tmarshal61
New elf
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2013
- Messages
- 20
Hi,
I am trying to build some landscaping path lights using RGB pixels. I bought some low voltage landscape path lights from my local hardware store and replaced the lights with 12V WS2811 RGB modules. I am running 12 AWG low voltage landscape wiring injecting power to each light along the way. There 31 lights spaced about 2.5ft apart.
I wired up all the lights and laid them out and tested them and everything worked like a charm. All of the lights worked all the way to the end. Then I buried the cabled and that is when the trouble began. About the first 9 pixels light up fine then I start to get some flicker. The 12th light stays on solid red, and none of the other lights light up after that.
I have dug most of the lights up and checked the voltages along the way. What I am seeing perplexes me. The 12V positive supply seems fine all along the way. The data line starts out at about 5V out of the controller and drops a bit through each light. By the time I get to about the tenth light, I am at about 3.5 V on the data line. That is about the point where the problems become visibly apparent.
What could be causing my issues? Isn't the data supposed to regenerate after each pixel. If this is the case, I would expect the voltage to be boosted back to 5V coming out of each light but this is not what is happening. Am I just misunderstanding how this is supposed to work or is there something fishy going on? Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Tom
I am trying to build some landscaping path lights using RGB pixels. I bought some low voltage landscape path lights from my local hardware store and replaced the lights with 12V WS2811 RGB modules. I am running 12 AWG low voltage landscape wiring injecting power to each light along the way. There 31 lights spaced about 2.5ft apart.
I wired up all the lights and laid them out and tested them and everything worked like a charm. All of the lights worked all the way to the end. Then I buried the cabled and that is when the trouble began. About the first 9 pixels light up fine then I start to get some flicker. The 12th light stays on solid red, and none of the other lights light up after that.
I have dug most of the lights up and checked the voltages along the way. What I am seeing perplexes me. The 12V positive supply seems fine all along the way. The data line starts out at about 5V out of the controller and drops a bit through each light. By the time I get to about the tenth light, I am at about 3.5 V on the data line. That is about the point where the problems become visibly apparent.
What could be causing my issues? Isn't the data supposed to regenerate after each pixel. If this is the case, I would expect the voltage to be boosted back to 5V coming out of each light but this is not what is happening. Am I just misunderstanding how this is supposed to work or is there something fishy going on? Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Tom