Pseudologer
Member
Ok this problem is a little odd, and the symptoms are intermittent so I'll present the information in chronological order.
Setup
I'm using the OctoWS2811 library with a teensy 3. Using pin 2 of the teensy (led pin 1 for the library), through a 100R resistor to the led strip data line. Exactly as per library.
The led strip is powered by the 5v rail of a very high quality ATX PSU.
Initial Use
The library examples worked effortlessly, incredibly smooth, brilliant. I'm new to coding and the library was incredibly easy to use and i started making good progress on my project.
First Issue
At one point the led strip 'hung' on a certain output, half the leds lit, part way through an animation. I unplugged, paused a few secs, replugged, nothing. Uploaded a basic test example again and it worked... for about 30 seconds before stopping again. I tried holding the reset while plugging in, loading blink (it worked, led blinked as it should), I tried setting blink to blink the pin I was using to communicate with the leds after hooking up a led there (that worked too). Nothing I did could get it to communicate with the LED strip again however.
Another symptom that occurred at this time was during the initial failure and for the next 5 minutes, i would get the 'device disconnected' and 'device reconnected' audio cues from windows randomly. This settled down after a while.
Another Pin
I then hooked up the led strip to pin 14 (led strip 2, as per library) while running rainbow example... and it worked... for 3 seconds then stopped again. Never got that pin to talk to the leds again. Blink would blink a led on that pin though.. so i can still set it logic high. Once again I got usb disconnection/reconnection sounds from windows for a while.
Summary
Two pins no longer communicate to a led strip, but they can be written high and low by software. After each pin 'half burned out' the teensy would disconnect from windows and reconnect a few times here and there for the next few minutes.
The Question
So what could have caused this? What exactly has happened? How should I proceed?
My next step
I managed to find some 74HCT245 buffer chips and I'm going to try them next. I'm also going to hook up the 'semi-dead' pins to my osciliscope and see what they are outputting... normally this would be done earlier but my osciloscope is literally 40 years old, CRT based, and not well suited to digital signals. I really must buy a logic analyser and new scope some day.
Thanks for your time
And thanks to Paul for making the teensys and the great librarys, and for being so active in the forums
Setup
I'm using the OctoWS2811 library with a teensy 3. Using pin 2 of the teensy (led pin 1 for the library), through a 100R resistor to the led strip data line. Exactly as per library.
The led strip is powered by the 5v rail of a very high quality ATX PSU.
Initial Use
The library examples worked effortlessly, incredibly smooth, brilliant. I'm new to coding and the library was incredibly easy to use and i started making good progress on my project.
First Issue
At one point the led strip 'hung' on a certain output, half the leds lit, part way through an animation. I unplugged, paused a few secs, replugged, nothing. Uploaded a basic test example again and it worked... for about 30 seconds before stopping again. I tried holding the reset while plugging in, loading blink (it worked, led blinked as it should), I tried setting blink to blink the pin I was using to communicate with the leds after hooking up a led there (that worked too). Nothing I did could get it to communicate with the LED strip again however.
Another symptom that occurred at this time was during the initial failure and for the next 5 minutes, i would get the 'device disconnected' and 'device reconnected' audio cues from windows randomly. This settled down after a while.
Another Pin
I then hooked up the led strip to pin 14 (led strip 2, as per library) while running rainbow example... and it worked... for 3 seconds then stopped again. Never got that pin to talk to the leds again. Blink would blink a led on that pin though.. so i can still set it logic high. Once again I got usb disconnection/reconnection sounds from windows for a while.
Summary
Two pins no longer communicate to a led strip, but they can be written high and low by software. After each pin 'half burned out' the teensy would disconnect from windows and reconnect a few times here and there for the next few minutes.
The Question
So what could have caused this? What exactly has happened? How should I proceed?
My next step
I managed to find some 74HCT245 buffer chips and I'm going to try them next. I'm also going to hook up the 'semi-dead' pins to my osciliscope and see what they are outputting... normally this would be done earlier but my osciloscope is literally 40 years old, CRT based, and not well suited to digital signals. I really must buy a logic analyser and new scope some day.
Thanks for your time
And thanks to Paul for making the teensys and the great librarys, and for being so active in the forums