hello, I am currently using ESP8266 board with the d4 pin to control ws2811 RGB lights which are the 5v variety and have a total of 50 lights. the problem I am having is when connected to the power supply they lights go to the wrong color and become laggy when updating color, and I have an orange color chasing when using different effects.
something I figured out is when I plug the board directly to the computer and use this power source and hit the reset button the lights work as normal when choosing color, but still kind of laggy and have an orange hue sometimes when changing colors.
For my power supply, right now i am using a 12v 20-amp power supply and usings a step down from 12v to 5v which can handle 3 amps but my lights are not pulling anything close to that maybe 1 amp at max. (I had 12v lights and saw cheaper ones without realizing they were 5v, but i have a 5v power supply coming in) But i saw something about i have to connect my grounds
(My LEDs act funny and flicker randomly)
Reason 1
If you use an external 5V power supply for your LEDs, please connect the GND of power supply, LEDs, and ESP. Otherwise, the LEDs can’t read the data signal from the ESP.
im not sure if this is the reason, maybe my wiring since I’m using 16 gage as my signal wire which goes into 22g for the led wiring
(i have videos but they wont let me upload them im not sure why)
Did you connect the grounds? If not no electrical circuit exists and you will not be able to control the pixels.
yes the grounds are all connected they turn on, but the color output is not correct when powered from an external power source. The color output is only correct if i connect the usb to the board directly and use that as my power source.
here are some pictures with the exact same settings just different power sources
[grid]
Post a picture where the wiring to the microcontroller is visible. I can’t tell how it’s connected from those pictures.
Unfortunately those TOBSUN buck converters have a pretty lousy reputation.
I wouldn’t trust any results with that device in the power setup.
Take the 12V supply and buck converter out completely and configure WLED to only drive 10 LEDs. Your USB connection should be able to handle that, see if you have correct colours and control of the LEDs.
If that works, I would find a better 5V supply for your setup.
There are stable 12V->5V converters out there, or just get a suitable 5V supply.