I did not watch the whole video... but remove the breadboard and use direct connections. 100 RGBLED x 60mA per could mean 6A (6000mA) going through the breadboard.
Breadboards are not made for that amount of current. Remove everything from your breadboard and check continuity of every breadboard pin (connecting rows and power/ground rails) for SHORTS and OPENS... then put it away to use on small current applications.
Direct connect like the drawing. Solder is best.
p.s. "Short circuit" does not me "something is broken"... it means a direct path from one point to another. Open circuit means the normal path is not connected (open). So when you say "short circuit" I think, "how do you know it is a short and not an open"... jusayin.... using the wrong words can confuse others.
So I tried your suggestions about plugging in straight into the Arduino and I'm still running into the same problem: Still Not working. I don't know exactly why it keeps doing this since no GND and 5v are touching each other. Is there any possibility of going onto zoom or something to explain why it keeps stopping or is that not allowed by policy? It's just really frustrating that it's not working and I don't know why it's not.
There is a 5v Adapter going into the wall with the end coming out into 2 wires that are plugged into GND and 5v (The Arduino I am using is not an Arduino Brand, this Arduino has many Male 5v and GND pins on the board so the wires are plugged in there and not all into 1 point. this is what it looks like but I have had no problems with this type of arduino:
All the Blue Male pins are GND, the Red are 5v and the Yellow are Digital and Analog pins, I use this because it stays in better.
Anyway, the very beginning of the Strip has 3 wires for + - and SIG, + is 5v, - is GND and SIG is D6, no reason for D6 just decided to use a PWM pin just in case. The 2nd strip clips onto the first strip.
In this picture you can see the 2 endpoints of the strip click in together. Once the 2nd strip is clipped to the first, they both shine bright.
When the 3rd strip is attached it is dim. In the picture you might be able to see the extra 2 wires I was talking about from a previous post. The 2 wires go into 5v and GND. When either one is plugged it it sort of brightens it but when the other is also plugged in it shuts the whole thing down. The 2 wires do have wires soldered to them and those wires are longer than most. Could that be the issue? Just long wires and simply cutting down the wire will make it work?
I think you have a connection issue on the third strip. Either verify your solder joints are solid at the 2:3 mark, or try injecting power at the very end. Verify your drawing and your connections.
So this is why I was asked on the previous post about the specific 2 wires. each Strip has 2 wires coming from the input and 2 wires coming from the output. Could it be that ONLY the input or ONLY the output should be powdered or it wouldn't matter? Also When saying "Injecting Power" at the very end, what do you mean? Having another 5v adapter at the very end as well as in the middle?
So if the 3 wires are going to Power, Ground, and Signal and the red/blue wires without the Signal wire should be sticking out, then where should I connect Power and Ground back into the Arduino when it starts to dim?
what do you mean? just show them or have them plugged in and shown or show the connections? The first RGBLED is bright and is connected to Signal, Ground, and Power and the last RGBLED is dimmer and also not plugged into anything since it's the end. Or do you want a picture of the wiring for both RGBLED?
Show how you are connecting the wires. Your drawing is not right. Also show a picture of the first and last pixel in each string. Connect them like the drawing in post #62 and the picture in #57.
The white wire on your leds is green in this picture.
Use thick wire for the power leads, thin wire for the data cable.
You should get some more connectors to make you setup more flexible, or your project will be hard to move and get entangled rather quickly unless you fasten it to some kind of board.
Make good soldering joints and use shrink-wrap for insulation. (if you decide on using take, add a fuse to you power line, since short-circuits are looming in the distance.)
Hello @Deva_Rishi - Good advice! The neopixels are on a string, which will make an "s" pattern, so extending the signal wire should not be necessary. Once the string is placed (in a matrix of holes in a board?) the power and ground can be injected on one side (see this drawing). Also, the algorithm for placing the colors will be altered. Every second row will be in the "opposite" direction. That is to say, to move up a row, it changes from "row + col" to "row + (max - col))".
This is the wiring I have wired right now. Each strand has a clip so connecting an additional Signal wire to each is unnecessary. That's why I'm confused with all of this. I have a 5V power supply that sends Power and Ground to the Arduino and Power and Ground to the first strip. The Signal Wire comes from the Arduino to the first strip and the first strip turns on and the second strip also turns on, both bright. When I attach the Third Strip it dims so I attach Power and Ground from the Strip to the Adapter but when they are both plugged in it shuts down the Arduino. This is the only difference between my wiring and your wiring:
I was going from the point of view of the layout that was used in the code, but this will work better of course.
What is the power rating of the PSU ?
I am asking because there is no real reason that it should not work.
32 leds per row, that is after about 64 leds, could it be that there is a faulty led somewhere in the chain ?
If you intend to use multiple PSUs then remember that the section that is powered from 1 PSU, should not have 5v connected to the section that is powered from the other PSU. Just GND & Data, or you may damage one or both PSUs
Or even into something flexible like a sheet off fabric, with the use of tie-wraps
Powering 500 neopixels with 5vdc = 60ma/pix * 500 = 3000mA or 3A. Reduce max color brightness to half (127, rather than 255) will reduce the sagging and power consumption. To keep pixels brighter, inject at three places (around pix (512 / 4) = 128, 256, 384). Experiment to find what looks best.
Well i was actually think just make a hole, yes diffusing can be good, that requires a special fabric though.
isn't that actually 60mA per color ? Those bulbs contain a WS2811 and resistors, so it depends on the actual LED used. Best would be to measure the current for a single bulb.
Oh that it does, but the lack of brightness at a longer distance is caused by the voltage drop of the wire.
Voltage drop is absolute and is specific to the type of wire. you may lose 1v over a 2 or 3 meter length, but at 5v that means you only have 4v left. This is the advantage of 12v leds (or strip) 11v usually is enough (discoloration occurs at about 8.5v) Anyway, thicker wire for the power lead make a world of difference and injection of power at a lot of places is the key solution.
It is usually 'blue' that starts to fade first, so when showing white, the leds that have insufficient voltage will show a bit brownish.
Could be. I thought 20mA per color. Best to verify the specification sheet.
I used home-printer paper for a cheap diffuser that looked good (for a candle effect). I also used cheap, red, thin, cotton, shop-rag for a red color (over white LEDs... making the light very dim) that was good enough for the result.
I find 20 AWG (and 22) is good for injecting 5m/15ft - lighting dim areas. I think the resistance is 2 ohm per foot. I went with 12vdc for color at a distance and reserve 5v strips to around 3m.
most of the standard 3 wire flat that is sold for ledstrip purposes is actually 28AWG, but the Chinese sell it as 22AWG. I think also the wire between the bulbs is as well.
I use Speaker cable for injecting, and use the 28AWG for data and small power transfer.
In the end the cables we use now are quite thick even for 12v that cover a meter. It is still able to cover 1 or 2 meters of data signal, and makes injecting a lot less of an issue. We work with objects and the power line inside the object is also quite thick.
We use printed Lytex, all needs to be waterproof for outdoors with different color print.
Sometimes i pass the data signal over distance using MAX485 transceivers if needed, also separating it into different PSU's
In this case it is a single object. Speaker cable is the best, mainly injection points will help a lot, since the wire in between the bulbs is really quite thin.
