GS8208 LED Strip

So I ordered some GS8208 strip before Brad posted this thread, and also got some WS2815 strip.

They both behave the same way when it comes to power from my testing, but the WS2815 does not have an inbuilt test pattern which is makes it more attractive to me.
 
Ooh keen to hear how the 2815 goes.. did u get 30 or 60 leds per m?
 
Also interested to hear (well... read) your thoughts on GS8208 vs WS2815 :). Especially when it comes to GS's auto test mode and whether it stops running once other controllers brands are running (Falcon in your case) irrespective whether sequence data is playing out ... and if the low-brightness colours are any different between the GS and WS, particularly with certain RGB combinations such as orange.
 
ryanschristmaslights said:
Also interested to hear (well... read) your thoughts on GS8208 vs WS2815 :). Especially when it comes to GS's auto test mode and whether it stops running once other controllers brands are running (Falcon in your case) irrespective whether sequence data is playing out ... and if the low-brightness colours are any different between the GS and WS, particularly with certain RGB combinations such as orange.
Click to expand...

Colors such as orange, purple and even white are much nicer on the GS8208 annoyingly..

GS8208 test mode comes on when you are booting the falcon or saving a new string configuration, otherwise it stays off and acts as you would expect
 
Good News regarding mixing of GS & WS pixels on the same string. It actually does work, despite my previously (flawed) test. The key point here is the P2 output needs to be set to the correct speed! eg 3600


Q - Does Controller Output to GS8208 to WS2811 chaining work?
A - YES

Q - Does the GS Test mode continue on to a daisy chained WS2811 string?
A - Nope. (However Controller ---> WS2811 ---> GS8208 still results in the test pattern starting on the GS pixels only.)

Q - Does Controller Output to WS2811 to GS8208 chaining work?
A - YES.
 
Noticed last night when slicing my strips up that every 0.5m there are these extra 100ohm resistors.
GS808_resistors.JPG

I cut them in to off length strips, these resistors did not seem to make any difference. Signal coupling/conditioning?
 
Here's what voltage drop looks like.... 4 x 3M lengths, with 12V injected at the top/left only...
GS808_voltage_drop.jpg
The green pixels are the 'self-test' pattern starting as my P2 was only outputting 4 universes of data which has been exceeded in this case. End voltage measured ~7.2V with my simple plugin-test rig.

So how low can we go?....
GS808_voltage_5v.jpg
It seems 5V is about cut off, as once I added a 5th 3M length of pixels, those pixels didn't function correctly. Most of them just lit up red - with no self-test pattern. This also had a negative effect for some of the proceeding pixels on the 4th 3M run too.

Speaking of the self test pattern - it seems some pixels can be a little random with it - and it takes a few moments for the entire string to sychronise the test-pattern. Often the first pixel won't display any self-test pattern either.
 
From the photo, it seems like the gradually lowered white brightness stays as a white-like colour rather than going pink , is that right? Do you see much variation in the voltage drop with a lower starting brightness for the GS8208, such as... 70-80%?

My longest run where I'll probably use GS8208 should be 9.0 metres, and the brightness I think looks passable in that photo on the 3rd strip - particularly as I don't run strips at 100% anyway!
 
Actually yes, it did stay white-ish indeed vs WS2811 going yellowy/pink.

I will have to test a super long run at reduced brightness levels to see how that behaves.
 
I have some of these on order

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GS8...93e4-43b4-994f-786b143f3d66&priceBeautifyAB=0

Does anyone know if the signalling on GS8208 needs to be close to the 12v supply?
The specification sheet seems to indicate that it does :

http://addressable-led.com/UploadFile/upi/file/20171130/GS8208.pdf
On Page 3 - Input Logic Voltage SDI -0.5～VDH+0.5 (where VDH is 12v)

I currently have a NodeMCU loaded with the ESPixelStick firmware. It therefore looks like I need to level shift the output from 3.3v to 12v - can anyone confirm if this is correct?
 
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