ESP32 wifi only clone and wled issue.

[jmg02]

Hi all I was playing with my esp32/wled setup today and came across a weird issue (getting ready for Dec). I have a clone esp32 with a 12v ws2811 5m strip with 300 leds, packet says 72w max (6amps). My setup is a 6.5a PS (will be changed to a 100ah battery on a solar setup soon) that has a y connector on the the tip, one side runs a 5a buck converter set to 5v with a USB connector connected to the ESP for power, the other side is connected to directly to the led strip with a capacitor across to for filtration, with a data cable running between pin 4 and the led (when I put this setup on the battery there will be 2 other strips attached).

The problem is that every time I try to put the brightness above 21 there's a slight flicker if I go to white (or it does it without doing anything if I go past 32) and my lights go off on their own tangent, usually flickering through some random sequence, and I can't control them any longer, until I pull the power plug, I haven't seen this description as an issue anywhere, and not sure what to do, does it sound like the PS isn't large enough at even 30 the 6.5a should be heaps), or should I be using a 5v logic shift converter, or is it something else??

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Skymaster]

How far is the distance between the ESP and the first LED?
You generally only get up to about 30cm or so at 3.3V logic. I would hazard a guess that the current draw is causing the ground to rise slightly between the pixels and your power supply, which then means the ground-referenced 3.3V signal is too low to correctly register as highs-and-lows.

A level shifter would certainly alleviate this issue. Now, you can cheat. Put a single pixel right at the ESP32, and then take it's data out as the "shifted" output - you just need to account for this extra pixel in your configuration.

 

[Notenoughlights]

Just stealing one from the WLED discord to post here in regards to the sacrificial pixel.

From the WLED Discord:

Wiring of the sacrificial pixel method
By using a Diode in the 5V supply of a single pixel the needed Datalevel is dropped enough, so that the 3.3V of the ESP are enough. Be aware that the strip in the picture has the power connection in the center and data on top. Connect according to your strip.

 

[jmg02]

Thank you very much for the quick answer, the distance to the first led is only probably 15cm if that, however that will increase in the final setup anyway . Fortunately I think I bought some multi in/out logic level shifters a while back, just have to find them and work out how to use them , I had a feeling it might be a data cable voltage issue, but other people's descriptions was completely different to what I was getting.

 

[jmg02]

Hi all I was playing with my esp32/wled setup today and came across a weird issue (getting ready for Dec). I have a clone esp32 with a 12v ws2811 5m strip with 300 leds, packet says 72w max (6amps). My setup is a 6.5a PS (will be changed to a 100ah battery on a solar setup soon) that has a y connector on the the tip, one side runs a 5a buck converter set to 5v with a USB connector connected to the ESP for power, the other side is connected to directly to the led strip with a capacitor across to for filtration, with a data cable running between pin 4 and the led (when I put this setup on the battery there will be 2 other strips attached).

The problem is that every time I try to put the brightness above 21 there's a slight flicker if I go to white (or it does it without doing anything if I go past 32) and my lights go off on their own tangent, usually flickering through some random sequence, and I can't control them any longer, until I pull the power plug, I haven't seen this description as an issue anywhere, and not sure what to do, does it sound like the PS isn't large enough at even 30 the 6.5a should be heaps), or should I be using a 5v logic shift converter, or is it something else??

Thanks for any advice.

Thanks guys,

I found the the time to find and install my logic level shifters and it appeared to I fix the issue, I installed on a 3m data cable with no problem at all, can happily go to 255 brightness, go between sequences with no issues at all.

Fyi, it wasn't all roses straight away, I tried the first shifter (I've soldered 2 side by side (2 x 2 in 2 out) to make 3 strips, soldered to a 3 x screw terminal header) but it was worse initially, I barely got 3 leds to light up by resetting the whole thing a few times, spent ages on it, tried both inputs and outputs but nothing, then tried the second shifter, which worked perfectly straight away.

I'll get a new shifter during the week and hopefully fix the other side , but will also resolder all the points on the first shifter incase there's a soldering issue, my eyes are bad so i might have missed something