Help with wiring ws2811 strips in parallel for discrete control?

[insanoflexed]

Hi everybody.


Apologies if this has been covered in the forum before. I did a quick search but couldn't find an obviously relevant post and I'm running out of time to place orders for these parts!


My question is, if I buy something like the Advatek PixLite 4 board (four strip control ports) and I want to have discrete control of more than 4 ws2811 (or similiar) strips, how do I wire that?


If I cut 5m strips into 1m segments and end up with say, 16 x 1m strips, do I need to wire them in series to maintain their addresses relative to the software & controller?


To avoid daisy chaining in one end of each segment and out the other to the next segment, can I run wires from the controller to each segment? This would mean jamming four wires into each socket on each port of the board or soldering together adaptors...


I've had success doing this with 'dumb' white and 'dumb' RGB strips, where I've had pairs of 2.5m led strips run in parallel off one set of screw terminals on a dmx LED controller. I don't think I understand how this would work with SPI though...


I'm trying to vertically hang 12 - 16 1m or 2m segments in a grid above a dance floor, so having wires coming out the bottom of the strips is undesirable. Do I just need to spring for a controller with more ports? Or is this possible with a bit of hacking about? I'll be using lightjams to program the show.


Thanks in advance for your help!


Corey.

 

[benzor84]

Hi Corey,

Unfortunately the Ws2811 protocol is daisy chain network.
If you were to run strips in parallel then they would be addressed the same, however doing this is not recommended as the protocol doesn't deal with being split in this fashion very well.

In this case you would be better at looking at a controller with more outputs either a pix16 or a j1sys p12s.

 

[insanoflexed]

Thanks so much for your speedy response!


Ok I'll look into a controller with more outputs.


Out of interest is there any protocol / rgb pixel type that does allow for parallel wiring?


C.

 

[insanoflexed]

I suppose I could still daisy chain out the other end of a strip and adhere the exiting wires up the back of the strip to obscure them from view, and then brace the strip against a piece of aluminium as a make shift enclosure, to keep the strip hanging straight up and down.


How much wire can I get away with between LED strip segments on each controller port before voltage drop causes problems? If I could run 3 strips off each port this way I'd be happy


C.

 

[Alice]

Hi Corey,

Unfortunately the Ws2811 protocol is daisy chain network.
If you were to run strips in parallel then they would be addressed the same, however doing this is not recommended as the protocol doesn't deal with being split in this fashion very well.

In this case you would be better at looking at a controller with more outputs either a pix16 or a j1sys p12s.

i am agree with that advice,+1



galaxy s5 hülle

 

[AAH]

Pixels don't have any internal addressing. What they do is pull off 3 channels worth of data and pass the balance of the data to the next pixels. They can effectively get daisy chained forever and are only limited by the power going into them (hence power injection) and the number of pixels that the pixel controller pumps out data for on any given output. 680 pixels (4 universes worth) is about the most that any of the pixel controllers pump out of any 1 output.