FUCKING HELL! The next led died! Again the first one. I am using a Freeduino Mega 2560 @5V. It happened in the moment, when I plugged in the USB cable into the controller. Led power was on, USB is the only power supply for the controller. Yes, I connected the grounds together. Yes, I had a resistor before the led. WTF??? It is the first time, I took the matrix/Arduino with me while being abroad. I was so proud that I managed to take everything apparently important with me… except a soldering iron… DAMNED! I can see myself already trying to heat a needle with a lighter… Any idea how to avoid that shit happen in future except “YOLO!”?
I found these protection circuit - does it make sense? http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Screen-Shot-2014-03-12-at-6.41.55-PM.png
Makes sense to me.
Read my post about it: http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/2014/03/led-cyr-wheel-ws2811-ws2812-strip-first-pixel-dyingburning-out/
Great forum here, thanks @Corbin_Dunn ! I will get a diode today and then also try to “kill them on demand”… just to be sure…
Make it sene to use a fast (schottky) or lower voltage (germanium) diode?