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LED color glitches/flashes #230
Description
Hey,
I use 120 WS2812 wit a 4A 5V power supply (limit 3800mAh). The firmware is 0.8.5 on two different ESP8266 boards. I want to use a self soldered ESP12E board with minimal space requirements. With this board I have some LED glitches. Most of the time the selected color is shown, but randomly short burst with a different color appears. A single level shifter is also used, but the led stripe works flawless with a nodemcu even without a level shifter.
If I set the brightness the glitches don't appear, all other glitches are with full brigthness. If I use only a red color, those glitches are mostly green, sometimes blue. Most of the time the complete stripe is affected, but sometimes only the first LEDs burst the wrong color.
Any hints where to search for solving the issue?
Activity
theshadowsvk commentedon Sep 26, 2019
Hello,
please, which pin/method are you using ? Are you sure that voltage drop is not big ? Sometimes this could be the issue of random color glitches.
coelner commentedon Sep 27, 2019
I use GPIO2. I flashed it with a CH340G directly over the gpio pins and took this one: WLED_0.8.5_ESP8266.bin
Which voltage drop do you mean? with full brightness it is 4.9V and at end 4.2V (With power limit set to 3800mA). But this should not be a problem, the nodemcu can be used for this and there are no glitches at all (at the end 3.8V)
theshadowsvk commentedon Sep 27, 2019
coelner commentedon Sep 27, 2019
theshadowsvk commentedon Sep 27, 2019
One question, is the common ground shared between 5v and 3.3v line ?
Sorry I see now, it's shared. I saw that cross line wrong. I'll check my schematics of my board and let you know
coelner commentedon Sep 27, 2019
Yes, it is.
Aircoookie commentedon Sep 27, 2019
Your setup looks good to me. I actually believe that this is indeed a software issue because I have had it too on two of my lights. I was suspecting that the reason was a missing levelshifter, but might be an occasional flipped or dropped bit in the UART after all.
coelner commentedon Sep 27, 2019
I'm not sure. The nodemcu works well even without a levelshifter. At least I get there no glitches. And the single ESP12 feels hotter than the nodemcu (measured with my finger tip...) but this could be the missing pcb underneath.
I assume two issues, one with flipped values in the UART, but somewhere a hardware vault.
https://streamable.com/o8lsz
Aircoookie commentedon Sep 27, 2019
Thanks for the video! For me it looks exactly the same, albeit at a much lower frequency at one glitch per 20-60 minutes, not every few seconds. This indeed seems like more of a hardware issue, but since there is no hardware difference with the pin between ESP12 and NodeMCU I can't see where. Did you try without the levelshifter? I've recently heard that some models modify the waveform enough to cause issues.
coelner commentedon Sep 27, 2019
Yes, I added the level shifter after these glitches appear.
Those esp12 are mass products, maybe something is broken inside (which would explain the hotter surface). sadly I have no oszilloscope otherwise I would inspect this furthermore.
You can close the issue and leave a reminder if LEDs are flickering that it is maybe a direct hardware issue.
coelner commentedon Sep 29, 2019
Ok, even the nodemcu has got the glitches, but more like one in a hour.
[-]LED color glitches[/-][+]LED color glitches/flashes[/+]frustreermeneer commentedon Oct 1, 2019
I'm experiencing the same random flashing problem with 249 LEDs on an older Lolin NodeMCU on pin D4/GPIO2.
I didn't have this problem with FastLED on another GPIO pin.
kcoop99 commentedon Oct 22, 2019
Experiencing the same issue. Random color flashes. Running 12v lights. Has this been determined to be hardware only?
Here is video of my glitch examples. Solid blue then with Halloween effect.
https://youtu.be/TGyMkZldP5s
kcoop99 commentedon Oct 23, 2019
Swapped my wemos d1 mini for a node mcu and am running into same issue. Leads me to think it's software and not hardware.
83 remaining items
Hubert97 commentedon Feb 2, 2023
Afrer upgrading from internal linear power supply to external dc/dc converter i started to notice those flashes. Usually in plasma and aurora mode. I am running 680 w2812. I think that this may be caused by bad gnd connection. I' ll make a bypass to led strip and update if that worked or not.
sniicker commentedon Feb 10, 2023
I had extreme glitches. NodeMCU seperatly powered per usb and sk6812 from btf with extra power supply. ~200leds
I could simply fix it by replaceing the usb cable the NodeMCU was powered. No flicker no glitches.
Works perfect.
Give it a try. Mybe you usb cable is shit.
jmerc77 commentedon Feb 10, 2023
I'm not using a usb cable for power. my strips are 5v and I am powering BOTH off the same source. this may be the problem though. as far as the circuit of the esp32s3 im using goes, there's a diode between both 5v inputs and the 3.3v regulator. so if the esp is browning out, i may be able to simply add a few hundred microfarads between 3.3v and ground. also my power supply was only 2A and fried during a 24 hour test. getting a 15A supply which will come within 7 days since I have 2m with 288 leds total. also have fuses on the way.
github-actions commentedon Jun 7, 2024
Hey! This issue has been open for quite some time without any new comments now. It will be closed automatically in a week if no further activity occurs.
Thank you for using WLED! ✨
BarrettLowe commentedon Jun 7, 2024
For me, at least, this was happening because I had multiple segments overlapping. Once I made sure each LED was in one, and only one, segment. The issue went away.
lyrixx commentedon Jun 20, 2024
Hello, I have a similar issue, but xith a RGB / PWM led strip
I used :
I followed this schema :
found on this page
When I measure the voltage before the amplifier, I see from 0 to 1.6V between V+ and R or G or B (depending on the "solid" color I chosed)
But I also see 0.08V at the output (whatever the R/G/B or my setup)
I tried 3 different RGB amplifier (but same model each time), and it's the same result.
Note
mkovero commentedon Jun 20, 2024
Does it help if you connect GND from power source unit to the esp32 GND?
sniicker commentedon Jun 22, 2024
Connect the input Power of the Amplifier
lyrixx commentedon Aug 7, 2024
Sorry for the lag
@mkovero
No, it's almost the same. But instead of getting 0V, I got 12V (but it's always this value, whatever the color is choose)
@sniicker
I don't understand, Th input power of the Amplifier is already connected 🤔
It's the same issue with the other power input
github-actions commentedon Dec 6, 2024
Hey! This issue has been open for quite some time without any new comments now. It will be closed automatically in a week if no further activity occurs.
Thank you for using WLED! ✨
Merge pull request wled#230 from troyhacks/IDFv4-Ethernet-Fixes