HE123D 48 output differential pixel board

AU$140.00 inc. GST (where applicable)

HE123D 48 output pixel board (proto)

3 in stock

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Description

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 plugs into.

NOTE: A photo shows a Beaglebone Black installed in place. The Beaglebone Black or Beaglebone Green is required but must be purchased separately.

THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGESS. IT HAS DETAILS/SCREENSHOTS THAT SUIT HE123 AND HE123MK2. FUNCTIONALLY THESE BOARDS ARE FAIRLY IDENTICAL EXCEPT THE HE123D IS A DIFFERENTIAL/LONG RANGE CONTROLLER.

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.

A user manual which is still very much a work in progress is at HE123-User-Manual-V1.4-beta1.pdf . The HE123D manual is in progress.

A further revised manual which is also incomplete 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.  Assign a static IP or set to multicast or a static IP. Static IP is better.
  3.  Add Hanson Electronics as the Vendor
  4. Select HE123 as the Model (or HE123D if that’s what you are setting up)
  5. Select DDP as the protocol. E1.31 can/could also be selected.
  6. Select the start universe/s
  7. Save

The older process was

  1. Add an Ethernet.
  2.  Assign as either multicast or a static IP.
  3.  Add Hanson Electronics as the Vendor
  4. Select HE123D as the Model
  5. Select the universe/s
  6. Save

On the Layout tab the 1st step will generally be to add a background picture. After a model is created and the start channel is created it can be assigned a Port. The port range is 1-48 and there is no need to configure smart remote or differential.

Windows will sometimes not automatically download or install the usb virtual ethernet driver for the BBG/BBB.

Drivers for the Beaglebone Green can be downloaded from https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/BeagleBone_Green/#getting-started or here. The zip file contains both 32bit and 64bit Windows drivers.

Windows 10/11 users who get a driver failed to install issue it will be because of the strict driver digital signing with Win10/11. Currently the only way to get the drivers to install is to disable the digital signing while installing. Windows will likely ask several times if you want to install each of the drivers. Select yes each time. A good video on the convoluted process to disable driver signing is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YAIw7_-kg

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

The HE123D can be used to control Falcon Smart remotes.

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 0.15 kg
Dimensions 25 × 12 × 5 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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