RNoble

does an undervoltage trash this board too? it appears that i missed a ground and fed 2V into the 5V pin. i get random things working correctly, but it's hit and miss.

yup. and we're about a month beyond the point of motion. i've wired it up and just have a small issue that i need to address where i don't have any power to the Teensy. (time is not always my ally.) otherwise, i believe everything is kosher.

Hello RNoble. Sorry to read about you blowing up components. These ws281x leds work well with rs485 transeivers. It's a common way to interface with these leds and you will have no more flicker issues. I use the standard max485 cheap ones but...