Wiring a Pixel to an external SSR - Revision history

Dirknerkle: /* Power Injection */

2026-04-16T17:40:49Z

Power Injection

Dirknerkle: /* Wiring Connections */

2019-01-08T19:58:23Z

Wiring Connections

Admin: /* Power Injection */

2017-05-20T21:31:25Z

Power Injection

Admin: /* How a WS2811 Chip Works */

2017-05-20T21:13:51Z

How a WS2811 Chip Works

Admin: /* Power Injection */

2017-05-20T21:13:32Z

Power Injection

Admin: /* Wiring Connections */

2017-05-20T17:08:20Z

Wiring Connections

Admin: /* Wiring Connections */

2017-05-20T17:07:28Z

Wiring Connections

Admin: /* Wiring Connections */

2017-05-20T17:04:52Z

Wiring Connections

Admin: /* How a WS2811 Chip Works */

2017-05-20T17:02:56Z

How a WS2811 Chip Works

Admin: /* Wiring Connections */

2017-05-20T17:01:56Z

Wiring Connections

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 == Power Injection ==
-::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injection is needed.
+::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injection is needed. When a string of pixels is lit for full white (all pixels at 100%), if the resulting color is slightly pink, then power injection is a must; the pink color results from low current. Usually, injecting power at both ends of the string solves the problem.
 == Cat5 Wire Length ==

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 == Wiring Connections ==
-::Here's a look at how a bullet pixel is wired -- if you recall, 3 wires come into the pixel and 3 wires go out to the next one:
+::Here's a look at how a bullet pixel is wired -- if you recall, 3 wires come into the pixel and 3 wires go out to the next one. Notice that there's a DI and a DO connection for data. DI = INCOMING data, DO = OUTGOING data (i.e. to the next pixel).
 ::::::[[File:Guts-1.png |160px ]]   [[File:Guts-2.png | 160px]]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 == Power Injection ==
-::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injecting is needed.
+::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injection is needed.
 == Cat5 Wire Length ==

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 It's possible to rewire a pixel to drive 3 channels of a DC SSR instead of the RGB LED. By so doing, you can gain control to other devices by using your normal pixel control data stream. A caveat is that in your sequencing, you need to remember which channels these devices are so you don't get confused. This example uses the Bullet or Square pixel using the WS2811 chip as the example and 5vdc power. Pixels that are powered via 12vdc may not work with this method unless the measured output voltage from the WS2811 chip doesn't exceed what the DC SSR can use as its control signal, which is usually 5vdc.
-== How a WS2811 Chip Works ==
+== How an WS2811 Chip Works ==
 ::First, let's understand how a WS2811 chip works by looking at the PCB for a typical square pixel:

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:13, 20 May 2017
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	::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injecting is needed.		::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injecting is needed.
		+
		+	== Cat5 Wire Length ==
		+
		+	The WS2811 chip puts out 18.5ma per channel, and as such, the control signal should be able to go quite a distance to a remote SSR. When one considers that a typical PIC outputs about 10ma/pin, a signal with nearly twice the current strength should be viable for at least as far as a control signal from a PIC-based controller.

	== Sample Finished Cable ==		== Sample Finished Cable ==

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 ::::::[[File:To_cat5.png | 200px]]
-::How this works is that since a pixel requires three channels to light the LED, connecting the LED outputs to a CAT5 cable instead of to an LED and plugging that cable into a DC SSR gives you 3 channels of complete control, including dimming capability. Slick! Optionally, if the SSR needs a ground connection on pin 7 so that the SSR's status light pops on, solder the brown/white wire of the cat5 cable to the ground connection on either side of the WS2811 chip. Also note that if the order of "colors" for the WS2811 chip is RGB, the "red" would equate to channel A of the SSR, "green" would be channel B and "blue" would be channel C. If the order is GBR, then of course the order of the channels for your control would be different and you may wish to wire the cat5 cable differently.
+::How this works is that since a pixel requires three channels to light the LED, connecting the LED outputs to a CAT5 cable instead of to an LED and plugging that cable into a DC SSR gives you 3 channels of complete control, including dimming capability. Slick! Optionally, if the SSR needs a ground connection on pin 7 so that the SSR's status light pops on, solder the brown/white wire of the cat5 cable to the ground connection on either side of the WS2811 chip. Also note that if the order of "colors" for the WS2811 chip is RGB, the "red" would equate to channel A of the SSR, "green" would be channel B and "blue" would be channel C. If the order is GBR or some other order, then of course the order of the channels for your control would be different and you may wish to wire the cat5 cable differently.
 ::Does this also work with AC SSRs? Yes and no: yes you will have simple on/off control with an AC SSR, but no, you won't have dimming ability.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 == How a WS2811 Chip Works ==
-::First, let's understand how a WS2811 chip works by looking at the PCB for a typical square pixel.
+::First, let's understand how a WS2811 chip works by looking at the PCB for a typical square pixel:
 ::::::[[File:Guts-4.png|200px]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:01, 20 May 2017
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	::Does this also work with AC SSRs? Yes and no. Yes you will have simple on/off control with an AC SSR, but you won't have dimming ability.		::Does this also work with AC SSRs? Yes and no. Yes you will have simple on/off control with an AC SSR, but you won't have dimming ability.
		+
		+	== Power Injection ==
		+
		+	::It's a good idea to consider injecting power to the WS2811 chip as well because of the potential distance between the chip and the external SSR and the resulting resistance of the wire. Your mileage may vary, but if you find the external SSR doesn't fire on cue, it's probably because power injecting is needed.

	== Sample Finished Cable ==		== Sample Finished Cable ==