4 ms·

I made lights using ws2812b leds and simulated sunrise, sunset, and a dim blue throughout the night. I used ws2812b leds, wemos d1, and a level translator sinc

I made lights using ws2812b leds and simulated sunrise, sunset, and a dim blue throughout the night. I used ws2812b leds, wemos d1, and a level translator since the d1 has 3.3v gpios but ws2812b technically requires a 5v signal.

scns 6y ago
That sounds awesome, can you do a write-up about it please?
- andruby 6y ago
  For the software part, WLED [0] really does just about anything you’d want to do with those led strips. I drive the wemos d1 and led’s from a 12V battery with a 12-5V stepdown converter. I attach the 5V to the esp and the led’s. The 3.3V logic level works on the first led and is repeated at 5V to all subsequent led’s. [0] https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED
  - fullstop 6y ago
    Apparently 3.3v doesn't always work with the strips, and newer ones are less likely to work, especially if you're working with a lot of lights.
    - andruby 6y ago
      My assumption was the each individual led chip will re-transmit the signal to the next led, which in effect will turn the 3.3v signal into a 5v signal between the 1st and subsequent leds. The power lines do sustain voltage drop over longer sections, so you'll want to add extra power every few meters.
      - fullstop 6y ago
        Right, that is exactly how it works. If your signal to the first IC isn't perfect, and it isn't with a 3.3v signal, you can end up with incorrect colors or shifted patterns. As you add more LEDs you have a greater chance of one at the end not lighting up or having incorrect colors throughout the string. 0.7 * 5v == 3.5v, and 3.3 < 3.5. You're out of spec for the part and can't expect it to work reliably.
- fullstop 6y ago
  I'll see what I can do.
tW4r 6y ago
I’ve been looking at something like this myself, did you use RGB, RGBW, RGBWW, RGBCCT or what to dynamically set the warmth of the light? I got really confused when I started looking into all these different types
- fullstop 6y ago
  I used rgb but would like to try RGBW in the future because to get bright white on the current strip it consumes about 60 mA (@5v) per led. That's 20 mA for R, G, and B. I have two rows of 32 lights, so a beefy supply was needed along with a few places where VIN was fed to the strip.

scns 6y ago

That sounds awesome, can you do a write-up about it please?

andruby 6y ago
For the software part, WLED [0] really does just about anything you’d want to do with those led strips. I drive the wemos d1 and led’s from a 12V battery with a 12-5V stepdown converter. I attach the 5V to the esp and the led’s. The 3.3V logic level works on the first led and is repeated at 5V to all subsequent led’s. [0] https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED https://github.com/Aircoookie/WLED
- fullstop 6y ago
  Apparently 3.3v doesn't always work with the strips, and newer ones are less likely to work, especially if you're working with a lot of lights.
  - andruby 6y ago
    My assumption was the each individual led chip will re-transmit the signal to the next led, which in effect will turn the 3.3v signal into a 5v signal between the 1st and subsequent leds. The power lines do sustain voltage drop over longer sections, so you'll want to add extra power every few meters.
    - fullstop 6y ago
      Right, that is exactly how it works. If your signal to the first IC isn't perfect, and it isn't with a 3.3v signal, you can end up with incorrect colors or shifted patterns. As you add more LEDs you have a greater chance of one at the end not lighting up or having incorrect colors throughout the string. 0.7 * 5v == 3.5v, and 3.3 < 3.5. You're out of spec for the part and can't expect it to work reliably.
fullstop 6y ago
I'll see what I can do.

tW4r 6y ago

I’ve been looking at something like this myself, did you use RGB, RGBW, RGBWW, RGBCCT or what to dynamically set the warmth of the light? I got really confused when I started looking into all these different types

fullstop 6y ago
I used rgb but would like to try RGBW in the future because to get bright white on the current strip it consumes about 60 mA (@5v) per led. That's 20 mA for R, G, and B. I have two rows of 32 lights, so a beefy supply was needed along with a few places where VIN was fed to the strip.