Will the CLNP + CLCP control any 5V WS2812B addressable 5050 RGB LED Strip

[red-ray]

To get the 5V LED strips you used have to get a CLNP which was silly and even then you only got four of them which was far from ideal.

I had a déjà vu feeling about this and wondered if the Corsair Link Commander Pro (CLCP) + Corsair Lighting Node Pro (CLNP) will control any 5V WS2812B addressable 5050 RGB LED Strip. I suspected so and pondered:

1. Will I invalidate any CLCP + CLNP warranty if I connect 3rd party LEDs and if it does do I really care.
2. How would I use CL4 to control a strip with other than 10 or 12 LEDs, I suspect I can't , but know SIV will .
3. How many LEDs could I connect to a CLCP or CLNP port, 40 x 0.060 = 2.40 Amps so I expect 40 .
4. I can connect 6 x HD RGB LED fans which is 72 LEDs, so 72 must be possible if the LEDs are externally powered .
5. I added support to SIV for a LED strip with 144 LEDs but none of my CLCP or CLNP would play ball , but for 2 x 72 LEDs they did .
6. I ordered a 1M x 144 LED strip which arrived on 14-Jun-2017 .

1. I used an external +5 Volt 12 Amp PSU to power it and one of the HD/SP LED hub cables to connect it to the CLCP/CLNP.
2. The wire from the middle pin needs to be connected to the green wire and the other to the black one.
3. It is also possible to use the 3-wire cable from a HD/SP Lighting Controller with the 3rd wire being connected to red, see below. This should be OK for the 30 LED strips as they need less current.
4. As I suspected might happen the CLNP/CLCP could only control 72 of the 144 LEDs .
5. With all 72 LEDs on 100% white it was taking about 2.93 amps rather than the 4.32 amps I predicted.
6. When I tried 2 x 40 only 40 LEDs worked, but 1 x 72 + 2 x 36 + 3 x 24 worked with no issues .
7. The 3 pins on the CLCP/CLNP LED ports numbering from left to right are:
   1. 1 Ground
   2. 2 Control Data Out
   3. 3 +5 Volts
8. The 4 pins on the LED hub numbering from left to right are:
   1. 1 Ground
   2. 2 Control Data Out
   3. 3 Control Data Return
   4. 4 +5 Volts
   5. port n pin 3 Control Data Return is connected to port n+1 pin 2 Control Data Out
9. Connecting HD fans and externally powered LED strips to the same port works, just connect the LED hub Ground + Control Data Out to the strip.
10. Now a 72 LED strip is possible I guess I need to adjust the [Link Setup] wording and as I released SIV 5.20 this morning this is rather irksome .
11. The strip was actually 2 x 72 strips soldered together so I split into two that can be jointed together if Corsair decide to change the firmware . I should have also ordered some extra connectors.
12. The tricky part was getting some photos, I will try and get some better ones later. Below left is Rainbow Wave and right is Visor.

HD or SP Lighting Controller cable to WS2812B

[SpeedyV]

That is GREAT news Ray.

I am wondering...

1. What is your prediction of 0.060 amps (in your #3 above) per LED based on?
2. The CLCP specs state 4.5A max for RGB LED channels. Is this fixed at 2.25A/Channel or can that 4.5A total be dynamically divided between the channel 1 and channel 2 loads?
   
3. If it is fixed at 2.25A/Channel, then if there are 6 x RGB LED fans connected to channel 1, can channel 2 still drive 4 LED strips?
   

I have a bunch of things I am wondering about, but they are dependent on whether the 4.5A total capacity is fixed at 2.25A per LED channel or not.

Thank !

[red-ray]

Originally Posted by SpeedyV

1. What is your prediction of 0.060 amps (in your #3 above) per LED based on?
2. The CLCP specs state 4.5A max for RGB LED channels. Is this fixed at 2.25A/Channel or can that 4.5A total be dynamically divided between the channel 1 and channel 2 loads?
   
3. If it is fixed at 2.25A/Channel, then if there are 6 x RGB LED fans connected to channel 1, can channel 2 still drive 4 LED strips?
   

1. I read the specification in http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232336005477, another option is GIYF.
2. The safe guess is 2.4A + 2.1A would be OK, ask for confirmation via https://corsair.secure.force.com/home/home.jsp and I will also try and get a definitive answer.
3. I suspect the limiting factor may be how thick the wire is.
4. It's really easy to provide external power anyway as there are two power wires.
5. Once I got the LED strip it was all very obvious.
6. From SIV 5.21 Beta-00 I have changed the wording in [Link Setup]. Do the new words make sense to you please?

[red-ray]

With 72 LEDs then a faster speed is really needed, but new firmware would be needed to add this.

[SpeedyV]

Could I trouble you to take a quick look at these LEDs. It's 1 meter x 144 LEDs. They also have a 5 meter x 150 LEDs so I guess the density of LEDs per unit length is much lower. I have looked at a bunch of different offerings and a lot of them are soldered together scraps. These have good reviews and are reasonably priced. They are not IP67 rated but I don't really see any need for that in this application.

I also noticed that there is a black and red wire in addition to the 3 conductors for power, ground, and data. What are the other 2 conductors for?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XK72GP9...d=M5IXWKZNQZOE

It's a shame they don't use 24 VDC LEDs. I have about a dozen reels of those laying around from a large nightclub system my company provided all of the audio and lighting for.

I am also confused about the 3-pin JST connectors. The LED Hub input connectors are 4-pin. Is one of them not used? Even so, don't I need 4-pin connectors like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XQDPQFD...d=M5IXWKZNQZOE

[SpeedyV]

Originally Posted by red-ray

Those look to be identical to the ones I have and the extra two wires are for external power, remember I said it was easy .



No it's not it's 3-pin and the HD LED connections are 4-pin, read what I specified in the initial post.

Oh I got it now. So the connectors I need are like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Mokungit-Fema...jst+connectors

[red-ray]

Originally Posted by SpeedyV

Oh I got it now. So the connectors I need are like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Mokungit-Fema...jst+connectors

Yes, but one came with my strip, but you will need a few more if you do as I did and split the strip into 2 x 72. I have ordered some and am waiting for them to arrive.

The 4-pin JST are used for the old 12 V RGB LED strips.

[SpeedyV]

Originally Posted by red-ray

Yes, but one came with my strip, but you will need a few more if you do as I did and split the strip into 2 x 72. I have ordered some and am waiting for them to arrive.

The 4-pin are used for the old 12 V RGB LED strips.

Yes I have a bag full of the 4-pin ones that I bought when we decked out my son's room with 12V LEDs. They are crap but you can get them to work if you are patient. I am ordering today with Amazon Prime so they should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. I am also thinking about getting 1 x HD120-RGB fan to mount inside my case to blow air directly on my Samsung 960 Pro. ca-CHING.

[SpeedyV]

LEDs arrived today. To power the LED strip, I took an old 4-pin Molex power extension cable and cut it in half. On the half with the male end, I connected the Molex tails to the LED strip connector like this.

1. Pinout of Molex
   Pin 1 - 12vdc - NC
   Pin 2 - Ground - to White wire of LED strip (Gnd) and Ground pin of CLCP LED Port 2.
   Pin 3 - Ground - NC
   Pin 4 - +5vdc - to Red wire of LED strip
   
   
   
   
2. Then Data pin of CLCP LED Port 2 to Green wire (data) of LED strip.
   
   
3. I did not use the extra Red and Black wire coming out of the LED strip to power it but I guess I could have used those instead of the White and Red that go into the 3-pin connector.
   
   
4. This way I am using the +5vdc rail in the system power supply to provide the current to the LED strip. Only Ground and Data are connected to the CLCP LED port. I could use the +5vdc from the CLCP LED port instead of the Molex power connector but this way I do not have to worry about current through the CLCP.
   
   
5. I observed all of the things that you did, exactly as described in the top post in this thread. - 72 LEDs worked as 1 strip, 2x36, 3x24. Pics follow of setup and LED strip wiring (temporary, messy, but WORKING!!)
   
   
6. My strip of 144 is also 2 strips of 72 joined together. I have not cut them in half (yet) but when I did a full reboot, a few of the LEDs in the 2nd set of 72 illuminated and stayed lit. Different colors and brightness - only a few of them at random. I think maybe noise on the control line when the CLCP rebooted? I can't think of another reason.
   
   
7. Yes they are hard to take a picture of. Also the top speed setting of 2 in SIV is quite slow when they are configured as 1x72 LED strip but I believe that is a CLCP firmware limitation that hopefully will be rectified.
   

So if people are out there waiting for Corsair to start selling their 5vdc LED strips separately from a Lighting Node Pro - these 5V WS2812B addressable 5050 RGB LED Strips work GREAT!

[red-ray]

Originally Posted by SpeedyV

1. My strip of 144 is also 2 strips of 72 joined together. I have not cut them in half (yet)
2. Also the top speed setting of 2 in SIV is quite slow when they are configured as 1x72 LED strip but I believe that is a CLCP firmware limitation that hopefully will be rectified.

1. Don't cut the strip, but rather de-solder the two halves, that way you can easily re-solder them. Only the sticky tape needs to be actually cut .
2. It should take the CLCP/CLNP firmware engineer < 10 minutes to recompile the firmware to allow 144 LEDs + higher speeds and I have already requested this should be done for the next CLCP/CLNP release .
3. I feel you and other CLCP/CLNP owners should request 144 LED support be fixed/added via Corsair Support.
4. The latest SIV Beta already supports 144 LEDs per port so Corsair could use this to test the 144 LED firmware .
5. I am pleased to hear it "all just worked" , do you think to need to improve the initial post to add clarity and if so how?

[SpeedyV]

Hi Ray,

1. Yes I will de-solder the two strips. Then I can attach a 3-pin whip (which I need to order).
   
2. I am also hoping for a CLCP firmware upgrade to allow 144 LEDs and higher sequence cycle speeds.
   
3. Yes I can open a ticket about this.
   
4. It would be interesting to see Corsair use SIV in their testing process.
   
5. Allowing a greater maximum number of LEDs would also allow more Corsair 10 LED/41cm RGB strips to be connected to each LED port. If there is a current limitation, an external 5vdc supply may be used, though I am not sure if Corsair would endorse "customizing" in this way.
   
6. The only parts of your original post which were a little confusing (to me) are the areas where you described wiring connections and pin-outs. I think trying to describe even a simple circuit like this one in a narrative format is cumbersome.
   
7. My LED strip came with an Extremely poorly worded instruction sheet (I may post it - it was actually quite funny). They did provide the diagram below, which I found to be helpful so perhaps it will serve to clarify for others.
   
8. BTW - I needed a 3-pin connector to plug the LED strip into the CLCP LED Port 2. I cut the cable that connects the manual 3-button controller that comes with the fans for this. I'll never use these 3-button controllers so I stole the cable with the connector then spliced the ends to to Ground, Data, and +5vdc.
   
   
   
   
   
9. You posted a screen shot of [AIO Link Setup] that shows a pop-up panel for LED arrangement selection (see below). I am running V5.21 Beta 07 and cannot get that pop-up to appear. Am I doing something wrong or did you remove this?
   

[SpeedyV]

Originally Posted by red-ray

As with all the SIV AIO panels you Left/Click on the Blob , in this case it's rose quartz in colour .

Oh what a GOOSE I am AGAIN!

[SpeedyV]

Well tonight did not go so well. Here is what happened.

1. I unplugged the LED strip and gently separated the 2 halves of the strip. I used a temp controlled soldering iron and a solder removal hand pump to remove the solder on the +5vdc, Ground, and Data pads, then separated the strip into 2 halves.
   
2. I soldered the three temporary twist and tape connections I made last night and cleaned up the wiring harness.
   
3. I hot plugged the first 1/2 of the LED strip back into power and data (CLCP LED Port 2). It worked fine. I then unplugged the strip from power and data.
   
4. I maneuvered the strip into the case where I wanted it. I had to do some flexing of the strip but tried to be gentle with it. Plugged it back into power and data. Here is where the problems begin. Only the first 2 LEDs would respond.These 2 LEDs would respond to color and pattern changes but nothing past the 2nd LED would work.
   
5. I thought maybe the flexing was enough to break a connection between the 2nd and 3rd LED. I very carefully laid out the strip and touched up the connection points with the soldering iron. No change.
   
6. Tried hot un-plugging and re-plugging power and data. Tried exiting and re-starting SIV. Tried power cycling the CLCP and LED Hub. Tried a full reboot. No change.
   
7. I removed the strip and soldered the 2 halves of the strip back together. No change.
   
8. I then separated the 2 halves again, and de-soldered where the wiring harness connects to the strip and soldered it to the 2nd half-strip. It worked!
   
9. I tried gently and then more aggressively flexing the strip, thinking this particular LED strip must be very sensitive to flexing, and I broke a connection somewhere in the first half. The strip continued to work fine through the flexing.
   
10. This time I installed the working LED strip where I wanted it while it was running. This required holding the strip in place with thin wire ties that I very gently pulled snug but not tight. The strip continued to work but then all of a sudden, just as I finished with the last wire tie, all of the LEDs except the first 14 went out.
    
11. I tried flexing the strip some more. No change . I figured it's broken anyway so might as well flex it aggressively and see if more LEDs light up or go out. No change.
    
12. I tried reversing the port on the CLCP - moved the LED Hub to CLCP LED Port 2 and put the LED strip on CLCP LED Port 1. The fan LEDs and the first 14 LEDs in the strip worked as expected.
    
13. I put a volt meter on the +5vdc and Ground pins at the other end of the strip and measured +5vdc. The voltage was steady while shaking and flexing the strip. So +5vdc and ground are getting all the way to the other end of the strip with no sign of a shaky connection.
    
14. I don't think there is any way for me to test the Data path integrity with a volt meter.
    
15. So now as I give up for the night, half 1 only has the first 2 LEDs working and half 2 has the first 14 LEDs working.
    
16. I thought about trying to touch up the Data pad between the 14th and 15th LED but when I did that on the first half (between LEDs 2 and 3) it made no difference.
    
17. I am not sure if this particular LED strip is very sensitive to flexing. The LEDs are very close together so the strip is not very flexible. It's almost all LED. But aggressively shaking and flexing the area of LEDs 1 through 14 (which work) has not caused any change. The strip does not seem to mind being flexed.
    
18. I tried a bunch of different modes and changed colors. The 1st 14 LEDs on the strip do everything they are supposed to do. From LED 15 on are dead.
    
19. I only have connectors to hook up 1 strip at a time so it is not easy to switch back and forth, as I have to de-solder the wiring harness and then solder it onto the other strip to switch. I am going to figure out a way to allow me to connect to either end of either strip easily with what I have here.
    
20. I don't know if I physically damaged both halves of the LED strip or if there is some sort of data problem. I know power and ground connections are good because I measured a steady 5vdc across those pads at the opposite end of the strip.
    
21. I think I will try un-soldering the wire harness and then soldering it to the pads on the other end of the strip. I wonder if that would normally work - in a sequence, what determines which physical LED is which logical LED? Which end is "LED ONE"? If the 1st 15 LEDs work at that end, I think that would indicate a control problem instead of a electrical connection problem in the strip. Too late to do it tonight so it will have to wait until tomorrow night to try this.
    

[SpeedyV]

Originally Posted by red-ray

all I do know is they are hardware issues

1. Yes I agree - it is a hardware issue. I do not think it is the CLCP or SIV causing the strips to malfunction.
   
   
2. This morning I noticed that if I gently flex the strip with 14 LEDs working, I can make the 13th and 14th LED "freeze" and "unfreeze", so even gently flexing seems to be disturbing data propagation to the micro-controller ICs that are integrated into each LEDs base.
   
   
3. This is disappointing as I was very gentle with the strips at all times. Nothing I did should have caused these strips to stop working. If they are too fragile to survive my handling of them last night, then I cannot recommend them - at least not the ones I got.
   
   
4. It has to be the Data line because I measured rock steady +5vdc across the power pads at the opposite end of the strip from the power connector, so power and ground are getting all the way down the strip. Tonight I will futz with them some more and hopefully get them working again.
   

[SpeedyV]

Final word on this LED strip. I'll keep it short this time.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This LED strip has not worked properly since I separated it into 2 halves. Power and Ground are fine as I can power the strips from either end. The first half won't light past LED 2. The 2nd half won't light past LED 14. If I lay the 2nd half strip across my hand and gently wriggle it, the 14 LEDs that do work cut in and out, freeze, change color, etc. The slightest movement is enough to cause intermittent data flow between the LEDs.

I guess I picked poorly from the many offerings at Amazon, and that I will have to take a chance with another vendor. At least this may help someone else avoid the same problem by not ordering these particular strips. The generic 5V WS2812B LED strips work fine with the CLCP. Just don't buy these. Poof goes $21.70.