2000+ WS281x Strings in Parallel/Series Connection with WLED

Hello WLED Team,

Greetings from India.

I’ve recently completed my first WLED run (connecting ws2812b string of 50 leds), thanks @Aircoookie for this amazing firmware & app this made my interfacing sooo simple & I did it in first trail.

The Project I was planning is for my outdoor front-side of home setup, where I want to connect 20x100 (20 parallel strings of 100 led pixel each) and I want to control this with WLED Segments & Presets as I find this easy-to-get desirable effects.

If anyone here suggest connections, hardware & WLED settings I should use for this project, I’m planning to use ESP32 & 5v 80 Amps Rainproof SMPS for Power supply power to get maximum effects.

After reading different blogs online and watching videos on 281x interfacing with esp32 here are few additional details of the project:

  • horizontal length of the project will be around 18/19 feet and planning to place the control unit (controller and PS) at the centre.
  • planning to use 2.5mm wire to PS connections
  • project and CU will be away from my home wifi router

I’m not sure on wire quality for data line, need of level shifter, capacitor for PS, number of PS & injections, number of controller required for the project and configuration in @WLED interface

Thanks

See getting started as well as the Tutorials there.

Thanks @tonyno for replying, I’ve read this post 2 things that I am unclear about, I would be using 20 led strings ( Each string is having 16/20 feet length i.e total approx 80 feet in length with 50 leds per string i.e 100 leds per length) and I will be using these with No router/WiFi area.

So how to select PSU and do connections with ESP32, as I think there would not be 20 GPIO pins available for connecting 20 strings in parallel!
Do I need to use 2 x ESP32 then how will I sync. these 2 controllers without external WiFi/Router source! Please suggest!

Thanks

ESP32 is max 10, so try custom code or use two ESPs.

Virtual LEDs via DDP would be best.

Thanks @tonyno for the reply.

  • For DDP setup I think esp board should be present on same network but I’m not having WiFi connectivity the project area so this solution may not work for me.

  • using two Esp seems more relevant but I’m totally unaware how to sync them without any external WiFi/router connectivity so if you can share any Git/doc/video here that would be great help.

  • If I use single Esp32 & create 8 channels output for data using 8 GPIOs (channel limitation due to availability of level shifters) so can I add 3 strings of 100 Leds/string in parallel connected to single channel like splitting single GPIO output to three strings and still use at least 30FPS for display.

Thanks again!
Merry Christmas

You have one connect to the others AP. Then DDP will work.

Thanks @tonyno , I tried this (connecting one 8266/WLED to another 8266/WLED’s AP) on small scale, tried both SYNC method nd DDP method and this is working. I’ll try this on real project hopefully there will be no lags in controlling 1000 leds (100 Leds x 10 strings)…

Have you managed to test this yet? If so, what’s the lag like if any?