How to Delay initializing LEDs at powerup

Questions
1

I have a pretty odd situation where I have a WLED install at the end of a long run on my landscape lighting circuit (12VAC). I have a 12VAC to 12VDC converter and it works well, but I think because I’m near the end of the line and voltage is prolly down to around 11VAC, it takes a moment for the voltage to stabilize when the landscape circuit comes on (it has a buck/boost in it, so even at 11V in, it puts out a clean 12VDC)

This has not been a problem with the WLED controller. But the WS2812 “seed” string lights are not handling it well. About 50% of the time, they act like half (or more) of the string is not responding/“burned out” and only the first 20-100 LEDs will respond.

If I leave the PS and WLED controller powered up and disconnect the LEDs Xconnect plug for a moment and re-plug, all is well and all LEDs are responsive. But that isn’t terribly practical for an outdoor setup.

From what I’ve been reading, it sounds like, just maybe, the “slow ramp” (over maybe 2 seconds) can sometimes cause the little processor in the WS2812 to lockup and after that, it won’t get better until there is a power cycle.

All of which leads me to wonder if there is a way for WLED to not send anything to the LED strip for some period of time (like 2 second) before even trying to talk to them. I’m not 100% certain this will work (it’s possible its the power supply coming up slow causing the problem and not the “trying to talk to them before things have stabilized”, but I’m checking out all options.

The PS itself doesn’t spike or anything - it ramps up pretty smoothly without overshooting and the output looks smooth on my portable scope.

May be barking up the wrong tree, but thought I’d ask :wink:

Gerry

2

compile with
-D WLED_BOOTUPDELAY=2000

3

FYI in my fork you have runtime-selectable delay without need for custom compile. If you want to give it a shot.

4

12VAC can’t be converted to 12VDC without losses.

5

Well, for a simple rectifier system, agreed, but this is a buck/boost converter. I’m getting a steady 12.1VDC out and input runs from 11 to 13VAC.

My issue isn’t the PS voltage, it’s the “ramp up” time (which is short, but just long enough to occasionally lockup the WS2812 controllers).

I’ve decided to add a hardware delay timer to solve this. It’s a cheap board from amazon with an adjustable timer (set to 2 seconds) and a relay that can handle the power. So when the power comes up, it’ll delay 2 seconds before powering the LEDs. I expect to get that installed in next weekend and will report backhow it works (or not :wink:

6

That is a problem, what kind of boost converter you have to use to accommodate strip power?

7

Not sure I follow - why would a boost converter be a problem?

I use this same converter all over the outside of the house, tied into the 12VAC landscape lighting lines. No problems at all.

This one is just at the long end of a line and voltage is a bit low going in. PS works great, just takes a moment (few hundred millis) to reach voltage.

I expect my delay start relay will resolve this. Just wanted to check in WLED had a native way to hold off initializing as a test, but not sure that would have been enough.