Addressable LEDs (Fried?)

Projects General Guidance
1

I have a Mega with a power supply running 9 addressable LED strips. They have all been color fading fine until recently one strip will only go solid red, green, and blue. The one strip no longer fades. Did I fry a chip in the strand? ...or could that be caused by something else? ...maybe a short in the wiring?

2

Yes.
If you want more help, post details of your circuit.

3

All 9 strips run data line from the board through a 301ohm resister and receive power from 2 5v 40A power supplies. Both power supplies and the board are ground together.

4

Not enough info.
Which LED strips?
Are the 9 strips connected in series?
Or does each strip connect to a unique pin?

5

They are WS2812B IC RGB 5050SMD LEDs each controlled by its own PMW pin. Length range from 40 LEDs to 96 LEDs. The longest one is the one I'm seeing an issue with.

6

That is an LED count. Length will be in meters.

It is recommended to "inject" power every meter.

ws2812
ws28121496×776 153 KB

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7
  • Measure the 5v supply on this strip, confirm your GND is properly connected.
  • On the bad strip, assume non of the pixels work properly.
    You could try cutting off the first pixel and insert the signal on the second.
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8

Id be surprised if those symptoms would be caused by a bad LED strip.

Did you try swapping the connections around so you know you're using a "good" Arduino pin with good software running that pin?

Not that important... but addressable strips don't use PWM... They use serial data in a special format. (Actually, the drivers built-into the strip have their own built-in PWM.)

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9

More details are required about the nature of the failure of the last strip(i.e. all LEDs behave the same, the problem appears part way along the strip, etc.), because it's almost certain your problem is either with the Arduino pin, or the software sending the data; if an addressable LED strin displays different colours at different times/places then:

  • the output pin of the Mega is good
  • the individual LEDs are good
  • the strip is intact
    So it's down to either
  • inadequate voltage on that strip 'confusing' the LEDs (measure the voltage at the far end of the strip, compare to other strips that function)
  • software malfeasance
    Testing
  • of course, measure voltage at far ends of all strips
  • swap two strings on two Arduino pins - does the problem move, or remain on the same strip
    YMMV.
10

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