Overall brightness on 5050 strip

Questions
1

I have a 5050 strip that I have working. The problem is overall brightness levels. If I connect it to an arduino uno and follow the code here (https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips/usage) the strip is as bright as it’s native format (before I disassembled the power supply/ir receiver). I used the arduino uno as a practice to see if I could get the strip to work with the N-channel mosfets (IRLB8721). I then loaded WLED on an esp8266 and on an esp32 board. On both boards, the total brightness is about 50-75% of the native and arduino controlled brightness. I thought it might be a setting in the source code for WLED, but the arduino code on the esp8266 gives a similar total brightness as the same board with WLED. I use the same power supply for the 5050 strip with all of the boards (a buck converter was used to power the esp chips).

Could the difference in brightness be due to the difference in logic levels between the boards? In other words, the esp boards are sending 3.3v at max brightness to the gate of the mosfet, while the arduino uno is sending 5v at max brightness. Will this difference in voltage change the voltage moving through source and drain on the mosfet? And is that enough to change the perceived brightness? What are my options to restore full brightness levels when using the esp8266 or esp32 chips?

Thanks…

2

The short answer is if you are using addressable rgb then no the logic level won’t impact.

If I was a betting man the brightness limiter in wled could be your issue.

What type of strips are you using and besides the learning what is purpose of the mosfet?

3

5050 strips are 12v analog LED strips. I didn’t realize the difference between these and addressable strips when I purchased them, and I can’t return them. So, I plan to use them for ambient lighting.

These are analog strips with 12v PWM control for R, G, and B channels. The mosfets allow me to do this: my PWM signal from the esp32 changes voltage that is moving through the mosfet. From what I’ve learned, I need to use logic level mosfets that open fully at less than 3.3v to obtain the full brightness of the LEDs. The IRLB8721PbF mosfets worked for turning the lights on/off and for dimming, but I’m not getting the full brightness when connecting the gate pin to a 3.3v pin on the esp’s.

4

Yes analog strips are different than data driven strips. Looks like you found a possible issue