Hi All, Can any one tell me if there is a limit to the

Hi All,
Can any one tell me if there is a limit to the number of LED’s that can be addressed on a single strip of WS2812b?. If so can it be overcome? I’m trying to drive 166 but it only addresses 132. I can light all 166 in a flash routine but the problem comes when I address them individually.

Thanks for any help

Chris

Sounds more like a power issue. I think hundreds if not thousands can be controlled but you lose fps the more you have.

166 should be no issue.

What’s your power supply?

Hi Kevin,

I’m using a 75W PSU. If it was power, wouldn’ t it also struggle to light all 166 in the Flash routines? Thanks

I’m controlling 1200 individual LEDs without problem. You likely either don’t have enough memory allocated or not enough power

It always helps if you share your code, the OS you’re using, the Arduino IDE version, FastLED version and microcontroller :wink:

Double check that you don’t have a broken trace/wire or a dead LED. A power issue is very unlikely to cause LEDs to just stop responding after a certain point if every led before it is working perfectly fine - that usually manifests as flickering, slow/random updates, etc.

Try injecting power after 100 LEDs, or attaching the ground from the power supply to the other end.

If you share your code, post it on pastebin or something similar, and if the code is real long, try pulling out the extraneous code so we could focus on your issue easier.

I’ve seen also some strange problems with some dark LEDs which was fine after adding a small resistor (100Ohm) in the data connection.

It could well be power loss. With the 150 LED strips, I find that I need to power them at both ends of the strip. Try having all the LEDs at full bright white (255s everywhere) … this is a good visual guide to power loss. The first LEDs in the line should be bright white and the ones at the end of the thin copper strip don’t get enough volts to power them, so the blue fails to light, giving a yellow color.

I just installed 1500 ws2812b in one line, around someone’s garden… lots of power issues, but they all work (there’s even a 100ft wire in the centre of the run of strips)

My latest piece with WS2812B had more than that (552LEDs) and it works, apparently

You have to be careful when powering. I would power every 30/40 LEDs separately along the strip…

@Jose_Manuel that is amazing

@Dushyant_Ahuja Thanks a lot!!

I guess you are using an UNO. It’s not about power, it’s about memory … Use a Mega or better Teensy or ESP