Hi Mez, 

That's how I've wired all the ones I've built. I use the power supply for the LED's to supply 5v to pins 2 and 4, and Grd to pin 6. I haven't found the need to use the RPI's usb power supply. I could see the need for a second power supply if the number of LED's gets way high. I've only built boards well under 100 LED's. But if another supply was needed, you would supply current to the rpi as well as from both ends of the LED strings.

Bill may chime in here because I believe he had an issue with an RPI 2 (?) where he needed both the RPI's power supply and the LED's power supply hooked up. I've not run into that issue though. - Mark

Hi Bynan,

Your power supply will work on a project that has well over 100 LED's. Mine has 200 and I have no problem. I did wire the power to both 5v DC pins;

I will, at times get the same lightning bolt symbol but based on what I've read once the HDMI, Keyboard and mouse (if used) is disconnected the symbol won't be displayed (not sure how they know since the monitor is disconnected). However, I have 5 boards built with various numbers of LED's but all are powered by the same power supply ratings you are using and have had no issues.

Regarding the blinking LED's this will typically be caused because the RPI and LED's are not grounded together. They need to share the same ground plane for the LED's to properly read the signal level being sent. Look at the schematic and be sure the ground are setup properly. Let us know it goes. - Mark

That's great info. Please post a picture showing the upgrade so others may benefit too. - Mark

Hi,

When you use the LED Test, the LED's should cycle through a rainbow pattern a number of times then turn off. They shouldn't blink random colors.

The 'All On' should turn all the LED's on solid white until you click 'All Off' which should then turn them off.

The problem, based on my experience is that the wiring is not quite right. While I may have mentioned it, be sure that the RPi and LED strip share the same ground. What you are describing is very typical of not having both grounded together. It's also possible that the breadboard has an intermittent connection on one of the terminals.

Double check the wiring against the schematic and let us know. - Mark

That's great news. Please do post a picture or vid. Glad its working now. - Mark

Hmm, I would have said that its the GRB vs RGB setting but you covered that one. So post the logfile here. Be sure to stop then startup the map. Give it a chance to turn on all the lights then turn the map off before downloading it. This will show me the whole startup process. - Mark

Great looking map. Yes, I believe there is still an issue with the wiring being a faulty/intermittent. You can use the 'all on' and 'all off' and see if you get the same type of blinking, which would reinforce the theory.

Other's who have had similar problems used a better quality wire/terminals or even did as you suggested, solder everything together. The circuit that sends the digital signal to the LED's is the one you want to key in on. This includes the Level Converter up to the LED Digital In of the string of LED's. If you are not using a Level Converter, this alone could explain the erratic behavior. - Mark

Another thought: The length of the Digital In Wire has been mentioned by a few as having an effect on the lights. So keeping the length on the shorter size is better. The length from the level converter to the input of the LED's on my maps is around 6 - 8 inches. I'm not sure if this is the issue in your case, but I thought it was worth a mention. - Mark

Awesome! I'm very glad that you figured it out. It's a great object lesson for others building to ensure that the wires are properly connected.

I agree that $500+ is steep but as you found out there is a lot involved in the building. So to make it a profitable enterprise, you have to charge top dollar. Otherwise it just wouldn't be worth the time. But building one for yourself is a great project that can be done relatively cheaply. Plus it allows the builder to be creative and innovative.

Adafruit sells a solderable Prototyping board for less than $5 where you can mount and solder everything solidly. Take a look here; https://www.adafruit.com/product/1609

Also, another user designed his own circuit board and has shared it with the community. I had 3 built and plan to try it on my next build. This is another way to get a good solid, production quality board built.

Read this thread for the specifics of building this board; https://www.livesectional.com/community/build-techniques/build-log-charlotte-area/#post-180

Good Going! - Mark

When was the level converter added? I started this at version 1 and am finally getting to finishing off the actual map as I reprinted the map after our Bravo changed. 

V2. We started to use a level converter. The software doesn't depend on using a level converter though, so if you still want to wire it with a Diode, the software won't interfere with it. - Mark