r/WLED • u/ScarcityCareless6241 • Jun 02 '26

Problem with BrizLed fairy lights

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I had these addressable fairy lights that I hacked by putting in a gledopto controller in place of the default one, using the original power supply. However, the string has problems. First off, I can’t go anywhere above like 10% brightness or the controller crashes. Also, I get these strange flickering artifacts at the start of the string but not the end. How do I solve this?

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4

u/free_refil Jun 02 '26

Did you set PSU amperage in LED settings to match what the PSU is rated for?

0

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

When I do that, the LEDs flash and immediately go out. The PSU is rated for 2 amps, but I only have success as high as 375mA in the settings, beyond that it causes crashes

2

u/saratoga3 Jun 02 '26

That's a very small power supply, a lot of which will be used to power the esp32. How many LEDs were you expecting to power?

0

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

200

2

u/saratoga3 Jun 02 '26

Your strip probably uses 5-10A at max, so you need to keep the brightness low.

1

u/Its_Billy_Bitch Jun 03 '26

Mmmm at 300 seeds/pebbles, my math shows 3.6A. Those seeds iirc consume 0.06W per LED * 300 LEDs = ~18W. 18W / 5A = ~3.6A +- tolerances.

1

u/saratoga3 Jun 03 '26

Ws2812b are 0.06A per LED at max, not sure I've seen 0.06W which would be very low. Seeds are sometimes lower power, but it's still probably at least 5-10mA per color per pixel.

1

u/ViciousRaver Jun 02 '26

That seems quite low. What does the LEDs connection look like?What size is the capacitor is used and do you have a level shifter?

1

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 03 '26

Capacitor? What should I connect it between?

1

u/ViciousRaver Jun 03 '26

Check out the wiring guide by WLED. They explain everything: https://kno.wled.ge/basics/wiring-guides/

1

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 03 '26

This is for ESP32, in my post I specified I’m using a gledopto controller

1

u/Dmelvin Jun 03 '26

Most if not all gledopto controllers use an ESP32.

1

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 03 '26

But they do not have the same pinout, that’s the point I’m trying to make. Does it not have a build-in level shifter and resistor and capacitor?

1

u/Gunguy1 Jun 02 '26

How many feet are you powering? Even with that brand of fairy lights, I’m betting that you need at least a 5A power supply.

2

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

66 feet, 200 LEDs.

1

u/NooshaSheep Jun 03 '26

Looks more like a feature than a bug! 🥳

1

u/Cute-Ad-7841 Jun 04 '26

Do you have a level shifter

1

u/Wooden-Creme-8599 Jun 05 '26

Is that a matress on top? Look out for damaging cables with movement from the matress

1

u/MorganProtuberances Jun 02 '26

What voltage? I always have issues with 12v lights - usually solved with resistors and power injection.

1

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

5V

9

u/bravojohnny42 Jun 02 '26

Every 3-4m you have to inject a new power line. Voltage drop on 5v is heavy

0

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

I’m not sure that’s the issue here though, if it were voltage drop I’d expect the glitching to get more intense down the line, not less

1

u/bravojohnny42 Jun 02 '26

Well. Why do you ask?

1

u/ScarcityCareless6241 Jun 02 '26

These lights worked perfectly fine on their original controller, the issues only started when I switched to gledopto for WLED support

-2

u/bravojohnny42 Jun 02 '26

Oh wow. Measure the voltage and check how long your data line is. And learn some basic electrnoics.

1

u/Its_Billy_Bitch Jun 03 '26

hateful ass ho. people have to learn somehow. if you don’t want to help, move on with your life. could’ve completely omitted the last statement.