Pi Zero and WS2812B (cabled)

  • Hi,


    I'm trying to controll my WS2812B (3 cables) strip which is directly connected to my Pi Zero - configured anything correct so far, the USB grabber is working (the grabber is shown under remote control) but the LEDs won't work as ecpected.


    Here's what i did:

    • the LEDs are powered by an external power supply - the LED strip also gets ground from the Pi Zero
    • enabled GPIOs:
      sudo systemctl disable --now hyperiond@pi
      sudo systemctl enable --now hyperiond@root
    • connected GND to Pin6 and CLK to Pin12 (GPIO18)
    • Instance Settings:
      Controller type: ws281x
      Hardware LED count: 70
      Maximum LED count: 256 (default)
      GPIO Number: 18
      DMA Channel: 5 (default)
      PWM Channel: 0
    • i also enabled all interfaces over Pi Desktop
    • tried the Effects Generator
    • checked all Settings (capturing hardware, component control: usb capture and led device both active)


    the leds are displayin a stable color pattern but i don't know where it comes from, it also shows up again when rebooting.
    Any ideas what could be wrong?


    PS: i read that people are using Hyperion both with a Pie plus an arduino .. what's the deal about using the arduino additionally?

    Always ready for betatesting + sharing ideas about WLED / Hyperion / Maker stuff :)

    Edited once, last by fuxi ().

  • the leds are displayin a stable color pattern but i don't know where it comes from, it also shows up again when rebooting.
    Any ideas what could be wrong?


    that means hyperion is running on boot, rainbow is an effect what runs at bootup.


    go to localIP adres of your PI and ad 8090


    so for example; http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8090 (x = local IP adres of your PI)


    then go to remote controll tab and deselect smoothing, leds should fire now ( this is fixable with a update)



    good luck!

  • Which version of hyperion are you using? I've been having problems with hyperion-ng alpha 9, try alpha8.


    Also try running hyperiond as root.


    I'm a newbie :/ I'm aware that hyperion will run on startup but how would i set it to run as root?
    Thanks


    PS: i meanwhile found out that the Pi Zero is way too slow for Ambilight - i was just curious (and will try again) :)

    Always ready for betatesting + sharing ideas about WLED / Hyperion / Maker stuff :)

  • I'm a newbie :/ I'm aware that hyperion will run on startup but how would i set it to run as root?
    Thanks


    PS: i meanwhile found out that the Pi Zero is way too slow for Ambilight - i was just curious (and will try again) :)


    I'm using a pi zero as well, it's not that slow, you could always lower the resolution from the USB grabber (you don't need large resolution anyway).


    In order to set root for startup, make sure you set:


    Code
    User=root


    inside /etc/systemd/system/hyperiond@.service file



    Btw, what grabber are you using?

  • thanks for your reply - i'm using https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08GR1LWT2?tag=hyperioforum-21&ie=UTF8&psc=1
    what's your latency with the pi zero?
    (i already lowered the resolution to the minimum of 640x480)


    I'll try root asap - thanks :)


    Your grabber seems like a more advanced one, maybe that's why latency is high, I am using an ordinary AV Grabber (Logilink), latency is fine IMO, how do you measure latency anyway?

  • you can see the device latency on hyperion startup but haven't tried it.
    a good technique for testing it is: loading a youtube video and manually skip frames (to next scene) where the colors change.
    with german keyboard it's "," for previous frame and "." for next frame.
    last time i tested with the pi zero, i had 1 second latency which is way too much .. i wil try again soon :)

    Always ready for betatesting + sharing ideas about WLED / Hyperion / Maker stuff :)

  • Playing with size decimation will help with the latency too.
    set it to 8.
    Also, 640*480 is 4/3, would be better to use 720*480 to achieve 16/9 ratio !


    Thanks, will try it!
    About 16/9 is a great point!
    Btw. one thing i figured out: my grabber doesn't like certain settings / custom resolutions - it will completely stop working! Took me days of hair pulling until i figured it out :D I don't know how it resets / starts working again but the lowest resolution which works is 640x480.
    I'm using https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B08GR1LWT2?tag=hyperioforum-21&ie=UTF8&psc=1 - should try to find out the supported resolutions.
    I also ordered an EZcap 269 which runs on USB3 and was recommended by the coder of HyperHDR. It should be really fast.

    Always ready for betatesting + sharing ideas about WLED / Hyperion / Maker stuff :)

  • Btw. one thing i figured out: my grabber doesn't like certain settings / custom resolutions - it will completely stop working! Took me days of hair pulling until i figured it out :D I don't know how it resets / starts working again but the lowest resolution which works is 640x480.


    i know that problem and had the same in the beginning.


    I made a reset on the grabber +5volts.
    so when grabber is connected/recognized or not! then while PI is running i can reset the grabber with a relais on remote.


    USB has a 5 volts/GND and 2 data, if you cut the 5 volts ( reset) the PI doesn't see the grabber anymore.
    for me it works perfect and maybe for you also :)

  • lol honestly i didn't understand how you reset the grabber :D
    my approach is completely different - i thought it's broken and verified it via OBS Studio - i found out that you can reset the device which helped.
    the problem was, that i tweaked the hardware settings of brightness/contrast and messed up and using OBS studio i could reset it.
    that way i also found out that the device doesn't like custom resolution settings.

    Always ready for betatesting + sharing ideas about WLED / Hyperion / Maker stuff :)

  • lol honestly i didn't understand how you reset the grabber


    actually its not a reset of the grabber but a "reset" between the USB grabber and the PI, its the same effect when you pull out the grabber and stick it back in.
    then the PI recognizes it again and the image is working again in Hyperion after reboot Hyperion.
    sometimes i need to do this to get the image back, there is no settings in the grabber i can alternate everything is basic.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!