0
\$\begingroup\$

I set up a string of 4 WS2813B LEDs, connected to a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller.

It mostly seems to work, except the first LED shows these glitches:

  1. Sometimes the color just turns white instead of the color I send to it. All subsequent LEDs receive the correct color, so it is not the case that the timings are off. It never happens for any other LED.
  2. Sometimes it changes color by itself, with no signal received. e.g. I turn all the lights green, and then after a few seconds/minutes it turns red by itself.

#1 seems to happen quite often after a long pause. If I update the LEDs many times in quick succession it usually goes away, but if I do a single update the first LED will usually be white.

Datasheet: https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Seeed%20Technology/WS2813B_Ver.V5_10-20-19.pdf

Note that I have tried swapping out the first LED, it makes no difference.

\$\endgroup\$
7
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ maybe the device is defective \$\endgroup\$
    – jsotola
    Jan 14 at 5:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ indeed, maybe, these are fairly fragile compared to other parts. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jasen Слава Україні
    Jan 14 at 6:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ Difficult to analyze without seeing your schematics, wiring, or software. You could have an easily spottable simple error but we don't know what you have. \$\endgroup\$
    – Justme
    Jan 14 at 10:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ Please post the circuit, code and datasheet. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ralph
    Jan 14 at 11:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi, I've tried swapping out the first LED, it didn't help. \$\endgroup\$
    – CaptainCodeman
    Jan 14 at 15:17

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
\$\begingroup\$

Connect DB (Might also be called BIN) to GND on the first LED.

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ This works actually. Do you need to connect BIN for all the LEDs? The datasheet wasn't clear on this. \$\endgroup\$
    – CaptainCodeman
    Jan 14 at 18:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Good to hear. Only connect the first one to ground. For the next ones you connect it to the DI "the actual input". Purpose of the pin is to avoid whole strip from going blank with one failing led. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ralph
    Jan 14 at 19:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ Actually, unfortunately this still didn't fix the problem. The first LED is still sometimes off. Funnily enough, all the other ones work perfectly, even though the BIN is disconnected. \$\endgroup\$
    – CaptainCodeman
    Jan 16 at 22:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ What if you only try to control one? \$\endgroup\$
    – Ralph
    Jan 17 at 16:26

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.