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Chris303

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Dec 29, 2020
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Hello All

My name is Chris. Im in Brizzy and Im very new to all of this!

Im hoping to make a few props for next xmas, it will be the first time I've tried out Smart LEDs. And with a little luck I hope people here might be willing to help me along the way.

I thought to start off I'ld just get one strip of LEDs to play with using wLED. So I got:

a 5m strip of 150 5V WS2812B RGB
an ESP8266 WIFI controller
some jumper wires.

I saw a you tube vid that made it look fairly simple. It implied I ought to be able to power the strip and ESP from a 5V phone charger into the ESP. And the jumpers from the ESP pins into the +/- and data sockets on the strip. I've checked and double checked the wires are connected correctly.

However, the lights are not turning on. :(. which sucks, because I was soooo excited to get my LEDs today. I got them from BFT Lighting on Amazon. I don't know if they have a good reputatio or not.

So far so bad.

So my first question would be if there is a simple way to determine if my LED strips are duds or not?

I hope someone can help!

Bests

Chris.

oh, and this was the you tube vid. I was following. He makes it all look so easy.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFtjf5mD6tA
 
Last edited:
Hi Chris, welcome to ACL.

The 101 Guide is always a great starting point which details heaps of information. https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/auschristmaslighting-101-manual.1889/

A couple of things:
1. The strip at 150 LEDs is going to need up to 8 amps of power at full brightness; your USB charger wont be able to supply this; however this would only cause issues once illuminating all LEDs.
2. Check the wiring from the ESP to the LEDs is the right way around. There are three wires needed - a positive, negative/ground, and a data wire. The positive and negative would connect across your 5V power supply, and the data would connect to the ESP.
3. In regards to data wire - LED nodes have a data in, and a data out; and it needs to be wired so the ESP connects to the data in connection. This is probably labelled with DI on the strip; you'll also see arrows which show the direction of the data - pointing from the first LED that connects to your controller down to the end of the line.

As for WLED - the first thing that should happen on power up is the first 30 LEDs (if I remember) should light up orange; if that happens, you're all set.
 
Thanks for the reply, mate. :)

I was going to limit the brightness within wLed to something very low to account for the number of pixels. Just enough so that I could start writing my own animations.

Im pretty sure the wiring is right, at least it follows the online tutorial I was watching. But maybe the voltage output by the ESP chip is just insufficient to power the lights at all. I measured the voltage and it was only just above 2v. Maybe thats whats wrong. I just wish there was a way to tell with forking out any cash.... im on a tight budget here. LOL.

Or maybe my LEDs are duds.

Thanks for you input. Its really appreciated.
 
Hi Chris,
firstly before i get into commenting below, apologies if this comes across badly, it is meant to be helpful and i'm happy to have a zoom/teams chat to help if you would like.

Chris303 said:
Hello All

My name is Chris. Im in Brizzy and Im very new to all of this!

Im hoping to make a few props for next xmas, it will be the first time I've tried out Smart LEDs. And with a little luck I hope people here might be willing to help me along the way.
Click to expand...
the crew here is very helpful and will happily help anytime.
Chris303 said:
I thought to start off I'ld just get one strip of LEDs to play with using wLED. So I got:

a 5m strip of 150 5V WS2812B RGB
an ESP8266 WIFI controller
some jumper wires.
Click to expand...
Sorry jumping in with 5M of 150 count string is not in any way a good idea due to the current required.
the ESP8266 is a good idea and many members use these and can help

Courtesy of this post (so thank you) I'm going to suggest that anyone wanting to experiment and learn actually buy what we call seed pixels, WS2812 based, 5V and low current can be run from USB
BTF lighting are actually the guys we source them from btw
www.aliexpress.com

The Christmas Lights|bluetooth-controlled Led String Lights Ip67 Waterproof For Christmas & Birthdays

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
Buy 10M 100cnt with the controller and you also end up with a set of lights you can use on the xmas tree inside after you have finished playing.
Chris303 said:
I saw a you tube vid that made it look fairly simple. It implied I ought to be able to power the strip and ESP from a 5V phone charger into the ESP. And the jumpers from the ESP pins into the +/- and data sockets on the strip. I've checked and double checked the wires are connected correctly.
Click to expand...
The guy is an absolute idiot for even suggesting to use the phone charger, no no no
As Skymaster said above the strip will want far more current than the little phone charger can deliver
It's not going to work.
Chris303 said:
However, the lights are not turning on. :(. which sucks, because I was soooo excited to get my LEDs today. I got them from BFT Lighting on Amazon. I don't know if they have a good reputatio or not.
Click to expand...
They are not turning on because the changer cannot supply the voltage and current needed.
BTF are very good actually so would have no concern on the strip you got.
Chris303 said:
So far so bad.

So my first question would be if there is a simple way to determine if my LED strips are duds or not?
Click to expand...
Not till you have good enough power supply to power the strip like is shown later in the video.
Chris303 said:
I hope someone can help!

Bests

Chris.

oh, and this was the you tube vid. I was following. He makes it all look so easy.
Click to expand...
apart from the idiocy of using the phone charger it's not bad :)

Cheers
Phil
 
AussiePhil said:
Hi Chris,
firstly before i get into commenting below, apologies if this comes across badly, it is meant to be helpful and i'm happy to have a zoom/teams chat to help if you would like.


the crew here is very helpful and will happily help anytime.

Sorry jumping in with 5M of 150 count string is not in any way a good idea due to the current required.
the ESP8266 is a good idea and many members use these and can help

Courtesy of this post (so thank you) I'm going to suggest that anyone wanting to experiment and learn actually buy what we call seed pixels, WS2812 based, 5V and low current can be run from USB
BTF lighting are actually the guys we source them from btw
www.aliexpress.com

The Christmas Lights|bluetooth-controlled Led String Lights Ip67 Waterproof For Christmas & Birthdays

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com
Buy 10M 100cnt with the controller and you also end up with a set of lights you can use on the xmas tree inside after you have finished playing.

The guy is an absolute idiot for even suggesting to use the phone charger, no no no
As Skymaster said above the strip will want far more current than the little phone charger can deliver
It's not going to work.

They are not turning on because the changer cannot supply the voltage and current needed.
BTF are very good actually so would have no concern on the strip you got.

Not till you have good enough power supply to power the strip like is shown later in the video.

apart from the idiocy of using the phone charger it's not bad :)

Cheers
Phil
Click to expand...
Hey Phil,

Thanks for the detailed reply and no need to apologize!

Its reassuring that BTF are legit. So it looks like I have to get a better supply.

I might take you up on the zoom offer if I get stuck!

Thanks again.
 
BAZMick said:
Where abouts in Brizzy? I'm Forest Lake and if you're not too far away you could come over to mine this weekend and I could help get you started.
Click to expand...

Hey Mick. Thanks so much for the offer. I'm up north in Boondall and Im away this weekend, but may I message you to come over another time? It would be really cool to see how its done properly. And as you can imagine Ive got about a thousand questions. :)

Chris.
 
Hello and welcome.

<parrot what others said 101 yada yada /parrot>

So, stepping back a bit. Have you installed WLED onto the ESp8266 module?
Connected to it and browsed through the interface?
Have you double checked the WLED configuration for data pins? WLED has several different flavors and versions out there to use. Depending on what is downloaded and what it is installed on some changes might be required.

Also, can you drop a link to the exact BTF strip you purchased?

Thanks.
Dean
 
I’d suggest telling WLED you’ve got 10 or 20 LED’s and 500mA) and go from there. If that doesn’t work — it’s probably something else you’ve done. I’ve certainly tested strip off a d1mini ESP board before and it works. But the boards aren’t really designed for lots of power to run through them. And so you note in the other 2 examples - he has power direct from the PS to the strip.
 
Indigogyre said:
Hello and welcome.

<parrot what others said 101 yada yada /parrot>

So, stepping back a bit. Have you installed WLED onto the ESp8266 module?
Connected to it and browsed through the interface?
Have you double checked the WLED configuration for data pins? WLED has several different flavors and versions out there to use. Depending on what is downloaded and what it is installed on some changes might be required.

Also, can you drop a link to the exact BTF strip you purchased?

Thanks.
Dean
Click to expand...
Hi Dean,

thanks for the reply.

I have installed WLED onto the ESP. I think successfully. I can browse the interface fine and so Im able to turn the connection to the ESP on and off with the WLED app 'power button'. ESP's blue light turns on/off as I do.

Here is an image of the esp board. Ive drawn on how my wires are connected when I try.

20220216_130453.jpg

I haven't checked the WLED config for data pins. Im assuming it runs from d4 just because that was in the youtube tutorial.

the BTF strip I got were these ones...


Thanks,
Chris.
 
Last edited:
From a Stack Exchange post — it looks like the VIN output is dependant on your board. It might be you have a newer version than the board in the video - and this getting different results. If you’re measuring it at around 2V — you probably won’t get anything to light up. You could try switching to a 3V output. It’s not 5V - but it might be enough for 1 or 2.

(source: https://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/51873/nodemcu-vin-pin-as-5v-output )
 
thewanderingpine said:
From a Stack Exchange post — it looks like the VIN output is dependant on your board. It might be you have a newer version than the board in the video - and this getting different results. If you’re measuring it at around 2V — you probably won’t get anything to light up. You could try switching to a 3V output. It’s not 5V - but it might be enough for 1 or 2.

(source: https://arduino.stackexchange.com/questions/51873/nodemcu-vin-pin-as-5v-output )
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. The LEDs are working now. 😊

Believe it or not all the LEDs light up, even if at a low brightness. But its enough to check all the LEDs are in working order before I go and get a more powerful source.

Thanks very much for that.

And thanks to everyone else. This has been a fantastic introduction to auschristmaslighting. Everyone has been so helpful. :)
 
Welcome! There is quite a few of us on the Northside. You would probably have seen College Way Lights who are also in Boondall, and we are not far away in Northgate. Last year was our first year: https://facebook.com/Lightsonparkerave/
If you come to the Brisbane mini make sure to say Hi 👋 we are happy to help out - the mini was a Huge help for us!
 
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