Skip to content

Data corruption when enabling multiple channels #4922

Description

@aaronmell

What happened?

Here is my setup

DigiQuad
ESP32-AE+
2 WS2811 - 217 Chips
24v 25A 600W power supply
WLED_0.15.1_Dig-Quad-AEPlus-Temperature-Audioreactive.bin

LED are installed in 2 u channels in ceiling
All wiring is ran through the walls
LEDs worked when testing before installing
Separate power wires to both ends and in the middle or both strips
Each strip has its own data wire

Only one difference between test and installation. I added 17IC's to the end of each strip

Issue

If I enable both strips I get data corruption issues. (Led randomly flash and/or changes color at full intensity). The corruption is usually worse on one strip.

If I remove one strip (doesn't matter which one), the issue disappears, and they both seem to be stable

What have I tried (with no change)

Different LED outputs
Lower power settings (both global, and per strip)
Reduced FPS
Re-inspected all solder joints

I2S Improves stability some (not completely though), causes other issues though (colors don't match, and led 0 is frequently the wrong color)
Downgrading to 15.0 and 14.3
Swapped ESP boards
Changed resistor settings on digiQuad
I've played around with basically every setting in LED Configuration

Things I have not yet tried

Shortened data-line cable

To Reproduce Bug

Enabling 2 channels

Expected Behavior

I would expect not to see data corruption with two strips.

Install Method

Binary from WLED.me

What version of WLED?

Lower power se

Which microcontroller/board are you seeing the problem on?

ESP32

Relevant log/trace output

Anything else?

No response

Code of Conduct

  • I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

Activity

  1. blazoncek commented on Sep 12, 2025

    @blazoncek
    Contributor

    Duplicate of #4389
    However, the binary is not WLED official one.

  2. aaronmell commented on Sep 12, 2025

    @aaronmell
    Author

    @blazoncek I'm not sure this is a dupe, as it doesn't seem to matter which channels I use, this issue also occurs on versions before 15.0

  3. DedeHai commented on Sep 12, 2025

    @DedeHai
    Collaborator

    @aaronmell the issue was present before. If you want to help out, test #4890

  4. aaronmell commented on Sep 12, 2025

    @aaronmell
    Author

    @DedeHai I assume there isn't a prebuilt binary yet for testing? Happy to install a test version if there is one

  5. DedeHai commented on Sep 12, 2025

    @DedeHai
    Collaborator
  6. aaronmell commented on Sep 15, 2025

    @aaronmell
    Author

    @DedeHai I tried the esp32_eth binary. The results were the same.

    Also my issue does not seem the same as the issue reported. Mine happens with no effect, one led is just unstable just on a solid color.

    I was testing with my LED's connected to GPIO 16 and 4

  7. intermittech commented on Sep 16, 2025

    @intermittech
    Contributor

    So I believe this is a wiring issue. I'm having a bit of Déjà vu reading something very similar recently and commenting on it but can't really remember where it is right now.

    I believe this is a data wiring issue where the separate data wires over longer distance are causing the issue. If it's an option for OP my thing to try would be replacing the data wires with a set of 2-wire with GND+Data on there and then the boards set to 33R mode. And then do this both both the data lines separately.

    That will likely clear up the issues with data corruption you are seeing, especially since you mention it worked fine when testing before installing I do not believe it's something to be fixed in software.

    p.s. If you are maybe running a 2-wire cable with 2 data signals on there, then that absolutely is the issue, you can't do that!

  8. aaronmell commented on Sep 16, 2025

    @aaronmell
    Author

    @intermittech I posted the same issue in your discord. Wiring runs in the walls so its not possible to replace them.

    I can try testing with a shorter wire/wire that is grounded though.

    Any sort of signal booster I could add? That might be easier to add here.

  9. intermittech commented on Sep 17, 2025

    @intermittech
    Contributor

    Ah! Well I believe I responded the same there, not sure what solution you are looking for here.

    I still believe it's the wiring and no signal booster or something like that is going to help I'm afraid. But let's move this back to Discord and please ping me in the topic and share some photos of the actual physical wiring and see how we can potentially improve it. Then you can close the case here since it's not really WLED related in my opinion.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    bugduplicatehardware(Likely) Setup-specific issue, e.g. flickering LEDs

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions