In terms of addressable LED strips, the WS2812B and SK6812 come to mind as the most used. From my knowledge, WS2812B are RGB only while SK6812 is RGBW (there are 3 variants of the white).
I am looking to install SK6812 within my entertainment area because of the “W” as I’d like to set the strips to warm white when in general use and use the colours to get the party started. lol
Now the question is, is their listing incorrect or does WS2812B come in a RGBW variant? If this is the case, does WLED support the “W” in the WS2812B RGBW as sold on Banggood? I would think that WLED would allow me to turn on the white only and use the different effects for the colours.
The issue is that since those LED strips are not available to purchase in South Africa, I have to import them, not to mention that from searching online, I’d have to import the snap connectors, corners, etc, etc, etc to connect them up properly, so I want to make sure that I make the right decision when purchasing the LED strips.
You are correct, per the datasheet WS2812b are RGB only.
However, product listings often advertise something as WS2812b even though it actually isn’t, just because most people will not search for SK6812, but for WS2812b, as it is a lot more popular.
And since the SK6812 have the same protocol as the WS2812b, this misinformation is generally not a big problem. The listing you linked is most likely SK6812 and will work just fine.
WLED does support the 4th white channel without issues - just enable it in LED settings
Thanks for the responses. I looked through the questions on the listing, but when asked about whether the chip is SK6812, it was specified that it is WS2812B which doesn’t make sense. I did post a question to the listing so I hope somebody responds.
I have to order from Banggood due to their shipping options to South Africa which according to others, I would choose the tax-free option and the goods are couriered to me in SA instead of via our postal system which is very unreliable.
Very strange answer. I never have seen WS2812B in RGBW. So most likely they just sellers who don’t have a clue what they selling. On Aliexpress look for BTF lighting store. A lot of people have a good experience with their products. Oh and they have SK6812 RGBW. I prefer to use with warm white and have a strip with neutral white. Both types is very good.
So interestingly I am in the same position where I purchased the same LED strips from Banggood and have now flashed a D1 Mini with WLED 0.12 and have been fiddling with the LED Preferences. When choosing the WS281x setting, none of the sub choices work (RGB, BRG, etc). With this setting and choosing a solid colour (red, blue green etc) the strip shows alternating light colours (first LED green, second blue, third red and repeating). When I change it from RGB to say BRG, the same pattern remains, but in a different order…
If I set the LED Preferences to SK6812 the color wheel is accurate (set it to blue… they turn blue)… However, if I choose simply white (center of the colour wheel) I get orange down the strip.
Further, the count sees to be off. I have a 5m strip with 30 LED/m and the trailing end of the lights remain off. I have figured out that setting it to 197 LEDs seems to do the trick. Weirdly however, if I set it back to WS281x with 197 LEDs the last 2 go out… I set it 199 and the last LED is off, and 200 lights all of them light up.
So, I guess the SK6812 is the work around (sort of) save for the fact that I can’t just have solid white.
Also, short of verifying the count of LEDs by actually counting them, 197 (which seems awfully arbitrary) is kinda strange too.
Start with a small number of LEDs on the strip, say 15.
This will limit possible power supply issues and simplify your testing.
You’ve probably got a SK6812 variant, test with solid R, G, B to get the correct RGB/GRB sequence required.
Once you’ve got simple colours working, try W by itself.
Try RGB and W together.
Increase the number of active LEDs, building to your maximum. This is where power supply issues will rear their ugly head, especially at maximum brightness. Test at 25% bright will let you see if the lights actually work with the colours you’re trying.
If you really seem to have an issue with getting the last “15” LEDs to light, try creating 2 segments one with the first 175 and one with the last 25.
Other than power issues and misunderstanding what your segment definitions are “really” doing (I hit that 2nd one any number of times) these should be fairly cut and dried.
Thank you so much for the reply!
I will test as you have suggested and write back.
I did look at the listing from Banggood which I used to purchase the lights and a number of people had suggested that I try to NeoPixel library and see if that corrects these issues.
I would much rather use WLED and will most likely in the end but it would be interesting to compare.
Thanks again!
-=O=-
I’ve done a bunch of stuff using the NeoPixel library and the (better IMHO) NeoPixelBus library (part of WLED already).
I started in the PIC/Arduino world, trying to pack code into small devices (Tiny85 - 8Kb code, 512 bytes RAM!)
After spending MANY hours custom coding and testing all sorts of driver software, I migrated to ESP-32, found WLED and threw away 98% of my stuff.
Much of what I had built was still very effective, efficient and “cool”, but not worth the effort to keep it “growing” compared to the ease of use with WLED & ESP-32 devices.
Too many features built into WLED to not use it.
And as I said, it’s built on NeoPixelBus (yaaay Makuna!) one of the best pixel libs out there.
Can’t emphasize enough, start small using WLED and build up.
You’ll save yourself chasing down “a plethora of rabbit-holes”.
I have done a lot of projects with Wled and addressable LED strips (big thanks to all Wled contributors).
divsys is right, start with something that works like Wled 0.12 on an esp32. and yes there are a lot of sellers that present these addressable LED strips, keep in mind none of the Ali or bangood sellers are manifacturers no matter what they claim. Most of them operate from there garden shed or ther bicycle garage full of garden gnomes and sell whatever they can get there hands on having no idea what they are selling, believe me the garden gnomes are not there for good advise.
So it is difficult to say where on these platforms you can buy good quallity.
But if some seller wants to sell WS2812B as a RGBW led just buy elsewere check the facts,
a SK6812 is a RGBW led that works perfect on a Wled 0.12 on a esp32 combination.
it is also true that if you single feed a 200leds SK6812 ledstrip (build on a cheap pcb flex) the colors get ugly.
Buy good quality or add extra wires to feed from both ends. On long ledstrips add feed wires inbetween to eliminate the voltage drop. if you want to test something start at a lower brightness to check on colors. If you increse the brightness and the color gets different at the end of the strip, add feed wires.
With ledcount faults most of the error is in choosing the wrong led type or using some knock off leds with off standard specs from ***sellers. Also check if the start led number in led preferences/hardware setup is set to 0.
If data errors occure like flikering pixels, strange pixel adressing, pixels at a specific place in the strip that act strange you probably did not use a data buffer circuit like a 74hc125 and are trying out all kind of strange setups that you find all over the internet to connect the 3,3V led data pin of your ESP32 to the 5V data input of the ledstrip. 1 resistor, 1 diode may work but i suppose you do not want to fly on a plane that may work.
Using the same power supply without filtering for leds and the esp32 on larger ledstrips is also a bad idea. Use a separate small power supply or adapter on the esp32 but make sure you also connect the ledstrip GND terminal to the esp32 GND.
Here also the advise use things that you are sure of that work if you are not sure that you can construct a working piece of hardware buy something pre assambled from makers to get started.
We are here on this planet for a limited time use it wise dont waste time reinventing the hot water and cheap-ass ledstrips.
Thank you as well for the advice!
I haven’t resorted to seeking professional council from Garden Gnomes as of yet as all the advice I am receiving here is certainly fantastic so far! LOLOL
I have been quite busy lately but this is a long weekend here in Canada and I will dedicate some time over the next couple of days to sort this out and let you guys know how it comes along.
I do have a strip from BTF-Lighting that is SK6812 and will use it to compare.
I also have several ESP32s as well as ESP-01 and some Wemos D1 minis and will compare them to each other as well.
Happy Labour Day to you as well!
I used to live in Kits many years ago and miss it quite a lot.
I still haven’t got the LED strips yet… Life is filling my time… but probably tomorrow morning.
Small universe, I grew up at 3rd & Balaclava (few blocks from Macdonald).
Sadly, I seem to be one of the last four people here who were born on this coast.
Everyone else (including my wife) is from the East .
I always say it’s because this is the one place in the country where Winter isn’t a life threatening event…
Don’t give up on the LED’s, it just takes time. Things have improved dramatically in terms of what’s available.
The first set I built as Xmas lights for the outside of the house were made from individual pixels on little 1cm PCB boards. I soldered 200 pieces onto some solid 18Ga. wire as a “power bus”, added the individual data wires and power injection where needed. Lit up the 3 sides of my garage perimeter.
Worked quite well and lasted about 5 years before weather beat up some (many) of my connections.
Replaced with some pre-made and properly weather proof strips.
One of the other coolish items that you can get now are the rings of various diameter RGBW strips.
They work quite well as replacement light elements for coach style lights and/or solar garden lights (switching them to fully powered of course).
HAHA… Yes small universe indeed!
I lived at Cornwall and Arbutus for most of the time I was there as well as at 3rd and MacDonald.
I bartended at Popeye’s on Yew St which later turned into The Urban Well.
That was a lifetime ago and I do miss it!
Anyways, today is the day that the LED deep dive begins.
I’ll keep you posted
