tl;dr Why am I experiencing flicker? Is it software or hardware?
I am using a Pixelblaze v3 with expansion boards to power 12 strips of SK6811 LEDs. I was using a simple HSV pattern to explore liminal lighting. I found certain strips would flicker. I found that as I shifted colors to single led colors sometimes the flicker stopped. So I tried shifting to an RGBW space using only one led color at a time to explore the flickering.
export function render(index) {
hsv(h, 1.0, v)
}
Here is what I found:
When hue is 0.333 (green) and value is shifted in the range [0, 0.47] there are sometimes red flickers. Above that value there are not.
When hue is 0.666 (blue) and value is shifted in the range [0, 0.18] there are sometimes warm white flickers. Above that value there are not.
When hue is 0.0 (red) and value is shifted in the range [0, 0.19] there are sometimes blue flickers. Above that value there are not.
If I then shift the saturation from 1 to 0 to make the desired color totally warm white and value shifts in the range [0, 0.2] there are green flickers with also occasional red or blue. Above that value there are not.
Putting a scope on the signal, the shape of the pulse looks pretty darn square, though the level is at 4.3V, rather than 5.
LED details: DC12V addressable 4m/reel SK6812-RGBW(warm white) led addressable strip;60leds/m with 60pixels/m;IP68 with epoxy resin filled. From Ray Wu’s store.
For now, I am using higher value levels, but I am hoping to play with low value patterns in the future.