Hi,
I've burned two teensy boards while working on an LED wall, and I would welcome advice on how to avoid this in the future!
The first one, I believe I connected the Data In pin to GND or V+ on the WS2811 strips; shortly thereafter, the power cables grew very hot and my teensy transformed in a space heater. Does that sound about right? That's my own fault of course, so I'm being a lot more careful when wiring up the strips now.
The second teensy's death was a bit more mysterious. The power supply (5V, 40A from aliexpress) started making strange noises as I was putting it under moderate load (3-4A). Of course I kept going, and soon after, the teensy board stopped responding, freezing the LEDs in their pattern. These LEDs are still working however.
I'm guessing this was due to a voltage surge? Unlike the first teensy, when I connect it to power, the microcontroller doesn't heat up. If yes, what can I do to avoid this in the future, taking into account my hobbyist wallet?
Maybe the PSU making ominous noises is a sign that I should stop straight away and put it into the garbage bin. But it still seems to deliver current as I need. Any advice on that is appreciated, too!
I've burned two teensy boards while working on an LED wall, and I would welcome advice on how to avoid this in the future!
The first one, I believe I connected the Data In pin to GND or V+ on the WS2811 strips; shortly thereafter, the power cables grew very hot and my teensy transformed in a space heater. Does that sound about right? That's my own fault of course, so I'm being a lot more careful when wiring up the strips now.
The second teensy's death was a bit more mysterious. The power supply (5V, 40A from aliexpress) started making strange noises as I was putting it under moderate load (3-4A). Of course I kept going, and soon after, the teensy board stopped responding, freezing the LEDs in their pattern. These LEDs are still working however.
I'm guessing this was due to a voltage surge? Unlike the first teensy, when I connect it to power, the microcontroller doesn't heat up. If yes, what can I do to avoid this in the future, taking into account my hobbyist wallet?
- Separate the teensy's power supply from the strips
- Buy a new PSU, doh
- Use a component (which one?) to prevent teensy's input voltage from going over 5V?
Maybe the PSU making ominous noises is a sign that I should stop straight away and put it into the garbage bin. But it still seems to deliver current as I need. Any advice on that is appreciated, too!