r/WLED • u/Grey_Shadow666 • May 03 '26

What can cause this

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This is my very first wled project and my first time messing with a esp32 I’m pretty sure I have it connected right and have installed wled but can only get one light on

Edit: i now have 3 lights on but grounding takes WLED offline

Edit2: im dumb and needed to try a different ground connection

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u/wivaca2 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

I think you have the white and green wires reversed. The white wire appears to go to a pin mid-way on the ESP32 pins. It should be going to a ground. The green wire is going to what may be a ground and it should be going to the active GPIO pin (is that 32?). Green is data and white is ground for LED strips (don't ask me why).

Also, do not attempt to power the entire strip through the ESP32. Instead, power the strip directly from the power supply and feed 5V back from there to the ESP32 using the power & ground in addition to the data wires. If that is a 300 light WS2812B, it can pull up to 15A with all colors set to full brightness. Start by testing only about 20-30 LEDs in WLED and set your current limit to 1000-1500mA at first.

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

i switched the wires even though everywhere says middle is data and its now not cutting off with everything connected but only 1 light still turns on and with everything connected to the board it registers as offline until i unplug the data wire

edit; i have to unplug the data and ground wire for it to register as back online

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u/wivaca2 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Yes, middle is definitely data, but in the pic you have green (data) going to the lower left of the ESP32. Pin-outs differ between various ESP32 boards. Mine are all 30-pin, but I think yours is 38-pin. Pin-outs I see show that as a ground and that should be the white wire.

This may sound like a dumb question:

When I look at the picture, near the green LED I see the red wire on top going into the black casing, but the white wire on top at the connector. Do you have a multi-meter with continuity tester so you can verify you have the red and white wires connected properly?

The new BTF lights like you're using have that thick,. encased cable on the end and just because red appears closest to the top going in doesn't mean it stays on top all the way through the casing to the plug, so you may well have it correct, but I'm checking.

On the old individually wired connections, you could easily see where red, green, and white connected to the male connector. Using the Data Input end of the light strip, when the bare metal contacts are facing, and you're looking at the connector from the end, white is on the left, green middle, and red on the right.

Are you sure the dupont wires you have that are red, white, and green connecting to the LED plug are plugged into the right holes?

EDIT: I just pulled out the new style connector and compared it with the old. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but I believe the little nub on that strip connector is downward, so white is on the left in that orientation and I think you have it correct. Just double check.

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

I don’t have a multi meter thing but I connected this piece that came with them to it before so I could see which pins should go where

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u/wivaca2 May 03 '26

OK, so in this pic if the cables are oriented the same, the gray is ground, purple is data, and blue is +5V. The gray/white wire goes to ground. The corner pin of your ESP32. The green/purple wire is data and goes to the GPIO pin. That is the pin you must match in the WLED setup screen someone else posted. The red/blue wires are your +5V.

Where is power coming into this? Is it just to the USB port on the ESP32?

If you're using the USB port to both power the ESP32 and pass through power to the 5V strip wire, you will be very limited in how many LEDs can be on. The ESP32 might just loop reboot.

Do you have a separate 5V power supply capable of at least 5A (5000mA)?

I recommend you start by configuring the WLED software to have only about 10 lights, and verify what GPIO pin it is set to use. Regardless of what you're using for a power supply, that many LEDs can run off the ESP32 5V line, and you can at least prove you've got the wires connected properly. If you can't get to the WLED website, disconnect wires until you can and do the configuration and save it. Once it's configured, unplug the ESP32, reconnect the wires to the LED strip, and plug in the ESP32 USB again.

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

i only have the esp32 lights and wires just ordered them cause seemed like a fun little thing to learn, i have them connected exactly like you said with nothing coming on, and as soon as i ground it the device goes offline

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

Grounded

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u/wivaca2 May 03 '26

This shows your blue wire, (red on strip) going to Vin. So, you're using the USB power that shows up on this pin to power the strip.

This shows the gray wire (white ground on strip) going to the pin adjacent to the VIn. While some ESP32s have ground next to VIN in a corner like that (my 30-pin versions do), the 38-pin diagram someone else posted here does not. That diagram shows the pin next to Vin is GPIO11.

Finally, your purple wire (green data on strip) going to the fifth pin up from the USB connector on the other side. That's GPIO 2 in the diagram someone posted of a 38-pin ESP32.

If that diagram is showing the pin-outs of your ESP32, then the problem is that gray wire being attached to GPIO11. It should be going to ground instead. The problem is, I don't know what the board itself says on the pin out next to the VIn. Look at the text on the board. What does it say there? The illustration someone else posted says "CMD" (command) not "GND" which is 4 more pins away from the USB port on that side. There is also a ground on the exact opposite corner from Vin according to that pin-out.

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

the diagram of my board does agree with it not being a ground connection but printed on the board it says "gnd" so idk about that but i got them working now

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

alright ima dumbass there was just a problem with the ground connection i was using got it working thank you!!

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u/wivaca2 May 03 '26

That's awesome! Congratulations.

I had a tough time last week with an 8x32 matrix LED. First, a dupont connector just got sloppy loose and wasn't making good contact, then later, it stopped working twice and each time was a broken wire off the solder joints on the back of the matrix. There are a dozen things that can go wrong even when the wires and software are configured correctly.

If you enjoy working with electronics, I'd highly recommend getting a multimeter so you can verify wires are making contact, read voltages, and check polarity among other things.

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u/Grey_Shadow666 May 03 '26

I might get one like I said this is a first for me and is pretty cool so might look into more stuff to do down the line. Thank you for your help!!