Addressable LED strip WS2812B and ESP32

LED’s

There are different types of LED’s like different color, size, shape, control and its use. LED’s may very from very small size used as indicators to very large size used for illumination/lighting fixtures. Here I going to share about addressable LED WS2812B which comes as individual LED, strips and Arrays.

This addressable LED comes with built in intelligent controller which is embedded along with each LED. It include intelligent digital port data latch and signal reshaping amplification drive circuit. Also include a precision internal oscillator and a 12V voltage programmable constant current control part, effectively ensuring the pixel point light color height consistent.

These are also called RGB LED as it has a combination of 3 LED’s of color Red, Green and Blue. By varying the intensity of each LED different colors are achieved. In this addressable LED strip each color has 0 to 256 range of intensity, so a total of 256X256X256 colors can be generated using this LED. i.e 16 Bit for each color.

The intelligent control circuit hold this 3 X 16 Bit data and it acts as driver to control the current flow through the LED. Working of this addressable LED is as explained in above referred datasheet

But we don’t have to worry about so many thing explained above as already ready made Librarys are already available in all platforms like Python, C++, Arduino etc. Before going into sample code, I would like to mention the difficulties faced while using addressable LED

  • Using Rapberry Pi: I am using Rapberry Pi-4 with 8GB with rasbian OS installed. I used Python for controlling the LED, but when I executed the code, I found that it was missing some steps and the LED’s where not following the sequence which I have desired. It was happening for strip containing more than 30 LED’s in series. In my opinion since Rpi has to issue such long sequence of pulse output and as it is a processor also, it is executing other internal code and missing data. I am sure there will be some solution for the same, like dedicating core or giving priority etc. Solution may be shared in discussion. As solution for the same I have used ESP32 which worked fine.
  • Using cheap power supply: Cheap power supply create noise signals which make the LEDs glow randomly with random colors. Which was solved by using standard power supply from my mobile charger which has a limited power supply of 3A at 5V only.

In ESP 32 I have used Adafruit_NeoPixel library and referred following git-hub link for sample code

Code:

// NeoPixel test program showing use of the WHITE channel for RGBW
// pixels only (won't look correct on regular RGB NeoPixel strips).

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#ifdef __AVR__
 #include <avr/power.h> // Required for 16 MHz Adafruit Trinket
#endif

// Which pin on the Arduino is connected to the NeoPixels?
// On a Trinket or Gemma we suggest changing this to 1:
#define LED_PIN     6

// How many NeoPixels are attached to the Arduino?
#define LED_COUNT  60

// NeoPixel brightness, 0 (min) to 255 (max)
#define BRIGHTNESS 50 // Set BRIGHTNESS to about 1/5 (max = 255)

// Declare our NeoPixel strip object:
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(LED_COUNT, LED_PIN, NEO_GRBW + NEO_KHZ800);
// Argument 1 = Number of pixels in NeoPixel strip
// Argument 2 = Arduino pin number (most are valid)
// Argument 3 = Pixel type flags, add together as needed:
//   NEO_KHZ800  800 KHz bitstream (most NeoPixel products w/WS2812 LEDs)
//   NEO_KHZ400  400 KHz (classic 'v1' (not v2) FLORA pixels, WS2811 drivers)
//   NEO_GRB     Pixels are wired for GRB bitstream (most NeoPixel products)
//   NEO_RGB     Pixels are wired for RGB bitstream (v1 FLORA pixels, not v2)
//   NEO_RGBW    Pixels are wired for RGBW bitstream (NeoPixel RGBW products)

void setup() {
  // These lines are specifically to support the Adafruit Trinket 5V 16 MHz.
  // Any other board, you can remove this part (but no harm leaving it):
#if defined(__AVR_ATtiny85__) && (F_CPU == 16000000)
  clock_prescale_set(clock_div_1);
#endif
  // END of Trinket-specific code.

  strip.begin();           // INITIALIZE NeoPixel strip object (REQUIRED)
  strip.show();            // Turn OFF all pixels ASAP
  strip.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS);
}

void loop() {
  // Fill along the length of the strip in various colors...
  colorWipe(strip.Color(255,   0,   0)     , 50); // Red
  colorWipe(strip.Color(  0, 255,   0)     , 50); // Green
  colorWipe(strip.Color(  0,   0, 255)     , 50); // Blue
  colorWipe(strip.Color(  0,   0,   0, 255), 50); // True white (not RGB white)

  whiteOverRainbow(75, 5);

  pulseWhite(5);

  rainbowFade2White(3, 3, 1);
}

// Fill strip pixels one after another with a color. Strip is NOT cleared
// first; anything there will be covered pixel by pixel. Pass in color
// (as a single 'packed' 32-bit value, which you can get by calling
// strip.Color(red, green, blue) as shown in the loop() function above),
// and a delay time (in milliseconds) between pixels.
void colorWipe(uint32_t color, int wait) {
  for(int i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) { // For each pixel in strip...
    strip.setPixelColor(i, color);         //  Set pixel's color (in RAM)
    strip.show();                          //  Update strip to match
    delay(wait);                           //  Pause for a moment
  }
}

void whiteOverRainbow(int whiteSpeed, int whiteLength) {

  if(whiteLength >= strip.numPixels()) whiteLength = strip.numPixels() - 1;

  int      head          = whiteLength - 1;
  int      tail          = 0;
  int      loops         = 3;
  int      loopNum       = 0;
  uint32_t lastTime      = millis();
  uint32_t firstPixelHue = 0;

  for(;;) { // Repeat forever (or until a 'break' or 'return')
    for(int i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {  // For each pixel in strip...
      if(((i >= tail) && (i <= head)) ||      //  If between head & tail...
         ((tail > head) && ((i >= tail) || (i <= head)))) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(0, 0, 0, 255)); // Set white
      } else {                                             // else set rainbow
        int pixelHue = firstPixelHue + (i * 65536L / strip.numPixels());
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.gamma32(strip.ColorHSV(pixelHue)));
      }
    }

    strip.show(); // Update strip with new contents
    // There's no delay here, it just runs full-tilt until the timer and
    // counter combination below runs out.

    firstPixelHue += 40; // Advance just a little along the color wheel

    if((millis() - lastTime) > whiteSpeed) { // Time to update head/tail?
      if(++head >= strip.numPixels()) {      // Advance head, wrap around
        head = 0;
        if(++loopNum >= loops) return;
      }
      if(++tail >= strip.numPixels()) {      // Advance tail, wrap around
        tail = 0;
      }
      lastTime = millis();                   // Save time of last movement
    }
  }
}

void pulseWhite(uint8_t wait) {
  for(int j=0; j<256; j++) { // Ramp up from 0 to 255
    // Fill entire strip with white at gamma-corrected brightness level 'j':
    strip.fill(strip.Color(0, 0, 0, strip.gamma8(j)));
    strip.show();
    delay(wait);
  }

  for(int j=255; j>=0; j--) { // Ramp down from 255 to 0
    strip.fill(strip.Color(0, 0, 0, strip.gamma8(j)));
    strip.show();
    delay(wait);
  }
}

void rainbowFade2White(int wait, int rainbowLoops, int whiteLoops) {
  int fadeVal=0, fadeMax=100;

  // Hue of first pixel runs 'rainbowLoops' complete loops through the color
  // wheel. Color wheel has a range of 65536 but it's OK if we roll over, so
  // just count from 0 to rainbowLoops*65536, using steps of 256 so we
  // advance around the wheel at a decent clip.
  for(uint32_t firstPixelHue = 0; firstPixelHue < rainbowLoops*65536;
    firstPixelHue += 256) {

    for(int i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) { // For each pixel in strip...

      // Offset pixel hue by an amount to make one full revolution of the
      // color wheel (range of 65536) along the length of the strip
      // (strip.numPixels() steps):
      uint32_t pixelHue = firstPixelHue + (i * 65536L / strip.numPixels());

      // strip.ColorHSV() can take 1 or 3 arguments: a hue (0 to 65535) or
      // optionally add saturation and value (brightness) (each 0 to 255).
      // Here we're using just the three-argument variant, though the
      // second value (saturation) is a constant 255.
      strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.gamma32(strip.ColorHSV(pixelHue, 255,
        255 * fadeVal / fadeMax)));
    }

    strip.show();
    delay(wait);

    if(firstPixelHue < 65536) {                              // First loop,
      if(fadeVal < fadeMax) fadeVal++;                       // fade in
    } else if(firstPixelHue >= ((rainbowLoops-1) * 65536)) { // Last loop,
      if(fadeVal > 0) fadeVal--;                             // fade out
    } else {
      fadeVal = fadeMax; // Interim loop, make sure fade is at max
    }
  }

  for(int k=0; k<whiteLoops; k++) {
    for(int j=0; j<256; j++) { // Ramp up 0 to 255
      // Fill entire strip with white at gamma-corrected brightness level 'j':
      strip.fill(strip.Color(0, 0, 0, strip.gamma8(j)));
      strip.show();
    }
    delay(1000); // Pause 1 second
    for(int j=255; j>=0; j--) { // Ramp down 255 to 0
      strip.fill(strip.Color(0, 0, 0, strip.gamma8(j)));
      strip.show();
    }
  }

  delay(500); // Pause 1/2 second
}

Explanation of above code shall be uploaded soon. The above code is taken from Example files of Adafruit-Neopixle library

Caution:

ESP 32 onboard 5 V power port can be used for limited number of LED’s only other wise separate power source to be used. In WS2812B LED strip, each color consumes 20mA, so when all R, G and B are in full intensity producing bright white light the LED will be consuming 60mA. Accordingly please plan your power source.

Happy automating things around

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