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I'm trying to get a home made LED matrix to show a rainbow pattern coming from the bottom up but it's playing this bizarre, dancing pattern. The matrix is in series, with 4X WS2811 addressable LED strips and is 600 LEDs total. 12 horizontal, 51 vertical. The controller is a K1000C that comes with software called LED Edit.

Each strip is powered with a 12v/5A adapter with all grounds going back to the controller. Black wire is ground, red is power and yellow is data.

I realize this deals with software and hardware, but to sum it up I have tried many different wiring setups in the program, but this happens no matter where the data input is unless the pattern is going from left to right. So the rainbow pattern works left to right and vice versa. I should also mention it plays solid colours as well.

My question is, regardless of software or controller issues, did I do something wrong with the wiring? In case it's not easily visible from the photos, the data input is the bottom right corner and the matrix goes in a zig zag pattern following the arrows on the LED strips.

Thanks

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lakerice
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  • it is not possible to answer your question ... one end of each segment needs to be examined, to determine which end is the input end ... then you have to connect input to output – jsotola Aug 29 '20 at 04:37
  • don't forget, you alternated directions of the segments – jsotola Aug 29 '20 at 04:39
  • The bottom right corner is the input...from there it is a zig zag pattern from right to left with each strip continuing power, ground and data from the right to left direction. That is the basic layout for a matrix board based on youtube tutorials I saw. But I am willing to accept if this is incorrect. Does that provide more info? – lakerice Aug 29 '20 at 07:12
  • I thought these were 5V LEDs not 12V.Check V+ drop and use both V+ and gnd return to 5V source for each string with awg24 or UTP wire – Tony Stewart EE75 Aug 29 '20 at 13:00
  • Check Chip V+ tolerance – Tony Stewart EE75 Aug 29 '20 at 13:06
  • You may be getting crosstalk noise issues. If a finger on the data bus affects the result – Tony Stewart EE75 Aug 29 '20 at 13:09
  • If you're getting "dancing" patterns when you expect a stable display, another possible cause is that the LED layout you have doesn't match the LED layout configured in the software. e.g. 12X51 doesn't equal 600. And your picture doesn't look like a uniform 12x50 matrix either. – Mark Leavitt Aug 29 '20 at 19:27
  • @TonyStewartSunnyskyguyEE75 Nope there was no issue with voltage drop. Yup it is 12v, 22AWG with all grounds going to the controller ground. Turns out it was an issue with the matrix layout in the software. I added 12 more LEDs to complete the board to be 612. I found out you had to count the ICs, not the LEDs, so vertically it was 17 but horizontally it was still 12 because there were no chips going horizontally. Probably never an issue with most, since most people are using small manufactured matrices. – lakerice Aug 29 '20 at 21:42
  • @MarkLeavitt yes indeed you're right it was a software issue. You can see my response to Tony; I had to cut another strip and finish adding the 12 LEDs to make it 612. Then I programmed it to be 12 width and 17 height, due to the program requiring me to count chips instead of LEDs with WS2811 strips. It was never said anywhere in the program, nor in the youtube videos. LED Edit doesn't even have a help option, so I had to contact the manufacturer to get the problem solved. – lakerice Aug 29 '20 at 21:45
  • Are those ping pong diffusers? So it works now? – Tony Stewart EE75 Aug 29 '20 at 21:54
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    @TonyStewartSunnyskyguyEE75 actually they are 3D printed lol...couldn't find even beer pong balls that small. Yep it totally works now :) – lakerice Aug 29 '20 at 22:57
  • Nice job, report back with a yotube video – Tony Stewart EE75 Aug 30 '20 at 03:09
  • Thanks I am actually making a video for it. Gonna add on other board of 612 LEDs:) – lakerice Aug 30 '20 at 05:18

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Turns out I had to count the IC chips, not LEDs due to the fact I am working with WS2811 addressable strips. So 51 LEDs vertically needed to be divided by 3 to get 17 chips. Even more confusing, was that horizontally, it was still 12 LEDs in the software. So for 612 LEDs, it was a matrix of 12X17. Then it worked. Hopefully anyone who ends up buying the k1000, T1000, etc and use LED Edit will find this answer if they are running into the same problem. LED Edit desperately needs a manual and needs to add this clarification to the program.

lakerice
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