WS2818 pixels

logandc99

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So I went ahead and ordered some new 12v 12mm WS2818 bullet pixels from way and in my haste, had not appreciated that these are 4 wire and not 3 wire like my WS2811.
Any advice how to wire these 4 wire WS2818 to use with my 3 wire controllers?
I see the 4 connections are labelled DO GND BO 12V (so the other side would be DI GND BI 12V)
I have read some info on the web that seems to suggest you just connect the D (data) and B (backup) wires to the data line from the controller - is this correct?
Any advice appreciated
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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They are 2811 compatible with a backup that bypasses dead pixels. As far as the 1st pixel on a string goes there's 2 possibilities as to where the Bin goes. Ether it will get connected to the Dout of whatever is sending the data along with the Din or it will be open circuit. It will be easy enough to test.
 

drakky

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I just ran 3 wire cable out from the controller and connected the signal wire to the 2 data wires DO and BO in a 4 pin connector at the model , works perfectly fine
 

logandc99

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Ok great, thanks for the replies. I'll do the same and connect the DO and BO to the data from the controller.
 

Goliath

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"WS2818A has strong features in Signal Break-point Continuous Transmission, it adopts dual signal transmission,
these signals are able to work together without interaction. The user can select the first chip DIN/BIN as the control
signal input pin, and the follow-up cascade chips will automatically identify the output signal released by the first chip
which not to affect the whole display effect."
 

Goliath

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What I took the above "Engrish" to mean is:-
Three wires from controller to strip - Volts, Data, Gnd. Doesn't matter whether data goes to DIN or BIN, and no need to connect to both.
Four wires from strip to strip to get the benefit of the backup data line, in case the last pixel on a strip goes bad.

E&OE, as they used to say ....... :) :)
I stress I have no firsthand experience, just attempting to decipher what I read.
 

drakky

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yeah but if you get them pre pigtailed from Ray he puts 4 pin pigtails on each end so it's just easier to do this way
 

logandc99

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yeah but if you get them pre pigtailed from Ray he puts 4 pin pigtails on each end so it's just easier to do this way
Yes mine have come with the 4 pin pigtails attached. So how did you go from a three pin from the controller to a four on the lights (just trying to get my head around this as I was going to cut the four pin off and join the DIN and BIN wires together or is that not right)
 

drakky

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Yes mine have come with the 4 pin pigtails attached. So how did you go from a three pin from the controller to a four on the lights (just trying to get my head around this as I was going to cut the four pin off and join the DIN and BIN wires together or is that not right)
I use a 3 pin pigtail female out of the controller then make a cable 3 pin male to 4 pin female I think I did it as per this , just knocked up a quick image , I use ray wu's pigtails so if you're using another brand I couldn't tell you the colour code of the pigtails 3 to 4 wire 2818.jpg
 

logandc99

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Ok great. Thanks. I’m using Ray’s as well so should be the same.
 

logandc99

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I use a 3 pin pigtail female out of the controller then make a cable 3 pin male to 4 pin female I think I did it as per this , just knocked up a quick image , I use ray wu's pigtails so if you're using another brand I couldn't tell you the colour code of the pigtails View attachment 12603

I wired them up as per your diagram and they worked fine so thanks again. My main reason for checking was that I was concerned that splitting the single data line from the controller into two data lines in the lights might somehow muck up the signals/effects but then again I guess that would defeat the purpose of having a backup data line.
 

drakky

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I wired them up as per your diagram and they worked fine so thanks again. My main reason for checking was that I was concerned that splitting the single data line from the controller into two data lines in the lights might somehow muck up the signals/effects but then again I guess that would defeat the purpose of having a backup data line.
that's why i ran 3 wire cable all the way to the model and split the signal at the pigtail the closest point to the model itself rather than split it at the controller
 
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