# WLED Brightness Limiter for each pin

**URL:** <https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [August 17, 2022, 12:31am UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820 "2022-08-17T00:31:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PK\_Cubed](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/pk_cubed/32/580_2.png) [@PK\_Cubed](https://wled.discourse.group/u/PK_Cubed)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 12:31am UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/1 "2022-08-17T00:31:44Z")

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Hey! I use WLED for my house Christmas light show with ethernet esp32 modules, and it works great. I use the brightness limiter because I don’t need the full brightness and don’t want to have to wire everything for high amperage. Most of my LEDs are 5v, and I don’t really want to switch. My issue is that I have a power supply attached to some of the channels individually, and some are sharing a power supply. I would like to have control over the amperage for the brightness limiter on each channel individually. Is this something that can be easily accomplished? Right now I am just using a far lower current setting than I have capacity for just to be on the safe side.

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**Author:** ![divsys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@divsys](https://wled.discourse.group/u/divsys)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 7:27am UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/2 "2022-08-17T07:27:22Z")

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Far as I’ve ever seen the ABL is global across all LED’s.  
Are you using an outside program for the Xmas effects or presets in WLED?

If you’re using an outside program, you’ll need to manage maximum brightness for affected segments.  
If within WLED, you’ll end up doing the same with each preset/segment combo.

3rd option is bite the bullet and power/wire your strips properly…

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**Author:** ![tonyno](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/tonyno/32/242_2.png) [@tonyno](https://wled.discourse.group/u/tonyno)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/3 "2022-08-17T13:15:50Z")

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You can also turn down the brightness per segment.

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**Author:** ![PK\_Cubed](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/pk_cubed/32/580_2.png) [@PK\_Cubed](https://wled.discourse.group/u/PK_Cubed)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/4 "2022-08-17T14:00:15Z")

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I am using xLights for the light show, but when the show is not running I use the internal effects. As far as I’ve seen, changing the brightness from wled does affect the brightness of data over e1.31.

Thanks for the help. I never thought about using the individual brightness settings for each segment.

Just wondering, what is the worst that can happen if too much current is drawn from the leds if the wire gauge is not a problem?

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**Author:** ![tonyno](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/tonyno/32/242_2.png) [@tonyno](https://wled.discourse.group/u/tonyno)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/5 "2022-08-17T14:35:26Z")

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Nothing if you have a properly-sized supply with injections and fusing.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PK\_Cubed](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/pk_cubed/32/580_2.png) [@PK\_Cubed](https://wled.discourse.group/u/PK_Cubed)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/6 "2022-08-17T14:55:29Z")

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What happens if my LEDs draw more current than the power supply can provide? I don’t have any fusing setup.

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**Author:** ![tonyno](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/tonyno/32/242_2.png) [@tonyno](https://wled.discourse.group/u/tonyno)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/7 "2022-08-17T14:57:15Z")

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Then the strips/wires could get hot, melt the insulation, and/or catch fire. You could also set the limiter to about 20% less than what your supply can handle.

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**Author:** ![divsys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@divsys](https://wled.discourse.group/u/divsys)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/8 "2022-08-17T16:25:03Z")

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If you try and draw more power from your supply(s) than they can provide, they’ll typically suffer a drop in output voltage - a “brownout”. If you push it too far, they may shutdown or start switching on and off - “blackouts”.

The brownout effect is similar to what happens if your power wiring is not capable of transferring the current your strip needs. By the time the current gets to the strip (or later in the strip) from the power supply, the voltage has dropped below what the LEDs need.

Brownouts usually cause colour variations, fading along the strip, flickering of effects or just no response.  
Blackouts usually cause - blacking out.

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**Author:** ![blazoncek](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/blazoncek/32/1886_2.png) [@blazoncek](https://wled.discourse.group/u/blazoncek)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:36am UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/9 "2022-08-18T09:36:40Z")

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This has been requested numerous times and may be implemented some day but is very low on priority list as there are many issues with proper implementation.

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**Author:** ![lxkev](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/lxkev/32/10064_2.png) [@lxkev](https://wled.discourse.group/u/lxkev)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 12:18pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/10 "2022-08-20T12:18:07Z")

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It would be handy to have a tick box that states artnet/sacn to override brightness or not.

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**Author:** ![blazoncek](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/blazoncek/32/1886_2.png) [@blazoncek](https://wled.discourse.group/u/blazoncek)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/11 "2022-08-20T13:32:43Z")

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Like this?  
 ![Screenshot 2022-08-20 at 15.31.56](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/wled/original/2X/f/fe39d8ad9f77c78ee098145bda08d358a19505ac.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lxkev](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/wled.discourse.group/lxkev/32/10064_2.png) [@lxkev](https://wled.discourse.group/u/lxkev)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://wled.discourse.group/t/wled-brightness-limiter-for-each-pin/5820/12 "2022-08-20T21:09:51Z")

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Lol its already there isn’t it. 🙄
