Hi everyone. Not new to pixels and WLED however I’m having an issue with a new shipment of ws2811 strings. Got a lot of 500 pixels from Amazon 5v strings to add to my current collection. Using a 5amp 5v power supply connected to the power injection wires on the input side of pixels. My esp 8266 is connected to input side of string by breadboard connectors hooked to the Vin, gnd, and d4 pins respectively. This setup works flawlessly with my current strings. When I attempt to use my new strings with this setup I they act really weird, flickering, not correct colors, and different pixels randomly appearing in different colors than the rest. I have tried all of the different RGB settings in WLED with no luck. The weird thing is that when I hook up my old 5v string to the esp first then attach a new string on the back end, the new ones work flawlessly as well. I’ve tried injecting power to multiple new strings, different connectors/wire with no luck. All data is for sure going in proper direction and all strings are 5v. It’s just weird that all 10 of the new ones are acting the same way. Thanks for any suggestions.
You don’t mention what ESP board you’re using, but you likely need a levelshifter to bring the output up to what the new strings require.
And yes, it can be very random as to what manufacturer and what run of 5V LEDs you get.
Previously, everything seemed fine but the reality is you were getting by with underspec’d data levels.
Checkout LevelShifters in the KB and The need for LevelShifters article.
Thanks for the reply. Using an esp 8266. You make a good point but I wonder why the new lights work perfectly when I connect an older set of pixels to the esp than the new ones to those? They must be ok with the sketchy signal and boosting it by the time it gets to the new string?
Given that the older pixels always did work, you’re getting the advantage of addressable LEDs in general, every pixel “regenerates” it’s data stream before passing it on. That way, after the first pixel, the data stream is always at the proper 5V level. That’s part of what can make this problem seem so random, sometimes you can be just within specs and after a small change in configuration you’re just outside spec.
Stay safe and use a levelshifter.