NEWBIE HERE, please help

Quote from Biggles

Think the moral of this story is start with a directly connected to the strip pi zero w and forget the Arduino

I'm sorry but I disagree here, that is if I understand it all correct.
I didn't want a hardware grabber and I would like to connect wireless from the pi. Could have been another ESP8266 device but I didn't know at the time I bought the arduino. And with the arduino USB connected I knew the leds were working, so it had it's purpose also investigating what went wrong.

Thanks for the reply though

I believe I was incorrect. I think I needed the arduino because of the type of led I chose, the ws2813.

Quote from Biggles

You don't need an Arduino between the pi and strip for 2812b and it's kin anymore. If you got a pi zero w you could connect it directly to the strip running Hyperion and then you'd have a wireless connection between Kodi on your PC and the pi. This is how mine is set up though I used an apa102 strip instead

This is great! I didn't know that. I'm returning the arduino and buying the pi zero wifi instead. Can you give me a link or direct info on how to connect (physical) etc?

Thanks again!!

Wim

Great. Thanks.
In a few hours I'm going on holiday, I already ordered the pi zero w, so I have something to look forward to on my way back home!

Cheers!

Wim

Okay,

I'm back and trying to connect the zero wifi to the ws2813 without Arduino. Not much luck so far. So trying with my RPI2 now.
There seem to be 3 ways to connect Pi1, 2 ways to connect whatever Pi: With ws281x or ws281x-spi driver.

1. With ws281x-driver din on pin 6, gnd on pin 12.
2. With ws281x-spi driver din on pin 19 and gnd on pin 21 for /dev/spidev0.0 (and to pins 24 and 26 for /dev/spidev0.1).

1. Nothing.
2. Something. That's about it.
When I put the led off (via the android app), some lights go off (some stay on) and when I put the led on, some lights go on. So I got a response. Colours incorrect. Leds randomly flashing (the leds that are on always, stay exactly the same always).

Can anyone help me further?

Here: https://hyperion-project.org/wiki/3-Wire-PWM I read:
"If you want to use a ws2812 without tying up a USB port you may want to consider a SPI to ws2812 converter.bThere are a couple of these written by penfold42 published here:
https://github.com/penfold42/stuff?files=1"

But I don't know what to do with this.

This seems to give some info, but I don't know what to do with it:
https://github.com/hyperion-project/hyperion/issues/6

I read this:
https://github.com/626Pilot/RaspberryPi-NeoPixel-WS2812

But no indication about what resistor, capacitor, pins etc.

Read this:
https://hyperion-project.org/t…onnection-device-type.82/

This:
https://devhub.io/repos/penfold42-stuff

???

Quote from Akriss

I have never used a ws2813 strip of led's. However from what I have read the ws2813's use exatly the same as ws2812's. So use adalight if connecting the leds to an Arduino. Or ws281x-SPI if connecting the led's to the gpio pins of the RPi directly with out an Arduino.

Quote from Biggles

Think the moral of this story is start with a directly connected to the strip pi zero w and forget the Arduino

Guys, I could really use your help here to get this going.

Do I need a capacitor and/or a resistor? What values? Or a level-shifter or whatever? What pins to use?
As said, I'm now trying with the Pi2 instead of the zero wifi, just to be sure. I got it working before with the pi2 connected via usb to the arduino.

Wim

Thanks for the input Akriss,

Quote from Wim

2 ways to connect whatever Pi: With ws281x or ws281x-spi driver.
1. With ws281x-driver din on pin 6, gnd on pin 12.
2. With ws281x-spi driver din on pin 19 and gnd on pin 21 for /dev/spidev0.0 (and to pins 24 and 26 for /dev/spidev0.1).

First I'm trying to understand about the options:
Is the above correct?
Why no luck with option 1?
Or is option 1 not the way to go? Only 2?
Do I need the same (level shifter or whatever) for both options?
Are there PROs and CONs for option 1 and 2?

I read that there's no need for a resistor and capacitor for the 2813 leds.

Then about option 2 and level-shifter.
On the link, in your post

Quote from Akriss

Now a Level shifter (or Bus buffer as I see the data sheets call it) takes a diagrams in a previous post here ( https://hyperion-project.org/t…y-question.935/#post-6977 )

First of all, in your diagram you use different pins than I do.
My 2813 is like 2812b but with double data-lines, which I tie together, so 3-lines. Are the above pins correct in my case?

I also read
https://hyperion-project.org/t…ter-based-on-74hct08.512/
There is mentioning of PWM and level-shifter and of spi-based drivers, which give me the impression there's no need for the level-shifter using spi instead of PWM. And got the impression that option 1 is PWM and option 2 is spi. But I might get that completely wrong.

There's also mentioning about the number of 74HCT to use. So maybe I should use a simpler version than the SN74AHCT125N?
Since I have a separate power supply for the pi, do I need to connect the din only? Which pins on the level shifter would that be?
Or do I need to connect GND also? I guess not the 5V?

I can go to a electronics shop in town here, but there seem to be different kinds. Some only for analog or digital, some not for I2C or 1-wire based machines (whatever it may be). How can I make the seller understand what I need?

Thanks,

Wim

This is helpful:
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tut…the-logic-level-converter

Quote from Akriss

Hi,

A lot of what you asked can be better explained by the tutorial here ( https://learn.adafruit.com/neopixels-on-raspberry-pi ).
I not a coder, however I think Penfold42 spi code and the code mentioned in the tutorial are similar and use the same pins.

There's a lot of information scattered over the forum and the internet, this is an interesting link too. As soon as I understand it, I will post about it for others to make it easier for them.

Quote from Akriss

Hi,
I may be wrong (never used 2813's) I believe you leave the fall over wire unconnected.

The 2813 has a data-line (DIN) and a backup data-line (BIN). Normally when a led is broken all of the leds stop working, but because of the backup line the next leds keep on working. Only when 2 leds in a row are broken, the others stop working too. So I have to wire these 2 data-lines together.

Thanks for the help again.

Quote from Biggles

Don't know what's happened to penfold, he'd have all the answers and is usually quick to pick up.

Try PMing him.

Thanks. I will try that too.

Okay, I'm a bit further now.
This site helped me too:
https://hyperion-project.org/wiki/Supported-hardware
especially the little "connection scheme" in the middle of the page, when you click on it you get more info.

I seemed to have used the wrong pins, my suggestion here about option 2 is wrong (don't know about option 1)

Quote from Wim

1. With ws281x-driver din on pin 6, gnd on pin 12.
2. With ws281x-spi driver din on pin 19 and gnd on pin 21 for /dev/spidev0.0 (and to pins 24 and 26 for /dev/spidev0.1).

It should be (I think) when using spidev0.0: din on GPIO10 which is pin19 on the pi2 and GND which are pins 6/9/14/20/25/30/34/39 on the pi2.

Leds respond much beter, although not entirely correct.

I also understand how to connect the level-shifter now. And I (using the 2813, like 2812b) indeed only need to use a 1-channel version (although they may even not exist, I don't know). I went into town today to buy a level-shifter but the shop was already closed, I'll try again tomorrow.
I'll report back tomorrow when I have the level-shifter.

Quote from penfold42

Quick comments for now:
1) pwm using rpi281x won't work well unless you disable analog audio.

2) spi must use gpio 10 = pin 19. Both spidev0.0 and spidev0.1 use this pin for data so it won't make any difference.

If you can lower the led voltage from 5 to 4.5v this will have a similar effect to using a level shifter while you wait.

Hi Penfold, thank you for responding.
I got the level shifter, but that makes no difference. MAybe it's the wrong type?
I got this one:
https://www.grootaers.nl/?page=product&id=32497

Otherwise it must be the analog audio.
I'll search the web how to do that.

Wim

Via sudo raspi-config I changed the output to HDMI and I changed it in contig.txt

Uni colours are now correct, effects aren't. See this video:
https://drive.google.com/open?…4HXiNgZTTFVHlZSkVnc3pSLVk

This should be blue, effect: knight rider.

Also changes seem to have a delay (half a second or so), not immediate.

EDIT: the above is with spi (option2), option 1: every led's black, always