I am trying to develop a preset that has 3 chosen colors that flow along my led section. I have had fun experimenting with the Noise and Chase effects, however, I cannot size the proportions of my sections. I would like to have a 25 pixel strip of each red and blue separated by a 3 pixel panel of red. I can do the sizing in Segments, however, only stationary. Is there a way to make them travel?
As you will note from my posts, I am new at this but keen to learn.
I have been able to create this setup using the picture mode in an SP108E, but, I really think WLED is the long term way I want to go. I very much like the flexibility and support community offered with this approach - I just need to learn how to use all it has to offer.
If you have some suggestions please pass them along.
Whoops - I meant a 3 panel section of white 
IDK about presets , someone will help you for sure .
What I want to ask is about the SP108E ( I assume you want to flash it with WLED ) .
Since I have SP108E I wanted to check with you about the app you are using with it
now . Is it LED shop , LED hue or another app ?
Like you I think WLED is the way to go but only with esp32 and DIY . For SP108E
I am not sure its worth it but I haven’t used that controller or app that much to
compare it with WLED on esp32 .
Might be you know better then me about its app and function with the stock firmware
and could advice
I started my adventure wanting Christmas Lights that I didn’t have to put up each year. Once up, I used the 107e (bluetooth) controller. It connects easily and is good at emulating typical Christmas lights). My son-in-law wanted to do more options so went to the WS108e. We were able to create some sequences of interest (Edmonton Oilers, etc,). with this. Unfortunately, they have had some spotty connection issues and my experience was abismal. Since looking around, I felt WLED, was something I wanted to try. I purchased a dig-uno (yes - more $$), but, with occasional difficulty, I am able to connect with WIFI and have the flexibility that WLED allows for presets. I have since purchased an ESP32 and easily got WLED running on a test setup, and have ordered a dig-uno with remote antenna. No question, the dig-uno is a more pricey option, however, I have to give credit the fact they have taken electrical safety into account in the final installation into consideration… I have done more research into the 108 and see that it “may” be possible to add an external antenna and to load it with WLED. As TOG (The Old Guy), I have the time to experiment and see if I can get this to work. My house install is very likely to stay as WLED on dig-uno. If you would like a link to some of what I have found on the SP108e - let me know.
Thanks for your reply.
sorry - missed one of your questions - I am using LED Shop
Thank you for the detailed reply and yes please I would appreciate any information on SP108e or other controllers you tried if it is not included in the supported HW for WLED
The list is mentioning sp108e supported but I think you need to take it apart and do some serious hacking which i am worried will make WLED on it less stable . I am having enough hard time with WLED on esp32 and dnt want more complication
I also heard a lot of good things about dig-uno and want to try it but I am still worried about stability and a little bit about wasting money because I already have too many controllers sp108e ,sp105e , sp110e , Magic Home and some esp32s. Not sure I will be able to use all of them unless I turn my house into a nightclub
The strange thing I noticed is those commercial controllers are very stable compared to ESP32 ( and require less power ) and more strangely they are dirt cheap .One of the best controllers I used is Magic Home WiFi controller and it cost the same price as a bare esp32 ! but like you I have an itch to use WLED .
Also since you are on a spending spree , have you considered going for 12V setup like WS2815 to avoid the 5V complication with ws2812b . I will do it if you do
Thanks again.
As for the 108e, the guithub document and the links to pictures is part of what I was referring to. I also believe that you would also need to attach a USB programmer (similar to the 501e sp501e-flashing/sp501e flash.png at main · tonyn0/sp501e-flashing · GitHub).
I am unsure about your comments on “stability”. My biggest problem has been establishing Wifi connection and the 108e has been the worst. Once located outside, my DigUno with the ESP32 chip, has occasional difficulty - hence, I have ordered as second one but with the external antenna. The 108e even took a couple tries each time when I had it in the house testing it. In the house, my diguno and a nodemcu (with ESP32) connect every time. As for other problems - the image sequence generator in the 108e is pretty spotty and hit and miss as to what images will work and which ones won’t. I only had one other stability issue with a 105e but this was self induced as I tried to drive four strings in parallel without amplification on data out.
As for the strings, I have been installing the 2815’s for my outside runs of from 7 to 20+ meters. I really don’t like have to run more wire than necessary. For each house this probably cost me and extra $40 which I probably saved in wire, etc (and definitely in headaches).
My bluetooth controllers 107e work very well, but, there is not a lot of opportunity for personalizing your sequences.
I did look up Magic Home Wifi controllers but I did not see where they control addressable strings???
Hello ,
I will keep this info in mind as we will change all the setups we have because we are facing
power instability which I think because our circuits are badly designed but unfortunately we copied the same circuit multiple times .
Do you know what is wrong here ? Circuit works but ESP32 crashes if we change a lot of WLED settings . Most of the times the controller comes back online but occasionally the current gets higher beyond the limit set in wled ( this is risky ) and the led matrix freezes with random strange color combination
I bought two magic home wifi controller with RF remote for ws2812b from aliexpress for the kids ( They really loved it and I wanted something safe for the family ) , but might be you will still see limitation in the app given you are advanced in this .
Thank you for the help
Your 8x32 circuit diagram has 2 probable issues:
Move the main red power line for the MCU from the start of the strip directly to the PSU. It would also be a good idea to add a 2nd black ground line directly between the MCU and PSU as well. Your existing wiring will power the MCU from “voltage dropped” (and/or switching spiked) power on the strip. Too many bright lights at the same time and the MCU gets fluctuating power.
The inline data resistor is too high, go to 220R or even 100R (or 0).
Hi ,
We have tested what you mentioned and connected the MCU 5V pin directly to the PSU and result is the same . we have also tested feeding power from start , middle and end of matrix but same situation when doing lots of changes and some of the effects ( not all effects are having issue )
One thing I should have explained is that we want to use only one power source as shown in the unstable circuit but when we use two power sources, the circuit below is stable
Do you have any links to same size project with only one PSU ?
I have also seen on the adafruit site that they used same circuit with two power sources exactly same as our circuit ( I think I copied the design from someone on that site )
Also do you know if we need a level shifter as i have seen someone mentioning esp32 output pins are 3.3 V and not 5 V . I am still looking for that info .
I tried to ask other friends but they all use two power sources ( unless they run few leds which is not an issue )
One strange thing today is that I have downgraded one MCU to WLED version 0.12.1-b1 and the crashes now are in different cases and different effects then before . Could WLED version also be part of the problem when interacting with our specific setup ? Did you ever face wled crashes ?
Thank you for the help , I really appreciate it
What is the capacity of your power supply?
What is the model?
If two separate supplies eliminates the flickering, you are likely dealing with insufficient and/or noisy power out of one.
My changes to your circuit still stand, feeding power to your strip in the middle is generally a good idea as it limits the potential voltage drops to 1/2 the total strip length. Many of my setups use that technique. But it only works if the PSU can provide the current needed to light the whole strip.
Providing separate power to the MCU is also a good idea as there is often noise on the pixel bus that can affect everything connected. The separate power for the MCU doesn’t need to be a large supply, a small 5V 1A supply is plenty to drive just the MCU.
A level shifter may or may not help the situation depending on how far the MCU is from the strip, but sufficient clean power to the strip is critical.
I wouldn’t downgrade as there were some bugs in Ver 0.12 that caused flickering on their own.
Stay with 0.13.0-b6.
Just to give more background , I have 3 esp32 running wled at the moment , one connected to
16x16 matrix , 2nd to 8x32 matrix and the 3rd to 1m strip ( 30 leds ) all of which are ws2812b and BTF-LIGHTING brand . I faced issues will all of them but I only focused testing on the matrices because they are my tinker with . It could be the case that some of this is related to only matrices setting with wled . I am trying to look for others using the same matrix with wled , might be you have the connections to find any ?
We have always suspected this is power related given that MCU separate power solved it but running two cables / or two powers sources is a bit difficult given the final location will be in the ceiling in
an old rectangular light fixtures which can’t easily fit the two PSU .
I have tested multiple PSU , 5V8A and 5V12A is what i am using now ( the 60W model is S-60-5). They are small form and I am not sure about their quality but they are new. I might get the bigger form ( which has two separate output ) just to test even though I can see only small current drawn from PSU which is not going beyond 1.5 A just before a crash ( Limit set in WLED is 850mA . Is this an issue ? ) .
I downgraded WLED only in one setup just to eliminate software from the main issue but I got different or more bugs as you mentioned . I was going to also test FASTLED but i’ll wait until I test the new PSU
One simple test on power supply capacity, set a fixed display of all white full brightness and measure voltages at the power supply, strip injection point(s) and strip end(s). That will be the worst case scenario your display needs to deal with.
I’d turn the limiter off or at least tell it you have a 20000mA supply. It’s one more variable you don’t need to solve your issues.
20000mA ? ! this is 20A ! is this what you meant ?
Just to let you know when setting the limit to higher then 1000mA ( 1.0 A) the issues became worst. I set it to 2000mA ( 2A ) and the whole matrix froze with strange very bright lights , I had to remove the power cables 3 times until esp32 came back online . That was a bad idea
I have reduced the limit now to only 550 mA ( only 0.55 A ) and the leds brightness are okay with reduced frequency of crashes ( This is was also tested for the past few days on the 16x16 Matrix ) , circuit should be at least safe and I’ll keep it like this , I just hope the limit holds in case of power or network related issues . To be more safe I’ll turn psu off at night because i like my house and i hate fire
Nighty nite!
You’re describing a problem with your power supplies.
The software current limiter is NOT intended to be a replacement for proper power to your strip.
It simply limits the brightness levels allowed to keep the strip from over taxing the supply in “extreme” cases.
This is not a safe way to implement a project that is under powered.
Remember, software fails at least as often as hardware. Whose to say the current limiter won’t fail and set your string to full bright white?
If your supply can’t reliably provide 1A to a strip (that’s 5W at 5V), there’s something wrong with your PSU (IMHO).
I still say, solve your power problem first.
Sure ,
I think we forgot the original post from TOG99 about “Segments - Chase/Travel” , in which I confused your reply with his , please to go there if you can help , I no longer need help with my issue but he does
To close this chapter as it could be of help to others , All the needed info for ws2812b with one power source are listed in the first page of WLED Project Getting Started , I would recommend that you visit that link as it has a lot of useful information specially if you have a new setup and it can spare you and others a lot of guess work , cheers
