LED Strips

[gavo]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the reply, I am sure I have one of those obscure ones, the crazy part is it flashes no problems without the 5V PSU Connected to it, the only problem is there is not enough current so it is really dim. The Minute we connect the 5V the strips stays on very bright, for the exception of 1 led with flashes on/off

See the connection below,

Regards,

Gavin

[Ryan7777]

After reading what I could of the datasheet, this looks like a variant of the WS2801 to me.

Also looking closer at your code, you may need to set your TRIS to output and input on the proper pins. Something I neglect to do all the time, and sometimes stuff will work without it. But most of the time it's the one thing biting me when my code doesn't work.

I don't know about the pic you're using and don't have the time at the moment to look, but if it has capture and compare modules, those may need switched off too. And again, sometimes simple things like flashing an LED on a pin works great, but try to do anything more demanding and the CCPs and whatever else, ADCs etc. trip me up. So just because you got an LED to blink doesn't always mean everything else is working. Believe me, I know! If there is some unthought of register that needs set, I'll probably forget it and be scratching my head for hours as a result

I have cooked one strip of WS2801 LEDs before by getting some wires crossed. But they are really fairly robust. It's probably only one chip that failed too, so it may just need cut off the string, finding it is another matter. And getting wires crossed is pretty easy as blue is +V and Red is like data or clock, I forget. Black is Vss I'm pretty sure.

At this point I'd get your LCD going and maybe take every pin and set it up as an input and display something like PortB.3 = 1 when you connect an input. For each pin. And do the opposite as well, hookup an LED to every available pin and have them run back in forth like the whole nightrider thing. In other words, make sure your PIC is working first!!!

-Ryan