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It happened again

2024-01-04

So this is indeed some underlying issue, since the exact same LED (well, a different LED in the same spot) blew its dataline again. I’ve asked what this could be on /r/askelectronics. Most responses were not very helpful and there was some annoyed patronizing, but I think the most promising suggestions were that it may:

  1. Simply be a short between data and GND in the cable connecting spot 3 and 4
  2. Be an effect of the self-inductance of the wire. It’s not clear to me how I can mitigate 2), but checking for a short I can of course do easily.

Meanwhile I also designed and ordered a drop-in replacement for the level converter based on a WS2812B, which arrived last week:

Render of a WS2812B-based level converter PCB

After assembly I installed it in the controller and it seems to work just fine:

The actual level converter PCB, plugged into the controller PCB

So, next steps: check that cable for a short. If that is not the issue, maybe I’ll replace the LED that keeps failing with a series-resistor to reduce the ringing in the cable.

To be continued. Again.