Hi team,
I´m new here and tried to read all WS2812B strip issues, but can´t find my answer.
My problem/question is how to connect two parallel led strips WS2812B to one power source?
While both are working fine separetely (show below), when I just slighly touch the GND from second one to connect GND, the first strip start to act weird, power off or changing colors or each time different strange behavior
You are taking too much current from the Arduino. Power the LED strips with their own 5V supply.
@stevemj is correct
However the 5V 3A power bank will not supply enough curent for 2 strips.
For reliable operation, your supply for the LEDs should be capable of supplying 8A or more
Thanks for suggestion, I tried like this with power supply, they are not acting strange but the LED´s are completely powered off.
Thank you for suggestion, much appreciated. I tried with Laboratory Power supply like below.
Yes your strips are 61 LEDs long.
At 60mA maximum per LED that gives you a maximum potential current of 3.66 Amps. Your code is probably not using that much but that is the maximum.
With two strips your maximum current is 7.32 Amps.
That latest diagram is hard to follow but it looks like the ground of the external supply is not connected to the ground of the Arduino.
Stop trying to get 3.66 Amps from your Arduino power supply and power them both from your external power supply, even though that does not supply enough current. And don't forget to connect the ground of your supply to the ground of the Arduino.
Thank you for suggestion, much appreciated. I tried with Laboratory Power supply like below. When powered on (working with one single strip with all 61 on) it has 1.152A consumption.
But at what colour and brightness?
Maximum current is drawn with full brightness and white colour.
oh, yes than it make sense I use only blue colour.
Top answer your question, yes the GND are connected to LAB supply, LED strips and Arduino, and same for LAB supply +5V to Led Strips, and Arduino Uno R3 pin 5V (next to the two GND).
But still the same not lighting up at all. Thanks for help.
If all colors are set to full brightness (0x255), then each WS2812B will draw 0.06A.
0.06A X 61 = 3.66A for one strip
You could possibly have burned out the first LED of a strip when you fed a signal into it without having any power applied. You also have not got a series resistor in series with the data signals that would have helped protect that first LED.
Each LED in a strip regenerates the signal and passes it on to the next LED. Therefore if any LED is burned out then all the LEDs further into the strip will not work.
From the UNO documentation:
5V.This pin outputs a regulated 5V from the regulator on the board. The board can be supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 - 12V), the USB connector (5V), or the VIN pin of the board (7-12V). Supplying voltage via the 5V or 3.3V pins bypasses the regulator, and can damage your board. We don't advise it.
Thanks for all of your suggestion, lesson learned and:
(The final usage is very similar to a "hublot football referee board" when the players are depart/incom-ing) and might be not very heavy.
Hello Jim-p, team,
I tried reorganizing the connection and wiring like this, but I still see the same behavior as with the power bank. While a single strip works fine both are in conflict. I am attaching photos to explain more details.
Thanks for help, suggestion.
Laco
Could this have any relation to a code running on Arduino? I´m not sure anymore.
Hi Grumpy_Mike, please could you have a look on the new details below and suggest what could be wrong? Thanks a lot.
Sorry but this is not clear. The first image looks like it is a video but is actually only a still image.
The last image shows a nano with the only two connections going somewhere, I assume this to be the data lines to the LED strips.
There is no indication of a common ground between the nano and any external supply because nothing else is soldered to the nano. There is no image of the external power supply and how this is connected to the strip.
To post a video simply copy and paste the link to the video on what ever player you are choosing.
Here is the connection picture, +5V, and GND go to the Arduino nano micro USB port from the power supply.
I the wires going into the USB port are not something I understand. How are you really doing this?
This pretty picture is not a representation of what you actually have. After all it is not even a Uno that you have.
