my arduino won't talk to my LED strip

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

I just got 5m of ZJ168 LED strip, which unfortunately does not have any handy online tutorials written for it that I can find. I'm having trouble getting my arduino to control the LEDs at all. I've connected it according to the information here Frabjous Dei — I’ve finally got the RGB LED strips I bought from... but when I connect it to a battery, all the LEDs just light up and don't change, regardless of the program I send to the arduino.

Here's my crappy paint drawing of what I have set up:

819×460 33.7 KB

I'm just starting to try to figure out electronics and arduino stuff, so I may well be doing something very stupid wrong. I really need to figure out how to run a simple chase sequence by Friday afternoon so I'd appreciate any help you can give!

2

You can use Frtizing open source programme for preparing schematics/circuit design. :smiley:

3

Well a 9V battery is not going to do much for a 12V system. I hope it is not one of those small square batteries because they won't last very long.

The wiring looks fine. Have you tried reversing pins 11 and 13, there seemed to be some in that link they might not all be the wrong way round. It will do no harm if they are the wrong way round anyway, it just won't work.

4

Try using pin 9 for clock

5

Try using pin 9 or 10 for clock

Why?
The SPI hardware uses pin 13, it can't be changed.

6

My Wrong ,apologies , The fact of SPI pins got off my mind

7

Thanks for your help, everyone. It turns out, my connections were fine, I just had the wrong chipset selected in Fast_SPI...

So, obviously, I don't know anything about programming, but I'm having trouble finding any basic information or documentation. I just want to be able to control the speed and colour of a simple chase sequence. I'm sorry for asking dumb questions, but is there a chase function built into Fast_SPI that I can use? Is there a very basic guide to using Fast_SPI anywhere?

Thanks again.

8

is there a chase function built into Fast_SPI

No.

is there a chase function built into Fast_SPI that I can use?

I am not familiar with the Fast_SPI but these should be no difference between that and the SPI, look under the menu libraries -> Fast_SPI
but at the end of the day it is just a protocol for talking to a device. What you do around that protocol is up to you and your ability to formulate an algorithm and write it. Both are two aspects of what it is to be a programmer.

9

Did you select "No line ending" in Serial Monitor? If not, your 'a' will turn off the Connector / Power Wire red LED and the line ending will immediately turn it back on.