in my quite big Wled installation with around 25 m of 24 V Cob 720LEDs/m (20 zones/m) Ws2811 strips with diy Quinled Dig Uno i had random flickering issues. The data length from the esp32 microcontroller to the first led is ~1 m. The data cable is quite tight packed in a 20 mm cable tube with all the power lines for power injection (every ~4,7 m).
I’ve read for hours and tried everything proposed:
5 different resistor values in the data line
a single led segment in between the esp and the first led to refresh the data
Quinleds data booster in between the esp and the first led
Nothing helped. Then, out of despair i played with different settings i’ve never touched. At last i changed the fps to 10 instead of 42.
And the flickering was gone! I increased the fps up to 40 fps where i have no flickering. The flickering starts with 41 fps.
Here is the thing: in the hours of reading and watching yt videos in search to solve my flickering issue i’ve never stumbled over the recommendation to lower the fps.
Thats why i wanted to share this experience. Maybe it helps someone.
Knowing this would have saved me hours and hours of trying.
What version of WLED are you running?
Is the flickering happening with any particular effect or all of them?
What does it do when you just use Solid?
Does it make any difference if you drop the brightness to 40% of maximum?
I think it’s great you’ve found a solution, it’s just not what has been seen typically.
What GPIO did you use, have you tried others?
It might be worth going back a version or 2 to see if there’s something in -b5 right now (it is a beta version).
After re-reading your original post, how many LED’s are configured in WLED?
Are you addressing 27m x 720 LEDs/m = 19440 LEDs???
I use GPIO 16 (MH-ET Mini D1 32). I didn’t tried others because from what i’ve read this GPIO is “clean”.
I think i started with b1 (its been a while since i started this project) and the issue was there as well. I also had b4 for a while.
The 720 leds/m is only the physical led number to get the neon style. They are addressable in 5 cm zones (= 20 zones/m). In my case 498 zones in total (so 25 m in total, not 27).
Not in my case, because i am pushing the Quinled Uno quite hard with up to 15 A. Thats why i didn’t use “lousy” screw terminals and instead soldered the cables directly to the board. (now that i think about this, for the two led data outputs of the board i could have used screw terminals…)
It’s annoying that you can’t copy n paste from the info panel, so here as screenshot:
That all looks reasonably normal, its just the flickering that’s a little different than what has been reported in the past (at least for me).
Just to be complete, you’re not “pushing” the MCU board with 15A.
The only thing the Quinled produces is data for the LEDs, it has no idea how much current those LEDs will draw when you ask for 100% white or any other combination.
It just so happens that you’re also doing your power connections for the LEDs on the same board, that’s where the “lousy screw terminals” complaints come from. The board gives you a (reasonably) convenient place to make power connections for the strip - up to a point.
Personally, I like to think:
Power for my LEDs comes from the power supply, so use appropriate power connections from there.
Data for my LEDs comes from the data supply (MCU) so use appropriate data connections from there.
For small simple setups (think 1-3A total current) it may be convenient to do both connections on 1 board.
Beyond that, it takes more planning. The Quinled boards are a good solution for many and can be effective towards the 10A range of power draw.
Again, for me, at the levels you’re describing I would simply create a proper power distribution strip at the supply. The MCU needs only small wires for power (less than 1A draw) and data so that’s all that it needs in and out. Do your major power wiring at the supply.
I know, i wrote about the Dig Uno board, not the MCU. It gets quiet hot on 15 A, despite using 2oz copper. The screw terminals are a potential weak point for this amount of current that i wanted to avoid. I use trusted Wago terminals for all connections and power distribution after the board.
I am no newbie to electronics.
That would bypass the safety features (fuse, temperature sensor) of the board and is advised against.
A “proper” power distribution strip includes all the safety equipment you need, including proper size wire, connection points, fuses, etc,etc.
If the board is getting “quite hot on 15A”, that’s a sure sign you haven’t got as safe a distribution point as you need. You can design this stuff anyway you please, you’re (hopefully) the only one who has to live with the consequences.
(now that i think about this, for the two led data outputs of the board i could have used screw terminals…)