12v pixels glowing red with no signal sent???

lowepg

New elf
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
7
Started building some new haloween elements tonight and noticed the string on lights (12v, ws2811) were glowing feintly soon as i plugged in the controller?

Checked the wiring - Everything looked good.
Tried a different string- same issue.
Tried a different controller - still same issue!!

Setup:
Alphapix-4 controller (also tried it with pixlite16)
350w power supplies from holidaycoro (chinese).

I tried swapping things around and kept getting varrying degrees of the same issue. I COULDNT eleminate was the holidaycoro powr supplies... I have 5 of them- all the same model.

Any ideas? This is driving me nuts!!!!
 

dpitts

Apprentice elf
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
68
Location
Falcon, CO
If these are DIYLEDExpress 2811 nodes it has been discovered that they do not like to be over powered at all. Please make sure the voltage is less than 11.8 volts.


Your description of red glowing when no data was being sent is exactly what we found.
 

multicast

Senior elf
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
715
The other explanation is that they put too much red paint in the red leds, and its just leaking a bit.?
 

lowepg

New elf
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
7
dpitts said:
If these are DIYLEDExpress 2811 nodes it has been discovered that they do not like to be over powered at all. Please make sure the voltage is less than 11.8 volts.


Your description of red glowing when no data was being sent is exactly what we found.

Exactly!

I tested my power supplies and found they were outputting like 12.2V.

Dialed th voltage down to 11.9-11.95 and problem solved!!!!

Thanks!
 

multicast

Senior elf
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
715
David_AVD said:
Wow, pixels rated for 12V use not liking 12.2V (1.6% over) sounds like a dubious design. :eek:

very. theres what you put on paper and then theres what you design for. The 12V pixels are a compromised design anyway.. Its likely that the internal fets are not being driven properly..... ( the 2811 has an internal pull up resistor )
 
Top