FastLED-based jetpack costume for last Halloween. The photo shows the prototype of the “guts”: a small strip of neopixels and a motor with a propeller. I recently tried to make some modifications (mainly to increase power to the motors), but now one of the neopixel strips no longer works. Is there an easy way to tell if I’ve burned out the LEDs or their tiny controller chips?
The first pixel might be damaged. You could try skipping it and resolding your wires to the second pixel and see if that works. Do you think you gave the pixels too high a voltage?
Thanks Marc. I was hoping not to have to take the strip apart, but I think that is inevitable now. It is possible that the strip got a surge – right now, I don’t have a capacitor across the power leads. One other error I made was boosting the brightness higher, which basically burned out the battery circuit (I’m using a rechargeable battery). I wonder if somehow the motor is causing a big voltage spike. I have a diode (facing backwards) across the motor leads, which is supposed to stop that from happening, but I do occasionally see a bright flash of the LEDs when the motor goes off.
Man, this is a tough world. I’m used to working in software where nothing actually gets damaged!
Btw, I forgot to say what a totally cool jetpack costume. Excellent rocket effect!
If you get around to testing bypassing the first pixel let us know how it goes.
Thanks! I’m hoping to get it fixed up soon. I’ll be repairing the LED strip (assuming that’s the problem), boosting power to the motors, and making better fabric “flames”. I’ll pose a new video when it’s done.
