Sorry for the late response, I haven't had time to test anything until this past weekend. I injected power into the strip every meter, but there has been no change in behavior - it's still defaulting to solid orange no more or less frequent than before.
I tried looking for a guide or tutorial on how to connect a level shifter to the ESP8266, but haven't found anything (I did find a few links, but they were too complicated and I couldn't understand it). Could someone either walk me through the process, or provide some resources?
In the meantime, I'll order a 330 ohm resistor, which by my understanding goes between the ESP and the data line.
Thanks!