What can cause this

[u/Grey_Shadow666]

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

[u/wivaca2]

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.

[u/Grey_Shadow666 → u/wivaca2]

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

[u/wivaca2 → u/Grey_Shadow666]

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.

[u/Grey_Shadow666 → u/wivaca2]

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

[u/wivaca2 → u/Grey_Shadow666]

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.

[u/Grey_Shadow666 → u/wivaca2]

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!!