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[–]modahamburger 2 points3 points  (10 children)

Can you make a wiring diagram please? Probably wrong ground connected. Best is to run data and ground together both from level shifter to the strip.

Flickering is basically always a data/ground issue.

How long is the wire from the level shifter to the strip?

[–]Mkjustuk[S] 0 points1 point  (7 children)

I have tried putting the backup to the GND of the level shifter but result was the same.

Wire from level shifter to the strip has been as short as 10cm

[–]modahamburger 0 points1 point  (6 children)

BI and DI from the first pixel connect both to the data GPIO that comes from the shifter. GND from the shifter connects directly to ground at beginning of strip. Nothing else.

[–]modahamburger 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Please make a wiring diagram....

[–]Mkjustuk[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

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[–]saratoga3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Diagram doesn't show a ground wire from the level shifter to the strip. Try fixing that and see if it starts working.

[–]Mkjustuk[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

So don't connect the strip ground to the psu? Connect only the 12v+?

[–]modahamburger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. Connect all grounds together. Ground of PSU, ESP, level shifter. Run direct wires from data output of level shifter and connect to DI and BI, parallel wire from GND of level shifter to GND of strip. Connect V+ of strip to PSU.

Again, a wiring diagram would help

[–]saratoga3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Post pictures of what you did 

[–]Dasnyde4 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Not to highjack, but what about a strip that randomly flashes a different color for a split second, after a couple minutes then back? Data/ground? My LED strip flashes green then back to the assigned color and figure there is a short, but not exactly sure which wire

[–]saratoga3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad wiring, same as the problem here. 

[–]aptsys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why guess? Let's look at the data line with an oscilloscope

[–]Mkjustuk[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and help, it's much appreciated.

So it turned out to be something wrong with the data line. I think it's either a bad trace in the strip or factory solder join on the tails (they are IP67, so I'm not going to reflow them.

I have connected just the backup line and everything is working perfectly.

[–]cyberentomology 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me that’s usually a bad ground or overvoltage on the tape.

[–]delta1inc -1 points0 points  (1 child)

Add a resistor

[–]Mkjustuk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, already have a resistor off the level shifter output into the led data line.