ESP8266 WLED working but cant control my WS2812b LED Strip, its Powered ON always

i configured my ESP8266 WLED installed on it, connect 5V Power from laptop usb. Data pin D4 selected (GPIO 2), and tried GPIO4 (D2) pin also, the Power and Ground pin connected to Vin (First Pin ) and GND next to it. when i click Power ON / OFF from my mobile App or Laptop the Power LED on ESP8266 works accordingly but my main concern is WHEN i connect the WS2812b LED to the power, ground (with Data pin and without in both case) my LED strip powered ON, But the problem is now whether command to Switch OFF or ON or Color change, effects NOTHING happens. LED always Powered ON mode. cant control the strip cant manage to make any effect nothing. Please help with the issue.

How many lights are you trying to power through the USB? You can’t power very many through that. It is not designed to have that much power running through it. It is best to power the LEDs from another power supply. Connect data to the Esp and have common ground between the Esp, LEDs and LED Power Supply.

https://kno.wled.ge/basics/getting-started/

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I connect 1m strip 144 LED, my ws2812b is 5V that’s why I use usb. And I have a 12v 30A power supply should I bought a other 5V power supply ? And how much Amp I need for a 3m strip with 144led per meter.

144 5v LEDs is something like 45watts at full brightness. That would draw 9 amps of power. There is no way you can provide anything close to that through the usb/Esp. You will kill it and or cause a fire.

You will also need power injection. You can’t send enough power for 144 5v LEDs when just powering them from the beginning of the string.

Did you adjust the brightness limiter in LED Preferences to something higher than it’s default 850mA?
*If you didn’t change that then your Esp is likely still good.


For 3 meters or 432 5v ws2812b LEDs
You should have at least a 30A power supply and wire that can also handle 30A

You could use more than 1 smaller power supply but make sure you isolate the positives but keep the ground common.

You could use your 12v supply with buck converters dropping the voltage to 5v at LED connection points. Doing this would also allow you to use smaller gauge wire as you would be sending a lower amperage down the line at 12v vs 5v.

*If you are not planning on using full brightness white you would likely be ok with a 10-12A 5v power supply. Make sure to have fused connections to the LEDs and to set the brightness limiter to a value a little bit lower than what your power supply and wire can handle. Just incase you happen to go over it.

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As i am very new with all this , as you are aware that my Led is powered on but i cant control them with my esp8266 , where my esp is responding properly but the power to the led didnt cut off when i powered off from App, the light on esp powers off but led not. so do u think the external power source will help me in this situation. i will do as you say, because you are my only hope. and thanks for everything . I am very new to all this. i purchased a 5V 30A power supply, which i will get today only. i will try everything as you say.

do you have a link to the LEDs you are using?

With the power source connected to the esp, the esp is off but the power supply wont turn as technically, it doesn’t have a switch to shut the power off. You can add a relay to the run or you can connect the power supply to a smart switch.

This Led I bought.

Some rendom leds in white color are ON and the first LED which is on in white color is 8th LED. Till this 8th LEd my 1to7th Led is working now, showing effect and all but from 8th and till 144th there is no effect or no control on them few of them is powered ON in white color rest are in power off mode. And when I tried another led fresh new one, the 1st led is red second is white and rest are same as I told some of them are powered on white and rest are powered off. No effect from ESP. I shared the link from where I bought this.

I appreciate your time. :pray: Thanks.

Can you post a simple wiring diagram of what you’ve done?
What ESP32/8266 board are you using?
What version of WLED?

i am using a stable version of WLED 13, as 14 is in beta stage now, and i use a 5v power supply, and use common ground for esp8266 (CP2102) and led. When i work with 12vpower supply and a 12v 60led /m strip every this works fine ( only problem is it hangs after 15 min. all effect stops, has to restart after 10-15min, if starts immediately nothing happens.) but with this 144/m 5v led i tried 2 different strips but result is same. only 7 led take command then the eighth led is white and from there some of the led are white rest are off. when i cut one strip i founf those off led (only from the starting side are taking command, wherever the first white led comes the effect stops there only and now rest length is behaving same like some white led are on rest are off.

If your Esp is resetting after 10-15min I would reinstall the firmware from here (I would install at the very least 14 b1 if you are scared of b3) and also add a 1000uf electrolytic capacitor by the beginning of the strip to help keep the Esp from possible under current brown out from the LEDs pulling too much current at times. You can see the cap in the diagram below.


It would also be helpful if you posted a pic of your Led Preference settings and your segment settings as well as your wiring.