or increase the supply voltage if possible (some
power supplies have a voltage adjust potentiometer that can be used to increase the
output voltage a few percent).
C4 Manual
G d ot
Version 1.0 48