I noticed my holiday light strip located inside my front window is starting to flicker like crazy when turned on and during the animations. It seems like it’s mostly during fades. The temps outside have been pretty cold lately - at or below freezing. After running for about 5-10 minutes the flickering goes away. Are these strips pretty sensitive to colder temps? I’m using 2812b’s.
Interesting. What microcontroller are you using? Are you using a level shifter? Resistance drops with temperature, right? So maybe when cold, there’s less voltage drop, so the difference between the expected 5v and the actual 3v data is too great?
I’m using a Teensy 3.2 w/Octo2811 running a single 4m strip.
Using the OctoWS2811 Adaptor, or just the library? The adaptor takes care of level shifting, so that would eliminate my theory.
I’m just using the adapter hardware for shifting and not using the octo library. I’m using pure fastled on the sw side.
WS2812B datasheet says operation temp absolute min is -25ºC. That puts it in the range of standard commercial temperature range, which has a minimum of 0ºC. So I think WS2812B LEDs are not good at around freezing.
They are indoors. They’re just around the inside of the window frame maybe about 2" away from the glass, so I don’t think they’re getting THAT close to freezing. Maybe 45-50°F? It’s only happened as the outside temps drop though. It’s supposed to warm up next week into the 40’s. I’ll see if they still do it then. I appreciate the responses.
@Steve_Animatrix Are they attached firmly to the wood around your window? It could be a weak connection that’s being stressed by the expansion and contraction. I’ve had no problems with the 5 meter strips outside on a tree in the yard and it’s been below freezing several times in the last few weeks. But we’ve had such fluctuating temps that I’ve discovered windows that weren’t latched opening on their own and creaks to beat the band.
They’re in the waterproof silicon tube, and Im just using 9 small pieces of duct tape.