WS2812B LED Strip shows Green instead of Black

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

Background:
I have a WS2812B LED strip connected to an arduino running Firstlight and general functions from the FastLED library. The strip is powered from an external supply with adequate power. Supply GND is common with arduino GND. I have a 300 ohm resistor in series on the data line which is then connected to the digital output.

here is a link to the led strip

Problem:
LEDs show green when set to black (off). Other colors seem to be slightly off, maybe mixing in green there as well I am not sure.

Troubleshooting:
I had an older strip of LEDS that replicates the same behavior. Granted they are old and have been in a box for a couple years.

I have an arduino uno and a mega, same behavior from each unit

Same behavior if data is sent from DO or AO

FastLED.clear(); --> all LEDs green
leds[0] = CRGB::Black; --> also green

Firstlight --> Powers on with all LEDs green and led[0] is white. white led scrolls as expected. LEDs are either green or white at all points of time (never off).

I have used LED strips in the past and never had this issue. Any help would be appreciated!

Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG1165Ă—600 89.9 KB

2

Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG1165Ă—600 89.9 KB

Please post a short sketch that demonstrates the problem. What happens if you set LEDs to CRGB::Green? Does that green look any different to CRGB::Black?

3

Distinct lack of capacitors there.

4

PaulRB:

Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG1165Ă—600 89.9 KB

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CDTEHRC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Please post a short sketch that demonstrates the problem. What happens if you set LEDs to CRGB::Green? Does that green look any different to CRGB::Black?

I am using this as the strip declaration:
FastLED.addLeds<WS2812B, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);

CRGB::Green; --> result in color orange

Also,

CRGB::Red; --> shows up as green.

I have tried defining as GRB, GBR, RBG, BRG, BGR. Some of the colors switch around but I stlll cannot get them to go black. Another note, I cannot get the strip to produce the color red.

5

As you are using a fake Arduino then the frequency of the clock might not be as accurate or stable as you need.

6

Grumpy_Mike:
As you are using a fake Arduino then the frequency of the clock might not be as accurate or stable as you need.

Yep got the cheap stuff. I replicated this result on an Elegoo R3 uno and on Osoyoo Mega. Same result if data is streaming from AO or DO.

7

I downloaded the adafruit library and that appears to solve the issue. I am able to turn off leds and they have correct color.

This isolates the issue to the FastLED library. Any thoughts on why one would behave different than the other?

1 Like
8

Somehow FastLED was corrupt. I downloaded again now everything works

1 Like
9

langy9785:
Somehow FastLED was corrupt. I downloaded again now everything works

+1 karma for reporting back how you fixed it. Could be useful to other forum members with similar problem in future.

1 Like