LEDs not lighting up - not receiving data from GPIO18?

Hello there,

So, i know there is already a lot of these posts, as I have been reading through a bunch of them myself the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I still haven't found any solution for my setup. Which is:

Hardware:

Rpi 2 Model B ver 1.1

PSU for Pi: 5v 3.0a

LED strip: WS2812B 5m x 30led, not yet cut and still on the roll, so a total of 150 LEDs. Comes with PSU 5v 2.0a (awaiting 10a PSU currently in the mail)

USB Videograbber: Gembird UVG-002 (Chipset UTV007)

HDMI > AV: "MINI" (usb powered)

HDMI Splitter: - to be added later .. focusing on the LEDs for now

Software:

Installed HyperBian fresh on new SD - ver 2.0.0-alpha 10, from here

Booted fine

Using Ethernet connection (no Wifi) - access in browser from PC to "myIP:8090" OK

Initially no other commands run in terminal or Putty other than pswd change

Troubleshoot hardware:

-Upon boot the LEDs are completely unresponsive (though set to default rainbowswirl)

-"LED Visualization" in Config - Shows picture from grabber OK, configured leds changes as expected in preview

-Tested LEDs with their original PSU (2.0a) which includes some programmed effects switchable by remote control - lights up as expected, OK, so LEDs are not dead

-Changing PSU to 3.0a + connecting both ends of LEDs to 5v and ground, also using 2 grounds on RPI (pin 6 & pin 9) - still no lights at all

-While connected giving the data wire

[Connection from LEDS to Rpi and via USB cable to PSU ]:

• 5v (red) x2 goes to 5v on PSU
• Ground (White) x2 goes to ground on PSU (Black) + on the same connector a wire is routed to GND on RPI on pin 6
• PWM/Data: Green wire from LEDs are connected to GPIO18 (Pin nr 12) with a yellow wire. In between is a 100ohm resistor.
• A second ground was added to GND pin 9, after I saw it suggested in a thread adressing similar issues
• For both GPIO connections i have used Dupont cables already set with connectors. These are quite thin cables, but should be fine (?)
• The Green & White data wires from USB cable are idle / not connected to anything

-Checking my connections: After splicing cables I first took the setup away from the Rpi and plugged in only the PSU. This results in no lights - just as when connected to the Rpi. But when sending a small electric signal directly to the data wire (green), at least the first 20-30 leds light up randomly. This worked both with a multimeter and just the touch of my finger with probably some static on it. With the Rpi connected it is the same thing. No reaction unless I manipulate the signal on the green/yellow data wire.

-Maybe a faulty Rpi? - I tried starting all fresh with a new HyperBian install on my Rpi4, connecting to its GPIOs, but with the same results. I suppose then both Rpi2 and Rpi4 are fine

Troubleshoot software:

-In Config file i set "dtparam=audio=off" as I read the Rpi uses same PWM for audio as I now need for the LEDs. Checked that "dtparam=spi=on"

-Studying this thread I figured I had finally found the issue and ran in terminal:

"sudo systemctl disable --now hyperion@pi"
"sudo systemctl enable --now hyperion@root"
"sudo reboot now"

Now when I log in (as "Pi") the "Hyperion status" in terminal is shown as inactive. However this is probably because it is now active on user "root"? It still shows as active in the config ("myIP:8090") ..Anyway, Still no light in the LEDs.

-In the Config ("myIP:8090") : I have set a number of LEDs = 150 for now and configured my grabber. However for the LEDs, I can only find the active/deactivate button. I feel like I'm missing something. How does Hyperion know I am attempting to use GPIO18 - or is it just active nonetheless? (I see a vast variety of setups in the threads here). I can't see that i get any errors in the Log.

My current hypothesis of what could be wrong (ranged by likelihood?):

1. I, beeing a total newbie, have overlooked something very simple yet crucial on the software-end. Some button to activate, or some command that needs to be made in the Rpi terminal or Putty for Hyperion to work with my setup. (I have previously only completed a few Rpi-setups with success, and all have been more or less step-by-step guides including all the necessary codes to enter into terminal.)
2. I have connected something wrong with the wires for the LEDs
3. PSU is too weak on amps. Suggested for my whole strip of LEDs at max output would be about 10a. I have ordered a more fitted PSU, but I don't think it will solve the problem as a few of the LEDs do light up when giving the data-wire input from other places than the Rpi.

I am running out of ideas for what to test next, but will of course update after getting the 10a PSU into play.

Any thoughts or suggestions on the software-end of this would be highly and mightily appreciated. I guess I do not have the necessary basic knowledge of the Rpi or Raspian Lite OS to make a proper troubleshoot. For now just trying whatever I discover in the threads that might make some sense.

Ok. So after all that, going through everything step by step on the software side again as creating the post above, I now discovered that my LED-Controller was set to "file" (default?). Must have forgotten about this after re-flashing SD-card and doing troubleshooting earlier in the process. Setting the correct value for me: WS2812x - and thread solved

Unfortunately, just getting started myself, I do not have any older files.

I'm guessing your hardware is all set up all right, since it did work before with the earlier version. As mentioned at the end of my post, I had overlooked the setting for LED-controller in config ("myIP":8090). On the page where selecting number of LEDs and placement etc. there is also a dropdown selection for type of controller. Mine was set to "file", and I was sure I had selected it correctly before, but probably forgot on the latest attempt after reflashing my SD. So once set to WS2812x the LEDs lighted up at last. Perhaps these settings need to be redone also after updating versions? I just don't see why the alpha 10 shouldn't work. Anyway, I will try also with my RPI4 later in Oktober when I get back to my apartment.