My questions is probably answered here on the forum but I can not seem to find it.
I am using a Dig-Qaud on 12v 2811B with a 96/m count.
I have two strips one on the north side of my garage with 200 total led’s tied into channel 1, and a strip on the south side of my garage also with 200 led’s tied into channel 2.
Both strips start at ground level and go up to the top of the garage.
I have two segments listed. Segment “0” goes from 0 to 200, segment “1” goes from 201 to 400.
I am attempting to make them sync together.
If I run the Android effect I want them both to start at the bottom and go to the top at the same time.
I can get them to work but not synced together.
Can anyone point me to a post that might be able to help.
Thanks
Thank you for the reply.
Would you mind going into a little more detail.
I do not know how to setup the two strips under segments besides checking the mirror box
Thanks
I’m new to this digital LED stuff and was trying to figure this out for a setup with a strip on each side of a beam across the center of a sloped ceiling.
I’m using a Dig-Duo with WLED v0.14.0 and two strips of 12V WS2814 60/m with 300 LEDs (100 pixels).
Option 1 - Hardware sync:
Connect both strips to the same GPIO. WLED will see and control them together as a single strip.
Option 2 - Software sync:
Connect each strip to a separate GPIO.
In LED Preferences, add the second output as necessary, set output 2 to be reversed and save.
On the main screen, configure a single segment for both strips (range 0-200 in my case), enable mirror effect and save.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Option 2 would work for syncing more than two strips. Syncing outputs without workarounds like this is so far the only feature I would want that WLED seems to be lacking.
You can use ledmaps and segment grouping to achieve similarity with splicing data cable.
Another option is using custom strip start indexes in LED settings.
Examples that would achieve the desired syncing would go a long way to helping WLED newbies like myself understand how to use those settings.
As I understand it, LED mapping only lets you change the order of the LEDs and segment grouping changes the size/number of virtual pixels. Neither of them appear to have anything to do with syncing.
You’re using the term “syncing” to mean something different than we do in the WLED world.
For WLED, you “sync” multiple controllers running completely different hardware.
This is a feature built into WLED that allows for synchronizing data across a network.
What you seem to be describing is a scenario where different sections of strips connected to one controller need to display similar pattern or effects. It’s not 100% clear what your layout looks like (are the strips on the left/right of the beam, front/back, top/bottom?) but you probably want to explore the mirror and reverse options for segments.
One thing to note about strips connected to a single ESP32 board, it doesn’t matter if you connect the strips as a single line on one GPIO or on multiple GPIOs. WLED will treat that as a single strip with a length equal to all the strips added together.
Segments, ledmaps, grouping, spacing and the mirror and reverse options, all give you control of how you address some or all of that string. I’d suggest you play with the sweep effect and the mirror and reverse options to see how they can work for your setup.
If you want to post a simple diagram of your setup and what you want to achieve, we may be able to provide more concrete suggestions.
The beam is on the underside of the peak of a slanted roof and the strips will be on each side of the beam facing sideways so it lights up the ceiling. Much like OP’s question, I want to be able to run effects that are identical on each side, where the beam itself is like a mirror with respect to the lighting. For example, an effect that shoots a ball of light down the beam, like a railgun.
As I originally mentioned, I found two options that work perfectly for that purpose with two strips. The issue is that Option 1 has no flexibility and Option 2 only works for two outputs (not a problem with the Uno since it only has two outputs, but I might want more as I go deeper down this rabbit hole), and it’s not as quick to toggle on and off in the UI as I would like, so a script may be required to make it more convenient. It’s sufficient for my needs and OP’s needs (as I’m sure he figured out by now), but having support in the UI for easily duplicating effects across any number of outputs would be nice.
Edit:
One thing to note about strips connected to a single ESP32 board, it doesn’t matter if you connect the strips as a single line on one GPIO or on multiple GPIOs. WLED will treat that as a single strip with a length equal to all the strips added together.
For parallel connections to one GPIO, as I described in Option 1, that is not correct. I just tested again to be sure. Two strips with 100 length connected directly to the same GPIO are treated as one strip with 100 length. Each LED position in WLED is physically duplicated.
When the strips are connected in series, then it is treated as one strip with 200 length as you describe and as would be expected. Series with segment mirror could also achieve the desired effect, but it’s not preferable with the voltage drop and for setups where the far ends of the strips are further apart than the ends near the controller.
Ok, I see where we’ve (I’ve) been unclear in communicating here.
You stated originally you explored 2 options for multiple strips displaying the same effect.
I’m suggesting a third:
Option 0 - Connect 2 (or more) strips in series on a single GPIO
I put that as option “0” on purpose as I’d suggest that’s how the vast majority of LED setups are built and managed. Concerns about voltage drops and data distances are easily handled.
In fact the potential voltage drop of a series setup would be identical to that of your parallel setup. You just need to remember that your data connection is required to start at the beginning of a strip, there’s no such limit for your power connection(s). Your series strip can be powered at the start of one strip and the end of the next. That gives you the same equivalent power drops as your 2 parallel connections both powered at their starts.
Note this is the whole basis for power injection, a critical portion of many installs.
You can convince yourself that the single “long strip” works by setting up a test config with 60 LEDs. Create 2 (or 3 or 4) segments with only 15 LEDs each starting successively farther down the strip (0, Length 15, 15 Length 15,30 Length 15, 45 Length 15). Each segment would represent a strip on one side of your beam. You can apply an effect (such as Sweep) simultaneously to all 4 segments or to just 1/2/3.
Using the Reverse option lets you change the direction for that segment. You don’t even need to physically connect LEDs for this test, the Peek screen will show you the effect on all 4 segments.
And we haven’t even talked about what ledmaps can do for you to change the order that LEDs are displayed…
I’m aware of power injection and its benefits and how it would be done. I just don’t have the need yet and would consider it a last resort in most cases where it adds cost, time, complexity, or ugliness (I’m bad at hiding wires).
Regarding your “long strip” example, I tried it out and it works fine for effects like Sweep or Android that aren’t randomized. For random effects such as Aurora or Fireworks 1D, it runs into trouble because each segment runs a separate instance of the effect.
Now that I think of it, an even better solution than output copying would be segment copying, or whatever we should call it to not confuse it with the existing mirror and sync features. “Clone” or “inherit”? Alternatively, an option to make effects run a single instance on all selected segments. Either of those would solve the problem no matter how the strips are physically configured. Of course, this isn’t the place for feature suggestions, I’m just thinking out loud.
Anyway, I came across this thread in my search for an answer and then with trial-and-error I found a satisfactory solution that applied perfectly to the OP’s question with no hardware changes. So, to the benefit of any other internet travelers with the same question, I provided an answer that was better than the earlier reply that said it “cannot be done”, which for all I know may have been true with the version of WLED available at the time. I believe Option 2 is still the best solution for our specific applications, though it would be nice to hear @carltonb’s opinion.
Edit:
It is now installed. It’s essentially a gift for my parents because I saw a cool opportunity with the beam and knew they wouldn’t pay for it. I’m very happy with Option 2. Most effects we either want it to loop around the beam (e.g. Lighthouse) or it lights up both sides symmetrically, which is done by simply toggling the segment mirror. There’s almost no reason to flip output 2 around, it just stays reversed.
This, this is the answer! Solved my problem as i have 4 strips, each on their own GPIO and but i needed 2 them to behave as 2 segments but mirrored, i.e. 2 virtual strips but sync’d with each other.
