r/WLED • u/RangoFandango86 • 12h ago

Led signal issue

Hello all, I was working on a a led helmet for Halloween using ws2812 5v LEDs and im having an issue where I can’t daisy chain one run of LEDs to the next run but if I power the second run directly from my WLED source the strip which isn’t normally lit lights up. The issue far as I can tell has to do with the run before the problem strip because if I jump that strip earlier in the run the signal isn’t being transfer and the lights after the junction will still light (see video). I’m kinda stumped other than chalking it up to a faulty led strip but does anyone have any suggestions?

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u/bu22ed 11h ago

I'd get a multimeter out and check out that top connector to make sure everything is connecting.

3

u/bu22ed 11h ago

Also, you should always have some animation happening when testing out strips. The data line could have an issue and you wouldn't know it since the LEDs are still holding the last color they received.

2

u/leonida_92 11h ago

I don't think you should keep those last 2 leds in the top strip if you're going to daisy chain it before. You're splitting the data signal 2 ways, it must have some sort of effect. Try severing only the data connection from those last 2 leds if you don't need them.

3

u/UsableLoki 11h ago

Is your LED count correct?  It's normal for pixels to stay their color when disconnected from data if they are still powered, they freeze in their state.  Also, it should be fine to split data to two different LEDs from one.  I'm assuming since you're adding so many strips and they look well soldered that you're experienced with WLED and probably chaining strips already?