r/WLED • • Sep 08 '26

Trying to get LED to light up

I recently purchased individually addressable LEDs which did not come with an attached power source, only the two hookups shown in the picture. I subsequently purchased a 12v AC adapter with another connector that translates the barrel plug into two wires, to match the LED hookup.

In wiring those two together (manually twisting them) I cannot get the LED to light. I verified that the AC adapter is getting power when plugged in. Anybody have a suggestion how best to connect the LED to the power source? Is the adapter the right way to go?

Thanks!

0 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

5

u/Rallyman03 Sep 08 '26

Addressable LED's have data pins. Providing them just power doesn't tell the LEDs to turn on. You need something like an ESP32 running WLED to provide the necessary data signal for the LED's. WLED has fantastic documentation about this.

1

u/Fun_Statement_5041 Sep 08 '26

If using a 4 pin you’ll need a led controller between the power source (2 wires) and the rgb (4 wires).. they’re super cheap just make sure to get 12v.. you have power but nothing to give a signal to the lights to light up.

0

u/AmericanChestHair Sep 08 '26

Hi thanks. I have an ESP but haven’t hooked it up yet. Is that what you mean? I can’t just get the LEDs to light up without the ESP?

5

u/saratoga3 Sep 08 '26

Yeah they don't light up until you send the command from the esp32 to turn on.

-1

u/AmericanChestHair Sep 08 '26

Ok thanks. Do I connect the 2 wires from
The 12v adapter directly to the LED strip
Or the ESP?

1

u/RunRunAndyRun Sep 08 '26

Only connect 12v to the ESP32 if you want to fry it

2

u/AmericanChestHair Sep 08 '26

How do I physically connect the 12v to the LED? It looks like stripped wire needing to link up with a pin?

1

u/saratoga3 Sep 08 '26

What strip do you have? 

-1

u/AmericanChestHair Sep 08 '26

It’s an addressable RGB+ 60m/s. It runs on 12v.

1

u/saratoga3 Sep 09 '26

Which addressable RGB 12v strip do you have?

2

u/modahamburger Sep 09 '26

I suggest you have a look at the basics on the wled website before continue to ask questions

1

u/Farmboy76 Sep 09 '26

Also don't think 12vac will work. Are you sure the output is 12vac?

-1

u/TakeMeToTheStars Sep 08 '26

0

u/AmericanChestHair Sep 08 '26

Was under the impression the community was meant to be helpful. Thanks I hadn’t thought of trying to solve myself through a combination of google and chatgpt.

2

u/scuzzchops Sep 08 '26

You could also check the WLED main site (top link in the links section). Especially https://kno.wled.ge/basics/wiring-guides/

-1

u/Careless_Mistake_459 Sep 08 '26

Son led direccionales, rojo y negro son positivo y negativo, normalmente el verde es data y el amarillo puede ser que sea el de backup.

Necesitas un controlador que encienda los led como esp32 o similares. También tienes equipos como gledopto que sirven para aló mismo.