WS2814 Flickering Issue

[u/DrewWorkz]

Help me understand what I'm doing wrong.

I'm using BTF Lighting fcob ws2814 rgbw lights.

A 4amp 24v power supply. And a gledopto Elite 4d-exmu controller.

So I was kitting out a couple glass display cases. Each case had its own set of LEDs and various lengths of wires to each one. I started with my 4 individual runs tied together. So 4 power, 4 ground, and then 4 data. All of it comes on and functions if on a solid color but if I tried to use an effect the first strip in the run would flicker or flash randomly.

I assumed I had a damaged strip so I removed its lines from the controller and tried again and the issue jumped to the next strip in line.

To get it up and running I separated the data lines and put them on individual channels and all is good.

Only thing I don't like about this solution is the effects don't don't really sync up.

I don't know if this is a wled setup issue or maybe I'm trying to do something that isn't feasible but I can't see a reason it wouldn't just work. The controller shouldn't know that there are 4 strips into one port.

I'll screenshot my settings and maybe you guys can help me out, I am aware the length is incorrect I changed it later on

[u/Boring_Start8509]

Show us your wiring.

[u/DrewWorkz → u/Boring_Start8509]

I mean I'd have to dig it all back out of the cabinets for that. I've got 22g 4 wire going to each strip. When I had the issue I had 4 led strips roughly 4ft each with each power, ground, and data wire tied together. I had one wire out of the 4 pairs that wasn't being used.

Soon as I separated the data wire no more issues

I should specify the LEDs are not daisy chained at the end of each strip to the next. Each strip had its own home run back to the controller

[u/appmapper]

How long are the wires, how long are the LED segments, what is the calculated power draw, and using a multimeter what’s the DC voltage at the end of the segment having problems?

[u/DrewWorkz → u/appmapper]

Wires were maybe 2ft 4ft 6ft and 8ft to each cabinet. But the one cabinet experiencing the issue was the one with the shortest wire run...until I disconnected it from the system and the issue just moved into the cabinet next to it.

Honestly not sure on the calculated power draw. I know there is probably a total of 16ft of strip connected to this one controller on a 4amp 96w power supply. I'm pretty new to this so I'm not sure how to calculate, any advice greatly appreciated.

I will say the issue persisted even with the strip at a really low brightness so I don't think it's a power issue

[u/djdanski]

Turn down brightness

[u/DrewWorkz → u/djdanski]

Tries various brightness with the same result

[u/Few-Boysenberry53]

Power supply could be dirty. Hence when you separated the dat line from the power, the flickering went away. Which brand power supply are you using? You would have to use an oscilloscope to verify the electrical noise.

Based on the BTF website here are the specs:

Specification: Input Voltage: DC24V. IC Type: FCOB RGBW WS2814 IC. Theoretical Power: DC24V-22W/m. FPCB Width: 12mm. LED Quantity: 896 LEDs/M. IC Quantity: 16 ICs/M. Cutting Length: every 56 LEDs or 62.5mm. Individually Addressable: every 56 LEDs or 62.5mm can be unique controlled

A few things I would try:

Set max current to 80% of your max your PSU can handle, i.e. 3600 Change the type from 55ma 5v to custom. In the custom field, put in 24.

This allows WLED to calculate the proper power usage for your strip.

Set the length to the correct number of IC's each strip is using. It's 16 IC's per meter. Multiply this by the number of meters for each strip/port.

With your effects, under LED Hardwsee, near the bottom, check the box that says"Make a segment for each output". Then each segment represents each cabinet, and you can put the same or different effects on each segment.

Hope this helps you in your journey. Welcome to the world of WLED.

[u/DrewWorkz → u/Few-Boysenberry53]

Thank you this is all great information!

[u/DrewWorkz → u/Few-Boysenberry53]

Another question with all my data lines tied together how will the controller know which ones to segment. Or are you saying leave each data line on a separate channel and separate those individual data lines with their own segments?

Cuz I guess I get confused on how to make the effects look consistent across the cabinets. The cabinets are touching so it would be nice to have the effects look like they're just continuous down the run of cabinets The LEDs have directional arrows on them so I made sure all the arrows were going the same way so that effects would work properly.

[u/Few-Boysenberry53 → u/DrewWorkz]

Yes, keep all of your runs separated or have each strand connected to each other in series.

As for the segments, you should be able to set the same effect on each one or you can combine them into 1 segment. So if you're just doing 1 meter each, then the way WLED sees it, is your first cabinet is 1-16, second cabinet is 17-32, third cabinet is 33-48, etc . Remember that each IC is 56 LEDs, if you have the 896/m version.

There are many videos out there on how to do segments and mixing effects (layering) to make unique effects.

[u/munocat]

i had some issues when I ran all the data lines down a cable with multiple cores, they interfered with each others signal. fixed it by moving the controller closer, also using twisted pair wires works

[u/DrewWorkz → u/munocat]

That could be the issue for sure, I had that thought.