Hi guys,
I've been running an ambilight system for 2 years, until it stopped working and now I'm struggeling to get it working again.
My system:
- Raspberry Pi 1 B with OSMC
- Level converter from Lightberry (Arduino connected to the Raspbery Pi by USB cable)
- WS2801 light strip with 114 LEDs in use
- Grabber and stuff
- Three Power supplies (level converter + light strip / Raspberry Pi / USB hub)
After replacing the level converter by a new one, the system is basically working again but with some flaws (described below) that I dont get extinguished.
This behavior can be observed when running the "rainbow swirl" effect from hyperion, so it's definitely not the grabbers fault.
I've already replaced the Raspberry Pi 1 (with a Raspberry Pi 3), the level converter (with yet another one) and the USB hub, but the behavior didn't change.
So I assume that the light strip might be damaged as well.
Behavior:
When using 62 LEDs at max:
- The LEDs basically do what they are supposed to do.
- Every now and then (not that often) all LEDs seem to be flashing in a bright color for one update cycle.
When using more than 62 LEDs (lets say 62 + x):
- The last x LEDs will get their color information irregularly
- The beginning if the light strip will be flashing, because the color information of the last x LEDs will be shown there
- Most of the time, the the very first x LEDs will receive that incorrect color information, but it can also be displaced (by up to ~20, what I observed)
- Drastically reducing the update rate (to 2 fps) does't affect the problem (but the flashing will be slowed down with the update rate)
- When removing the Raspberry Pi from the system, all LEDs hold their color perfectly fine
Questions:
Does anybody have an idea, what's going wrong?
Is there a possible reason why LEDs with index >= 62 are having problems? (Is it because it's close to 64?).
Do you see a chance of fixing this issue by cutting off the very first LED (since the problems start there)?
The very first LED of the WS2801 strip differs from the rest in that there are two extra resistors in front of the chip. Can I cut off the first LED nontheless?
Thanks in advance!