All white light on SK9822 RGBW strip - no communication from the controller

Troubleshooting
1

I have a half metre strip of SK9822 with a Standard V3 PixelBlaze and I’m having some trouble getting to the root of my problem.

The hardware is as follows:

  • PB V3 Standard with the included connector soldered on
  • Adafruit DotStar Digital LED Strip - White 144 LED/m - 0.5 Meter
  • Powertran M8911B 5V 4A power supply with alligator clip adaptor for the 2.1 mm jack

The hardware set up is as follows:

  • Strip is powered by a 5V 4A supply that is connected to the two secondary power cables
  • The PB is powered by a high quality data/power cable to my computer
  • The CLK, GROUND and DATA lines are connected to the PB directly

The LED setup is as follows:

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The issue I’m having is that when I power on the LEDS and the PB they all slowly light up and appear white. I thought that it was an RGBW board but am now unsure and think they may all just be lighting up at full power for all colours. Generally, it’s sequential across the cable from the input side outwards with varying speeds at times. Then they remain all light up as white and won’t create any patterns. Note that they start to light up once power is provided to the LED strip without the PB.

I have tried the following:

  • changing the setting for colour order, data speed and LED type
  • Checking the DAT and CLK pins
  • Checking the voltage across the system
  • Ensuring the timer in the setting is off

I am unsure what the issue may be, happy to provide more information on how the LEDs are lighting up if that helps diagnose the issue. What I think it is is something to do with either if the controller is communicating to the lights or how it is. I’m concerned that something went wrong as I soldered on the connecter or in testing different arrangements to get it working. I would appreciate any help!

2

Hi @9rland9,
Did you say the LEDs do this even without PB? That does seem like an odd behavior for LEDs. Is it doing anything interesting or just lighting up mostly white?

Can you send any photos/video?

SK9822/DotStar don’t come in RGBW variants, they only have 3 elements, usually RGB. With the settings you have it should be doing something, and the animation should follow the live preview even if the colors are mixed up.

I agree, it sounds like possible a connection issue between the LEDs and the Pixelblaze, its worth double checking that.

3

Hey Wizard,

It was a soldering issue as well as an issue with the color order. All fixed now but thank you so much for the rapid response. For anyone who needs to check this I used the BGR color order and it fixed the color after I fixed the sodlering.

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