I have a Circuit Playard Express that is not turning on the

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everblueguy
 
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Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2022 6:46 pm

I have a Circuit Playard Express that is not turning on the

Post by everblueguy »

I have purchased a Circuit Playground Express. I am using it to control externally addressable led light strips, but they are not working. I have followed all the instructions carefully, but the light will not turn on. I have connected the led light strips to the correct places in the Playground Express, but it will not light up the strips. I can program the actually led light on the Playground Express with no problems. This is very frustrating. Also, I am not able to program the sound sensor either. Is there a way to actually test this board before replacing it?
I do have the correct compatible external addressable 5v led light strings? Please see what I have:

I have a Circuit Playground Express Developer Edition @145MHz Battery 3-6VDC from Adafruit.
KXZM WS2812B LED Strip Light 3.3ft 144 Pixels, Individually Addressable RGB DC 5V Flexible 5050 SMD Dream Color Waterproof IP67 White PCB LED Strips for DIY Projects
I have included the pictures of how I have connected based on the instructions.

Picture of connections:
MS MakeCode.jpg
MS MakeCode.jpg (95.45 KiB) Viewed 193 times
Circuit connections.jpg
Circuit connections.jpg (130.81 KiB) Viewed 193 times
LED connections.jpg
LED connections.jpg (158.5 KiB) Viewed 193 times

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: I have a Circuit Playard Express that is not turning on

Post by mikeysklar »

Have you been able to run sample code to control the onboard CPX LEDs?

You should be using an external 5v power supply to drive 144 LEDs. That is too much current to go through the CPX to regulator.

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everblueguy
 
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Re: I have a Circuit Playard Express that is not turning on

Post by everblueguy »

Well, I am not sure how to connect a 5v external power supply to the LEDs and then connect the power supply that came with the Circuit Playground Express Kit. If you look at the videos on Adafruit, they only show a power supply connected to the Circuit Playground Express and no other additional external power supply. Could this mean that I am attaching/using the wrong external LED strips? If so, then what kind of LED/ should I use and what are the specifications for them to work on the Circuit Playground Express without additional power as it shows on the Adafriut videos?

Please see this video:
https://learn.adafruit.com/make-it-glow ... the-lights

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mikeysklar
 
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Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: I have a Circuit Playard Express that is not turning on

Post by mikeysklar »

The Circuit Playground Express has a regulator that allows up to 500mA. Each NeoPixel LED can draw up to 60mA so that is the requirement for an external power supply when driving upwards of 10 NeoPixels.

It is not a big deal to hookup the 5v and GND from the strip a 5v power supply and run the DIN and GND over to the CPX. The uberguide covers this.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neo ... onnections

The NeoPixel strips are the ones we are most familiar with. The WS2812B are library compatible chips, but i'm not sure how they are classified in terms of frequency and RGB vs RGBW vs GRB and what frequency they run at.

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