Hi, I am attempting to upgrade an existing setup from a Aduino Mega running code based on fast LED to WLED running on a ESP32.
My LEDs consist of 8 12v strips of varying lengths (22-96 pixels long)
I am attempting to use this ESP32 Fire Beetle
It has been running flawlessly for about 8 years with the mega but I am experiencing flickering when adding the LED strips in WLED.
I am using level shifters and have tried 2 different types both with the same result.
The problem seems to get worse the more strips I add.
I also seem to have found a glitch where if I just have one output and change the pin number and save i can get all the strips working perfectly (until i reset anyway)
The following vids show the strips woking and then flickering when all the strips are defined.
WLED before and after
Try latest firmware instead of v0.12
Thanks, I have flashed the latest firmware with little to no improvement.
I have reconnected the mega incase something got disturbed and it still works fine (the pattern that runs on this is white/off white noise pattern at 100% brightness)
I have switched out the 5v regulator i was using and used the one in the mega and still no improvement.
Cant get my head round why it works with the mega and with the one output glitch in 0.12.
As soon as I get to 3/4 strips defined it starts showing artifacts. it seems worse when there is some sort of animation running.
Here is a pic of my circuit and the bread board it is on for what its worth. Are there any components there i should avoid(don’t pay much attention to the jumpers on the board there’s a couple missing).
Well fingers crossed its working better now I have gone back to my original level converters and lowered the voltage from 5v to 4.8v (not sure where this idea came from).
Not entirely sure what has made the difference and its still on the breadboard at the moment.
once i have a more permanent solution I’ll do some testing.
Probably wouldn’t hurt to add some 100nf power bypass caps to the level shifters.
What are you using for level shifters/ what have you tried?
What’s your distance from the level shifters to the strip(s)?
I bought 2 SN74AHCT125N and had them all soldered up on my first attempt (with 100nf caps)
When this gave me trouble I tried some breakout board type ones (I’d had them lying around bought from aliexpress years ago) and saw the same issues.
I have now gone back to the SN74AHCT125N (on a bread board this time without caps) and lowered the voltage on the buck supplying the ESp32 and the 2 SN74AHCT125N.
The data lines are long, probably up to 6 meters but I’ve had years of faithful service with the mega using this setup.
shifters based on mosfets is slow. you have to use recommended shifters. And also v0.12 is glitching, use v0.13-b4
Thats probably whats done it.
V0.12 + SN74AHCT125N = glitches
V0.12 + Mosfets = glitches
V0.13 + Mosfets = glitches
V0.13 + SN74AHCT125N = Much improved
Now v0.13-b5 