I have an rgb led strip (WS2812B) controlled by an Arduino nano, using the NeoPixel Library. I created a lamp from this and currently have it connected to a smart plug that I use an Echo Dot to turn the lamp on and off. I discovered the Nano 33 IoT's compatibility with the Alexa and wanted to use this to control the colors of the lamp, instead of a push button as I have it now.
Here lies the problem. Using the Nano 33 IoT, I was having issues with lighting up the LEDs and color changing via alexa, but in ways I couldn't predict. The led strips would flicker nonstop, change to different colors (but often not the correct one) and light up a random amount of LED's on the strip. Obviously I can't run that exact code on the regular Arduino Nano for comparison, so instead I tried to just use the IoT board, with no Alexa functionality, to just light up the LED strips. I got similar issues; instead of constant light, I got flickering. I tried using different methods in the library, such as lighting up each LED individually and then keeping them all illuminated, lighting up the whole strip at once like I was doing with the regular nano.
The only difference in my wiring set up between the nano and IoT nano is that for the IoT nano I had to use an external 5v for the LED strip, since there is no 5v output pin on the IoT nano. Additionally, I was able to light up an rgb LED difference colors using Alexa, with the same pins I was using to try to control the LED strip, so I don't think it's necessarily a hardware issue. But also the same code runs perfectly fine on the regular nano, so I'm not sure it's a software issue either.
Any advice on how to debug this? I can post wiring diagrams, but its just power, ground and the data pin with a resistor. I could also post the software, but the issue has been consistent with any code I have tried, so there's a few revisions. Thanks!