Comments on: Node-RED with WS2812B Addressable RGB LED Strip

By: Sm1thson

Sm1thson — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 14:38:31 +0000

use the following command insead to install
curl -sS https://get.pimoroni.com/unicornhat | bash

By: Marcelo Rodrigues

Marcelo Rodrigues — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:00:27 +0000

The same thing happened to me.
Go to the this page and look at the pre-requisites, install the drivers:
https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-node-pi-neopixel
After that edit the file config.txt using:
sudo nano boot/config.txt
comment the line:
#dtparam=audio=on
It’s working for me. Be careful with the power supply, if the voltage drops when turning on the LEDs you will have other problems.

By: Zoyam Chuang

Zoyam Chuang — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:36:30 +0000

After using example flow from your website. WS2812B LED STRIP node will show “node-red:rpi-gpio.status.not-available”
Is it happen on others? Should I try to re-check gpio readall?

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 09:19:05 +0000

In reply to Lene.

Hi again.
I’m really sorry.
At this moment, I’m out of ideas of what might be causing the issue 🙁
Meanwhile, if you find out something, please share.
Regards,
Sara

By: Lene

Lene — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 05:00:36 +0000

In reply to Sara Santos.

hello Sara
I reduced the number of LEDs to 10 and there is still no hope.
I ran a program ./gpiotest and all gpios are good.
Just to confirm as well I have a rpi3B.
I have even tried running the lights through python3 and nothing.
I am hopeless at the moment, I have also bought and tried another board and the same result.
Thanks in advance

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 16:53:34 +0000

In reply to Lene.

Hi.
An improper power supply leads to a weird behavior of the strip.
So, yes. That can be the cause.
Regards.
Sara

By: Lene

Lene — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 09:41:35 +0000

In reply to Sara Santos.

Hello Sara
I added the lines of code like you mentioned, and tried again.
Each light is still a different colour.
Even when selecting just a single colour, it does not work.
I will add an external power source tomorrow and try again.
I also changed the number of LEDs where mentioned.
Will the current effect the colours of the LED lights though?
Thank you for the help
Lene’

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 13:54:27 +0000

In reply to Lene.

Hi.
In our example, we’re only controlling 14 LEDs. It works fine controlling this small number of LEDs powered with the 5V coming from the Pi.
However, with 120 LEDs, you need to power the strip with an external power source because the RPi probably can’t provide enough current.
Additionally, you need to edit the number of LEDs in the Node-RED nodes.
Did you do that?
Regards,
Sara

By: Lene

Lene — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 11:25:15 +0000

In reply to Sara Santos.

Hello Sara
Thank you for your reply. It is in a WS2812B LED, 120 LED (60/m).
I wired it exactly as the diagram in the tutorial. I power it through the RPI as shown.
I installed everything as shown, and disabled the audio.
What could be the possible problem?

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 10:45:13 +0000

In reply to Lene.

Hi.
Double-check your strip model. Is it an WS2812B addressable RGB LED strip?
How many LEDs are you controlling?
How are you powering the strip?

Did you follow the next suggestion?

The pin used to control the strip may conflict with audio playback, so the pixels can go crazy and not work properly. If this happens, you need to add two lines to the config.txt file. In the Terminal enter the following:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo nano /boot/config.txt

In the file that opens, add the following two lines (anywhere should be fine):

hdmi_force_hotplug = 1
hdmi_force_edid_audio = 1

Press ctrl-X to save the file and then, when prompted, type Y and press enter. Reboot your Pi for the changes to take effect, and then proceed with the instructions.

Regards,
Sara