The voltage @divsys and I are talking about is the signal wire voltage from the Esp8266’s GPIO pin to the relay. That signal voltage of 3.3v may be too low to drive the relay (reliably) and you may need to increase it’s voltage by using either a level shifter or the NPN transistor as divsys suggested.
As far as the relay being rated at 10A… Just like your power wires to your panels if your Amp usage exceeds the relay’s rating you risk a melt down.
-The easiest way to overcome that would be to as divsys suggests; using a small (even cell phone) power supply for the Esp and then you could connect the relay to the AC side of your big power supply and have the relay switch it’s AC side power for the LEDs. This would #1 cut the power that the big supply would be drawing all the time when things are off and would allow the smaller value relay to be used without issue as the AC side of the power would not be using very many Apms.
I would stick to using Esp32 devices as the 8266 is nearing it’s end of life for WLED. Also no idea what GPIO’s are accessible on that if you were planning to use it for relays and LED data.
Connect the 5v from your Esp’s 5v pin, Gnd to ground pin and d1 on the relay shield to whatever pin you choose on your Esp and set the chosen pin in WLEDs LED Pref’ for the relay.
If it were me for your setup. I would connect a small 5v power supply to the Esp and connect a relay to your big (LED) power supplies AC side. This would leave your controller always active, but would cut the power to the big LED power supply. This would also cure the issue of the relay not being able to handle the high current of the LED’s as you would be switching the low current AC load.
Be mindful of the back side of the relay PCB as the solder connection for those screw terminals are there and if you connect AC to those screw terminals you have a shock hazard there
Remember to cover any AC connections so as to avoid fire/shock risk.
The most compact setup would look like my diagram below. Also this is the cheap cord end that is shown in my diagram: Amazon.com
You could also use a small 5v supply like this: Amazon.com vs using the plug end and 5v wallwart/cell charger. It will likely take up more space though.
Hi.
I will order that relay.
Since this was meant to go up on wall… with all advice I’ve mounted power supply to rear.
So discreet thin power cord from power supply out yhe window. Like you said May need a double power socket for power supply and 5v charger. Suddenly got weight…
May have to move the power brick when I find a way to hang it… the power brick should be flat against wall without tilting frame. May need to do somthing about gap. Have an idea…
Another idea.
Could I not use this to control all power and esp?
Yes that or any wifi plug would work to cut the power.
If you made something like my diagram you would be able to have the controller always powered on and able to control the power to the LEDs right from WLED and not need another step like a wifi switch/plug. If you are fitting the big power brick behind the matrix the addition of a relay, plug end and a phone charger would not take up hardly any more room.
Remember that big power supply needs space to cool itself. You can’t just sandwich it against the wall and the back of your matrix.
How are you getting power to the thing? You have to run a cord down the wall for that don’t you? Why not just put the controller and power supply at the bottom of the wall and just run a small wire up to the matrix for the data and a thick one for the power.
You could put them in some wire molding/raceway or if this is a permanent thing could always drill a small hole in the bottom of the wall and fish the wires up to it.
Thanks for your reply. I was trying to condence things as things are building up back there…or at least the blue prints.
I was following the instructions of keeping wires short to maintain current. I do understand the analogy of the pipes etc.
What gauge “pipe” wire would suffice to run up 2 or so meters up from supply on the ground up trunking to the frame. I sence running into issues now with level shifters… greif… one solved then … lol… not needed to use one. More understanding brings more options and solutions. Lol
Fyi alyhough power supply meant to be 30a 5v i cant take limeter past 6000 in wled before it reboots …glitches… assuming some kinda voltage drop in esp32…so i agree if thats the issue moving esp “offline” would stop it been affected.
Oh while im on the subject…
Im adding pix art at 48x48 and animations etc. I know this will and has eaten up ram…fast.
What esp32 will allow more storage for more presets etc…
Also read some where that there a problem with file partition etc where there no provision past 4mb? If that makes sence.
when formatting esp32 4mb for use have to flash file system before wled else failures.
So if there an ideal one… which one and what do i need to do to prepare it for use for wled.
Sorry to bombard you guru…
but had to ask. . Could help others… esp8266 as stated will become redundant as wled outgrows it. Already i found the esp32 4mb is too when using a bigger matrix. Was umming and arrring when i solved all this to go bigger with 64x64. But only after learning the most from you guys. I do appreciate it.
If you can’t get things to work with the brightness limiter set higher than 6A then your power supply may not be of very good quality and/or your current wiring to your LEDs is too small. Those cheap Chinese power supplies are not always what they seem. If at some point that one dies I would see if you could find a quality supply like a Mean Well.
Wire size would depend on how much power you intend to use and if you want to run more than 1 set of power wires up.
If you will be putting a cover over the wires then I would likely run 2 sets of power wires in parallel something like 2 sets of 12 AWG wire.
If opting to not put a cover over the wires, or if using that corrugated slit channel wire loom stuff then I would run a 10AWG wire. for the power.
Your data wire can be something small like 22AWG
Not sure you are in the USA, but if you could find something like this at a reasonable price I would give it a try: https://www.amazon.com/Triplex-Oxygen-Free-Insulated-Electrical-Automotive/dp/B0C49CWFVZ/ref=sr_1_73 That would give you all 3 wires in 1, but you may have issues with the data running that far right next to the ground wire. You will 100% still want your level shifter (hopefully the SN74xxx one).
I saw the wires available in white or black. No clue what color your wall is so provided links to white. If you don’t want to see the writing on the wire you can likely rub it off with a bit of acetone (nail polish remover, brake cleaner) Also the wires I linked were flat style. With some searching you may be able to find round style that may or may not fit your project better, as round will bend any direction. Flat is only going to want to bend 1 way. Silicone wire would be nice and flexy but is $$$
As for other builds of WLED with more memory, hopefully someone else will chime in on that as I am not sure on that one as I have never had the use case. You may want to ask about memory in a new topic as it will likely get noticed more than in this long multi direction topic. If I want lots of Fx and things I use xLights.
Wow… your truley a soilder.
Thanks for all that.
Felt like I was in the library reading that. Lol
Good things to assimilate.
Yea good idea about nee topic. Was heading that way. I’d assume wled be like windows… starts to out grows the device.
There are many things I’d do with wled if ram wasn’t an “issue” and low memory warnings didn’t keep coming up.
May install the " small " version and just compile what I need. See if that liberates a few bytes and nibbles.
For now ima gonna chew through your reply and arrange my brain to match. So ignore the sounds of hammers hitting an anvil… I’ll make room… don’t worry lol
