Adafruit LED nets have a couple different wires coming off them. Look for the wire labeled "input". Each of the 3 wires has a label too! Handy.
I like to wire a 3 pin JST connector between the net and the Sparkle Motion board. This is not necessary: it's totally possible to wire the net directly to the Sparkle Motion board's screw terminal.
If you're not using JST connectors, then go ahead and insert the 3 input wires into the screw terminal on the Sparkle Motion Board: 12v to +, DI to 19, and G to G. Otherwise, solder the female side of your JST connector to the input wires on the net. I like to use red for +12v, green for data, and black for G.
The 2-strand wire on the net is for power injection. The larger nets have this attached in the middle to make your life easy. You can also inject power at the far end. A good rule of thumb is to inject power every 800 pixels or so.
Use a tiny precision flat head screwdriver to carefully and gently open the ports on the screw terminal. These are pretty easy to break so be gentle. Look carefully at the openings as you turn the screws. When you see a square opening appear, stop turning.
Strip about 1/8" of wire from the 3 net or connector wires and insert carefully into the screw terminals. Gently tighten the screw until it's snug: about 5 turns -- it shouldn't turn freely, if it does, you've got the wire in the wrong part of the hole so pull it out and try again.
The wires should not come out easily when you tug. But, as we know, these controllers get tugged on all the time! After testing to be sure of my connections, I added a zip tie around the back of the controller to create strain relief on the connectors.
LED strips often come with these connectors already attached, but there seems to be no standard for whether the factories attach the male or the female connector on the "in" end. For my own peace of mind, I try to be consistent and always use the male side of the connectors on the microcontrollers, and the female on the "in" end of my LED strip. Data is flowing "out" from the microcontroller and "in" to the strip, so the male/female metaphor makes good sense in this arrangement.
There is also no standard as to which way the color coding is wired on these connectors. Some have a red wire on the left side, some on the right side. Some have no color coding at all.
Hooking your strips up "backwards" (accidentally connecting a red wire to a black wire) can damage your board and your LEDs, so it's important to be really careful when you're setting up your connectors.
Be as consistent as possible with color coding and throw away any connectors you've got in the drawer that are wired "backwards" from the rest.
Connect the net to the controller and plug the controller in with at 12v power supply. These boards come pre-loaded with a rainbow animation on pin 19, so if your lights come on, you've got it right and you're good to go.
Troubleshooting
No lights? Here are a few things to try:
- Check your wire connections. These screw terminals can be tricky to manage and they break pretty easily. Try using a different set of holes if you think your connections might be the problem.
- Get WLED installed and running on your microcontroller
- Be sure you're connecting to the "input" end of the net and not the "output" end. These nets are directional and will only work if you connect to "in".
- If your lights are on but are super dim or flickering, you may have a powering issue. Try power injection or try using a screw terminal to power the lights directly instead of through the board.
Page last edited February 18, 2025
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