I m using a 1m long led strip (144 leds) controlled through a web page stocked on the spiffs memory of my esp32 arduino board. Each led is light up at a time. They re never all light up at the same time.
The project is a mobile project. The esp32 board is powered up by an external phone battery (5v, 2.4A) through the usb connector.
I would like to play a sound from the arduino using a wav 20s sound stored in the spiffs memory.
I will add two small speakers (3cm max) to play my sound.
Which audio amplifier would you recommend so that I don’t have to use another power source ?
I hope I will be able to connect both my leds and the audio amplifier through the esp32 board…
I was initially looking at the dfplayer mini or the pam8403 or lm386 amplifiers.
The PAM modules are okay.
Are you going to use the two 8-bit DAC channels of the ESP32 ?
I suggest to power the audio amplifier and the ledstrip with the 5V. The 3.3V for the ESP32 can not deliver much more current than for the ESP32.
Most ledstrips require a 5V digital signal, but the ESP32 can only give a 3.3V signal. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. You have to convert that 3.3V signal to a 5V signal.
The DFplayer Mini is for an Arduino Uno. It stores the audio on a SD card. The files can be played by commands.
Hello.
Thanks for the welcome.
I m currently using the arduino with the external battery - no issue. WS2812B LEDs are only connected to the v5 and and pins on the esp32. And yes indeed they require 5 dcv
I indeed use wifi in my project. Arduino is acting as a wifi access point and web server.
You say “ I suggest to power the audio amplifier and the ledstrip with the 5V”.
Would I be able to use my external battery to power with the same cable ? Or any other way ? I don’t want to use to separate batteries….
I assumed that you have a power bank that can output 5V, since a battery of 5V does not exist. A Li-ion or Lipo battery is between 3.0V and 4.2V.
Do you use a bare phone battery ? How do you charge it ? I hope it is safe.
The PAM amplifiers have often a large range for the voltage. You have to check if that will work with your power source.
Can you draw a schematic on paper and make a photo of it ?
Which ESP32 board do you have ? The ESP32 modules that I know are powered with 5V to the 5V pin. That means your ledstrip is not powered by the 5V pin of the ESP32 board, but by the 5V power source.
Connect the 5V and GND from your 5V power source to the ESP32, the ledstrip, the PAM module.
The 3.3V from the ESP32 is for sensors.
That is a normal ESP32 module
The "ESP32-WROOM-32" (written on the metal part) is good
The Belkin BPZ002 is 5V power bank
The ESP32 module is powered to its 5V and a GND pin
That is alright so far.
The black connectors that you push onto the ESP32 module are often weak. I hope you have stronger ones and not the cheap flimsy ones.
Do you have a soldering iron, shrink tube, or tools to clamp wires together ?
All the GND and also all the 5V (for ESP32, ledstrip, PAM module) should be tied together.
Hi
Thanks for your advise. It s just a prototype so far. I will solder and make everything stronger once everything will be OK.
The power bank is plugged on the usb entry of the esp32.
The led is connected to the gnd and the 5v pin.
I wonder how to connect the Pam to the arduino providing leds are already connected to the 5v and gnd output of the arduino.
Okay, powering the ESP32 module via a USB cable is even better.
Sometimes there is a diode from the USB 5V to the 5V pin.
Can you measure the voltage at the 5V pin ?
The ledstrip and PAM module should still work if the 5V pin has only 4.5V. If there is a diode, it should be able to deal with the extra current.
If you need to connect 1 or 100 wires to a pin, then you have to connect those wires one way or the other. I prefer soldered wires with shrink tube. Cut the wire, strip the isolation, add the extra wires, place shrink tube over the wires and shift it out of the way, solder all the wires together, shrink the shrink tube.
It is a good time to show a drawing with the wiring. I don't like wrong currents when one of the connectors gets loose.
Hello Koepl,
sorry for the late answer, I was travelling abroad with no access to pc and voltmetre.
I'm just back and draw a picture of my current full setup. The measured voltage is 5.04V out of the pin:
Earlier, you said : "The black connectors that you push onto the ESP32 module are often weak. I hope you have stronger ones and not the cheap flimsy ones."
How to identify the stronger ones when placing an order on amazon or here for instance ?
it looks like I could use the 3V output of my arduino board...without having to solder on the 5v wire already connected to the led. What do you think ?
any other advises for my setup ? (protection using resitance....)
The 3.3V voltage regulator on the ESP32 board has already enough to do, it needs to power the ESP32. You can use the 3.3V for sensors, but not for other power-hungry devices.
The PAM module can output 3W, I would power that with the 5V.
I don't know how to identify good quality cables and connectors. If you buy them from a good seller, the you get better quality.
The Power Bank should have some kind of protection. You could add a polyfuse in the 5V line if you don't trust your wiring.
