Expanded mode allows greater flexibility with your pixel lighting and the ability to improve refresh rates when using data-only pixel types.
How Does It Work?
In a nutshell, it allows you to double the number of physical data line outputs by utilizing unused clock outputs.
What Are The Benefits?
Expanded mode is very useful for data-only pixel types that do not require a clock input (E.G WS2812B), as it means you can significantly increase the effective refresh rate by halving the number of total pixels on each output. Data-only pixel types are limited by the fixed speed of the protocol itself, so reducing the number of pixels on each output means less time is required to update the total number of pixels, resulting in a faster refresh rate.
Example
If each data output on a PixLite 16 MkII controller was loaded with 1020 pixels in normal mode, you could set the controller to expanded mode which doubles the total number of physical data outputs to 32 (2 per physical output connector). You would then load each data output with only 510 pixels instead of 1020, thereby increasing the overall refresh rate by as much as 30-40%.
Conclusion
Expanded mode is a great feature that allows you to maximize the power of the pixel controller by turning unused clock outputs into additional data outputs. This is very useful for increasing refresh rates on data-only pixel types. This mode cannot be used if you are using a clocked pixel type.
