Hello, I have a WS2801 matrix that works very well with arduino and fastled.

Hello,
I have a WS2801 matrix that works very well with arduino and fastled.
I have been trying to use a nodemcu to drive them, they have a ws2801 module for the firmware.
It ‘works’, but when I send data for 104 leds, the first 16 are ok and the others are random. Could it be because the nodemcu has 3.3v ?

This is the code that I got from this ‘tutorial’ :

ws2801.init(0, 2)
tmr.delay(1000000)
ws2801.write(string.char(0,255,0):rep(104))

Are you using avoltage level shiftet?

@Philippe_Maegerman FYI im pretty sure FastLED is available for the NodeMCU via the Arduino IDE. https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED#supported-platforms you Can program the NodeMCU with the Arduino IDE, follow these instructions https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-huzzah-esp8266-breakout/using-arduino-ide

@Leon_Yuhanov ​ I tried with a level shifter but same result. Do I need to level clock and data ? when I did so, nothing happened, when only data it worked but same as without it :frowning:
I tried to program with arduino ide but even blink wouldn’t do it, I gave up, too much frustration, I wonder if it might be defect or something, I’ll try again later, when I have cooled down :slight_smile:

@Philippe_Maegerman both Clock and Data need to be shifted,i highly recomend using the Arduino ide over Lua

Timing is critical, and so is available current to drive your LEDs. Do you inject power to your LEDs at every … 50 or so? Don’t remember the exact number of LEDs that you need to inject separate supply.

But yeah, timing is really critical on these.

Watch the pin numbering in the arduino ide, it’s different, but should be easy to find for your board.

@Leon_Yuhanov ​ I’ll retry leveling both, with arduino ide and fastled.
@Bill_Sidhipong ​ yes they are powered every 50 leds. I guess the problem comes from lua firmware and programming, not as obvious as arduino or raspberry, also community is still small.

@Philippe_Maegerman for reference http://www.elec-tron.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/nodetoapaq102.png this is how you hook up apa102 to the nodemcu