I’m having a weird issue. I am running TwinkleFox on an Arduino Uno. Last year it ran great.
This year I am trying to improve the power and signal cables. I am using 22 AWG wire both running 5 volts to the lights and for the data wire (approximately 3 ft in length each). I am using 3 pin connectors (with 6 inch pig tails).
When splicing the the data wire, I do not get a good signal. I have soldered
the wires together and used crimp connectors to no avail.
However when I hold the pair of twisted wires between my fingers, the lights act as the should (gets a clean data signal and lights run smooth. I have tried different connectors, different wire, re-cut the ends of each and still have the same problem. I also used another arduino.
Using the wire directly from the pigtail and it works fine.
I have exhausted the limits of my wiring knowledge. Anyone know how to remedy this problem?
I’m not exactly an expert on the subject, but do you have a resistor on the data line? If you don’t and you’re touching bare skin to the exposed wires (that makes it work), your body is providing resistance to the circuit that it needs.
It might be a stretch, but I know from playing with a multimeter that your your body does provide a measurable amount of resistance (the tighter you hold the probes between your fingers, the less resistance).
if this is not a connection issue this sound like gnd issue. Can you make sure all the grounds in your build are connected ? Especially the ground of your Arduino to the ground of your led power.
@Christopher_Kirkman1@Yves_BAZIN Thanks for the suggestions. I tried a resistor started low but it did not help. I check my grounding and it looked good. However, I went ahead and just made a new power and data cord. I used 22-4 security wire and spliced (crimp connectors. in dupont connectors onto the ends. Now it works!