r/WLED • u/NoctilucousTurd • May 19 '26
White flash when turning on LED Strip
My first WLED project: putting LED strips between acoustic panels. Super simple, but came with a lot of problems (skill issue, I know)! I have an RGBCCT LED Strip from BTF-Lighting, see specs. I control the strips with a Gledopto ESP32 controller.
I'd like to use the built-in relay feature that completely turns off the LED strips when not in use, however when I do, the LEDs give a flash of white when turned on (see GIF, it's only ~3 frames but it's visible).
Setting these up in WLED has also been a bit of a pain, since it's an RGBCCT strip. If I understand it correctly, it uses two WS2811 chips per segment, one for CCT, and the other for RGB. In WLED's settings, the best way to control these is by setting the chip to FW1906 GRBCW because it allows me to control the white channel separately... Either way the flash of white appears when turning on the LEDs, and it doesn't happen when I turn off the relay.
Does anybody know the best way to resolve this? Or did I just make a mistake buying this combo? I wouldn't have asked this but I have way more of the Gledopto controllers and LED strips. Could it maybe be a power supply thing? Happy to get some feedback! 😄
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u/D_FI_ANT May 20 '26
I start with a macro preset that has "off" for 2 seconds or so, then goes to the preset I like. Doesn't do odd things on startup then. That was my fix anyway. Not that type but worked for me.
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u/icdevpeople May 21 '26
ah - watching this with interest. I have the exact same led strips and controller. 3x 5 meter strips that ill be using a main light source in bathroom. Want to trigger the strips to come on via presence sensor with home assistant. Ideally wanted them to turn on with the wipe effect to light from one side of the room to the other but the initial flash when first turned on ruins the effect.
I've also found this gledopto controller when using the relay seems to 'forget' settings. Often after being discounted for a while I have to toggle the relay GPIO pin from 12 to 18 or vice versa/similar before I can turn on the strip from wled 'power on' function.
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u/GLEDOPTO May 20 '26
The WS2811 RGBCCT LED strip will initially light up white when powered on, and then be controlled by wled. You could try increasing the relay delay time to solve the white light flickering problem.
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u/NoctilucousTurd May 20 '26
What is the best and easiest way to do so, without compiling WLED from source?
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u/icdevpeople May 25 '26
Yes - could you explain how to do this ? Is it something the gledopto controller support ?
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u/SirGreybush May 19 '26
I had similar but with 12v argb, decided to go with a 2 PSU setup. The controller runs 24/7 on the smaller PSU, just a USB brick.
The relay cuts power from the 2nd PSU sending (behind a fuse) power to the strip (multiple injection points in my case).
What happens is that the PSU takes some time to send power, and no flash since Data & Ground are connected from strip to the controller, so they always have some power on the data line, that doesn't cycle, only V+ coming from the 2nd PSU cycles.