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CUtting RGB Strips


dan24438

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Ok so before i start, if this is a dumb question please be gentle in your response. This is my first year using smart RGB strips so they are new to me.

I purchased several 2811 60 led/60 ic strips from Holidycoro, cut them to the desired length (170 leds), made my leaping arches and everything is perfect. I got to thinking and thought id love to use the left over strips and start converting some of my typical led lights to rgb's. This is where I am struggling. The strips came with connectors at both ends so I figured if I cut the connectors off of the other end I would be able to just connect them like I did the other end. When I do this I can not get even a flicker out of the light. Trying to trouble shoot the issue I thought, well maybe, the strips only take current from one end. So I found the solder points and I soldered on three wires (making sure none of my solder touched the other points). I connected the strips to my pixcon 16 and nothing. I tried using the onboard test mode as well as a test sequence I created in ss.

I did this for four pieces I had left over all with the same results. So I figured well maybe I blew a fuse on the pixcon and it wasn't working correctly. I pulled out one of my new leaping arches and used the same plug and it worked exactly like it was suppose to.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?

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The most likely cause is that you reversed the strips.  Smart strips only work one way.  There is one of several ways that it will be identified.  Some strips have an arrow that points in the direction of data flow.  The controller connects to the TAIL of the arrow.  If there are labels at the cut points between segments, the end that the data enters the strip will often have a "DI" (short for Data In), and the output will have "DO" (short for Data Out).  In the photo below of a 30 RGB LED with 10 WS2811 chips per meter strip, you are looking at the end of the strip.  Data is coming from the right.  At about the middle of the mostly white brick is the arrow (although it's hard to tell in this photo).  The arrow is pointing to the left indicating that data comes in from the right and goes out on the left side.  FYI, the cable attached to the left end of the strip is feeding power and ground ONLY because the strip is long enough that power injection was needed.  BTW, the strip does not care what direction the power is coming from, only the data direction is critical.

 

Planter_strip_backfeed.jpg

 

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Ok so why would not soldering on wires to the correct side not work? I thought they might be one way. 

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10 minutes ago, dan24438 said:

Ok so why would not soldering on wires to the correct side not work? I thought they might be one way. 

Too many "not"s in that sentence to figure out.  Yes, they are one way.  As far as the data flow is concerned, each WS2811 chip receives data on one pin, processes that data, and then sends out the data out on another pin towards the next WS2811 chip.  There is a definite IN, and OUT.  If you reverse the data flow, there will be no data on the input of the first WS2811, and therefore nothing to pass to the next chip, etc.  Power and ground do not matter which direction they are flowing.  BTW, hooking up the data backwards won't damage anything - it just won't work.  Reversing the power and ground (i.e. plus to minus and minus to plus) will either blow fuses (if you're lucky) or damage / destroy the WS2811 chips.

Carefully look at the labels at the cut points of the strip looking for labels (which will give you data in vs out and also power polarity), and for a data arrow.

 

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9 hours ago, dan24438 said:

Ok so why would not soldering on wires to the correct side not work? I thought they might be one way. 

I don't think your problem is the direction of the data, well is could be but,,,,,,,

you said 60/60 2811? I believe you have a buck converter at least every meter on that strip. I believe you do not have buck converter in the "group" you are supplying power to. (even supplying power to the other end wont work)

You took a full 60/60 strip and cut at pix 170? and now the rest of strip doesn't work? THEN>>>> count up pixels to where you see a factory splice where 12v, neg, & data are soldered but there is a black box over the 5v? If so then that is where you need to cut and attach your connection.

THIS ONLY MY GUESS FOR I CAN NOT VERIFY WHAT IS GOING ON OVER THERE!! DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

heres a vid that explains it better

 

Edited by saxon
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Interesting. I have never seen a strip like that before. Watch the video and see if that applies...


Sent from my phone using Tapatalk, so blame any typos on Android!

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Saxon, thank you so much. That was exactly the problem. I had to cut some of my extras down alittle due to the chips but I have plenty left over to start working on the house. Thanks again for the help.

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Learn something new every day in this hobby (I mean addiction - just ordered my lighting additions from Ray Wu an hour ago, so it continues...)

 

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you might be able to salvage what you have (itf you have the space) with an external buck- module

Edited by TheDucks
wrong voltage module
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1 hour ago, dan24438 said:

Saxon, thank you so much. That was exactly the problem. I had to cut some of my extras down alittle due to the chips but I have plenty left over to start working on the house. Thanks again for the help.

Glad I could help. I have a few 30/30 props so I was a little familiar. Just remember you can have partial "sections", you don't have to cut at the factory splice but, the partial section must have a buck converter. 

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