Use CAT 5 cable to control LED with ESP-12E

Question

I plan to use the ESP-12E's GPIO pin to dim a 12 V LED strip wire and control a 5 V [WS2812B] 1 panel via CAT 5.

I tried using a 10 ft CAT 5 cable to link the ESP12E pin to the DIN pin on the WS2812B panel, however, the LED panel did not change color.

When I tried to dim a 12 V LED by sending a signal to a MOSFET (IRFZ44N)via a 10 ft CAT 5 wire, the identical problem occurred. When I tried to dim it, nothing occurred.

I believe the issue is that the signal sent by ESP212E is insufficient to reach my devices.

What I can do to make the signal from ESP12E reach the WS2812B and the MOSFET through a 10 ft CAT5 cable?

Or what can I do to control both of my devices from a long-distance?

Here is my schematic:

• Din: Connect to DIN WS2812B
• LEDDIN: PWM pin dim 12 V led
• I use LM7805 to convert 12 V dc to 5 V DC to power ESP8266
• 12 V-out to power 12 V LED

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Part Detail:

• 2x WS2812B panel (8 x 32) : 512 LEDs WS2812B Panel
• 3 ft 12 V LED strip: 12 V white warm LED strip
• 1x ESP12E
• 1x LM7805: LM7805

Answer 1

Problem: WS2812B requires 5V logic level signals on the data pins. ESP outputs 3V3 logic levels. So it doesn't work.

Solution: use any 74HCT logic gate powered from 5V as level translator. It will correctly read 3V3 logic levels, and output 5V levels. Pick any 74HCT you want, like buffer, AND, OR, etc. It should not be inverting, though.

Problem: MOSFET doesn't work.

LM7805 isn't a MOSFET, it's a voltage regulator. I assume it's a typo, and you're using an actual MOSFET. If it is not designed for 3V3 gate drive, it will not work when driven from an ESP GPIO pin.

Solution: use another gate in the 74HCT chip as a 3V3 to 5V converter, and drive a 5V logic level MOSFET with it.

Answer 2

Signal Integrity maybe

Try to remove the 10ft cable and directly connect the LED to your ESP. If the system works, then the issue is the cable.

A cat 5 is a twisted cable. Thus you can't just pick random wire and hope it works.

I would try the following:

1. Use a pair for the signal and its return current. Put your signal on the green wire and GND on the green-white wire. for instance.
2. Properly terminate the transmission line. Add a ~100 Ohm resistor across the green and green-white wire at the led end of the cable.
3. Add an additional decoupling caps
4. Use all the remaining wires for the power

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

Answer 3

After searching around I found this solution the author uses RS-422/485 drivers and receivers to control ws2812b