Help with LED Strip

Technical
1

Hi CD, i have a little question, can I plug the Andy Mark adressable LEDs directly to the RoboRIO?

Here is the link of the LEDs https://www.andymark.com/products/rgb-led-light-strip-8-2ft-individually-addressable?via=Z2lkOi8vYW5keW1hcmsvV29ya2FyZWE6OkNhdGFsb2c6OkNhdGVnb3J5LzVhZjhlNTVjYmM2ZjZkNWUzNmYyM2FhNQ

I mean directly to the PWM outputs of the RoboRIO

2

i checked with my teammate. i won’t be a problem.

3

Thank you

4

your welcome, i didn’t knew it and gladly i had one of my teammate in a discord call that knew the info haha

5

They use the chip supported by the LED library, but you will need to plug the power input into a 5V regulator, since the PWM V+ pin outputs 6V. The RIO also probably won’t output the current you would want for LEDs.

2 Likes
6

I’m going to stress what @bobbysq said here. You can plug the signal wire into a PWM port and use the new LED libraries to control the addressable LEDs, but you won’t be able to source the power for the LEDs from the roboRIO. For that, you need a separate power source that outputs the right voltage with enough current to power your whole strip.

While you may technically be able to plug it into the 5V/2A port on the VRM (depending on the voltage of the strip and what length you’re actually using), I would strongly suggest leaving the VRM just for the radio and using a separate buck-boost converter plugged into a PDP branch circuit. I’ve been recommending this one, or something similar.

7

Which chip is that? Is it something like the WS2812/WS2812B (the stuff used on Adafruit NeoPixels) by any chance?

8

WS2812 (Or compatible)
https://docs.wpilib.org/en/latest/docs/software/actuators/addressable-leds.html

These NeoPixel strips ship with WS2812 chips, not sure about the rest of them.

1 Like
9

Yeah that’s what I meant. Thanks!

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