DigQuad DIY RGB LED Controller - Setup Software & Wiring Connections
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ย. 2020
- The DigQuad is a DIY RGB LED controller that was initially designed to be built at home. We have been selling pre-assembled versions and that has made them available to a wider range of people. Not everyone has the experience to just look at it and know how to connect it. So it seemed like a good idea to put out a short vid about how to wire it up. Also, there have been some reports of problems with programming the ESP32 that comes with the pre-assembled DigQuad. Since not everyone is familiar with how to load WLED on the ESP32, I thought I better include that too.
So here it is!
Buy the DigQuad (USA): www.drzzs.com/shop
(CANADA): www.xgeeks.ca
(Anywhere else in the World): quinled.info/pre-assembled-qu...
WLED: github.com/Aircoookie/WLED/re...
EPShomeFlasher: github.com/esphome/esphome-fl...
NodeMCU-pyflasher: github.com/marcelstoer/nodemc...
RGB Pixie Lights: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AkL9lk
Social Media:
Discord DrZzs - discord.me/drzzs
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Page: DrZzs
Message: m.me/DrZzs
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Discord Home Assistant - / discord
Twitter: / dr_zzs
Instagram: / drzzs - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I love the live streams but videos like this are so welcome when trying to follow along to try and achieve a desired result. Thanks for the great videos that help us follow along on this journey with you!
Agree with this comment 100%.
Great video now I am going to get the Dig Quad to go along with my Dig Uno.
Thank you very many again!
Thanks Doc!
You must be a teacher in your daily life because you are very good at keeping things simple yet informative. Very good video.
One question I have is why would you want to use a separate power supply for the ESP32 when one supply will suffice for both the lights and the board?
Good question.
I have the same question. 🙂
Note that this video is a bit dated. Current digiquads don't have the voltage jumpers. The board automatically does the right thing, and there are other minor differences in the newer versions.
WLED is the best 👍👍
Great content! Could you do a similar video with the uno and quad that demo how to connect strips that have a clock pin? And perhaps when and why you may want to use such a strip?
-really nice video,I love it,with one in you opinion is the best home led control with more lights effects ,also the power suppy,thanks
Great info DrZzs. Thanks.
With this setup, how far away can your first LED Pixel be from your controller before you see data issues? THANKS!
I like the way you talk, 😊 great vid, helped me alot, now i only need to know how i can extend tje Initial data wire, because the dig quad is about 2 meters away from tje beginning of the first strip. 😅😅
I ordered one the other day. It said it was on back order. Do you know when this may ship? Thanks for your help and great videos!
So of I had 3 strands that wanted to do the same thing at the same time could I connect each strand to 3 of the data ports?
Great informative video on the Digiquad setup DrZzs! I have a question that pertains to it and just your general setup in your garage. Since i am new to this LED thing can you show and go over in a video what you did with the your own personal setup and how you have it installed in the garage? Specifically how you have the large external power supply with the cooling fan and the Digiquad and any other items for your outdoor permanent LEDs setup. What I mean is it all installed in a large box on the garage wall with a hole and filter for cooling for the external power supply and all the low voltage wires for the LED strips and voltage injection run out that box to the outside? Or is everything screwed separately on a wall in the garage? I am just curious on how to best keep all the sensitive electrical equipment organized and kept clean from dirt and dust that most garages naturally have accumulate in it like my garage does... Anyways, thanks for all you do my man.
What about 5vEXT mode using 5v input power for each the LED's and the board separately?
Is this possible?
Great video! I believe the multichannel version of the software was limited to 300 LEDs per data output. Is there a simple way to increase this? Was hoping to do 900 on one data output and 300 on a second one.
Do you know If There is documented the advantages of esp32 vs 8266 when it comes to wled? Is the increse in Speed worth it? I understand that multistring could be better on the 32? I run many d1s with wled and it works but they can sometimes feel a bit sluggish. Thanks for another great video!
Yeah, multi-channel really requires an ESP32 to work well. Other then that advanced stuff such as Audio Reactive, E1.31 and such all benenfit from the extra speed en memory of the ESP32.
Assuming you are using a 5v power supply for just the processor (5v EXT), how would I wire a relay to turn off / on the larger power supply to conserve energy and reduce fan noise?
How do I controle the Dig-Quad with the wled phone app?
how many input amps can it handle at 5 volts or how many amps can it handle on output
What type of led lights can I control with this device? Thanks!
Awesome channel!!! One question how far can your pixel be from the dig quad ?
Hey Dr. ZZs, QQ -- when adding an external power supply (12v 20A), do I wire the 3 power outputs to the digquad, or just 1 and use the other 2 for power injection direct down the line?
I like that you point out to check that the USB cable has the data wires. The first time I tried flashing WLED onto the D1 from my DigUno I spent an hour trying to figure out why the serial port wasn't showing up. I tried different OSes, I looked for alternative drivers and I plugged it into every USB port I could find all before realizing that the cable I grabbed didn't have the data wires connected. I felt like a fool. So yeah, I can attest that checking that your USB cable carries data may save you some time.
That's how I found out about the data wires too... the hard way :)
I have found that some poor quality cables may have the data lines and connect ok, but often error out when trying to flash. So like DrZzs, I mark a known good cable and keep around just for flashing stuff. (Another hard way lesson)
I once spent about an hour trying to figure out why the wifi on my raspberry pi 3B wouldn't connect... turns out it was a 2B ... checking is critical in saving time!
I bought a device called "is it me or usb" simple little board with an onboard battery you plug both ends on the cable into it, if it has data it will light all the led's on it to confirm. You would think that once you have a cable that works you would have it always ready but I can never find mine when I need it
I had to download drivers for my PC for ESPHome-flasher to work with the Esp32 board.
I can not find the download for esp32 multi ??
Hi, this support the signal clock for the strip leds on data and clock ?
What is the difference between DigQuad vs ESP8266? Thanks
Where do I find the multichannel WLED you mention in the video? I can't find any firmware on the quinled site.
I have the esp 8266 and I'm trying to use esp home flasher and it is not showing up at all in my serial port now I am lost. Help pls
What are the other power input terminals for? It does not seem logical that you put several power supplies parallel to eaohother, does it?
I’ve used both the pin16 version and the 300 version and they appear to flash okay, however the WLED-AP does not show up. I’m powering the ESP with the same cable used to flash it and the red LED on the board is glowing brightly, but I’m unable to find the AP. I had assigned a static IP address to the MAC address of the ESP and looking for that IP address, I still can’t find the WLED-AP. I had previously flashed a UNO and the AP came up perfectly. What have I done wrong with the Quad?
What is the benefit or why would you isolate power to the esp32 chip
Thanks for providing great videos on led lighting, very informative and very helpful for beginners like myself. I apologize in advance if this question is silly/stupid but what wire thickness (AWG) do you use on your DC barrel plug for the 12V power?
Probably 14-16 AWG.
jascoautomotive.com/automotive-wire-amperage-capacity-chart/
Do you have a video (sorry didn't see one) showing WLED in action when you connect multiple data outputs?
Is it safe to disable the brightness limiter if you have 4 led strips connected multi channel?
If you have led with 4 wires do the middle 2 go in the data slots?
Hi. Where can I find wiring the DigUno
What size wire should I use from the power supply to the dig quad v3? The power supply sits in the same box as the dig quad.
Can It step down from 12V in to 5v . Say for a auto/Motorcycle install where I have a 12V-ish coming in but don't want to use just the step down transformer?
Thanks for the post. I've been curious about what I could do with a quad. Would enjoy if you could go into a little more detail about using the multi channels. Does it act like 4 individual WLED boards? Or do they sync automatically? Run concurrent?
Also, what's a real world use case for separate power supply to the esp? I'm not sure I see an advantage to that?
You can either treat the 4 ports as one giant LED strip with perfect sync between them, allowing you to run much higher amounts of LEDs then with a single data port. Or you can divide it up to act like 4 independent LED strips and do all different things or some mixes between those scenarios, but there are limits to that.
First, Digital LEDs still use a little bit of power, even when the LEDs are turned off, then, most often this is useful when you have like a 40Amp 5v or 12v supply for the LEDs, you'd connect a relay to the board and run that big power supply through it on the AC side. Then you take an old 5v phone charger and connect that to 5vEXT. This way the board stays online and then big power supply can be turned off when the lights are off.
@@IntermitTech nice! Thanks for the reply Quinn!
I was wondering when using the quad how far can a run power and data to the first led. say i wanted to put the controller and power in the garage and wire it out to my roof using the dig quad. Learning still thanks in advance
Hey first off would like to say just about all your videos are great/very informative. I tried your discord to ask this question but either i posted in the wrong place or got overlooked (not sure never used it before). i was wondering in regards to power injection. I have about 70-80' of roof line that was trying to cover with 5 strips of the ws2812b and a 60 watt power supply. If my math is correct i would be running the power supply at about 75% which should be ok but not sure every how often i should do the power injection, whether i can use just one run of +&- 20 or 22 awg wire or if i would need to run a separate line for each (or can i run maybe a 10awg to the beginning of the run and then split off from there?
If i preorder the DigQuad is there any chance it might come in before christmas?
Sorry for the extensive comment
Any news on a timeline for when the DigQuads will be available this year?
So this can have up to 4 led strips from one esp32? Is there some sort of best practice for how to do this? Have one control board per led strip, have them daisy chained?
How many strips can each channel hold?
Brownout error might be prevented by not using a front usb on ur computer, but by hooking it up to the back of the pc ;)
FYI... for anyone having trouble with esphome flasher not seeing your ESP32 com port, you have to download a bridge driver from here first: www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers#software
Will the new Dig Quad with a E1.31 Ethernet port run and play with Xlights?
What file do I need to use with WLED 12 or 13 beta? I can't get my leds to turn on with them.
Can the DigQuad"V3 work SW 2811 string lights
i have one were do i get the software to install on it as i would like to use the temp that is built on it to use it
It comes with wLED installed. No other software needed.
th-cam.com/video/vv79f2SShys/w-d-xo.html
why my spe826 not being detected by my computer when I connect it ? only the blue light comes on but is not detected on my computer..
Great video. The only thing I would have thought to address would have been the power in equals power out concept that Quindor talks about on his site. That kind of confuses me. - For example, I couldn’t possibly use all power outs with one 12VDC power in, could I?
Not sure I fully get what you mean, but yes, you can connect up to 3x positive and 3x negative into the board and then it acts as a power distribution panel and fuse panel so you can do up to 7x injections to the LED strip. The board is rated for 30Amps continuous with up to 50Amp peak.
I have a v3 quad and it doesn't have any jumpers on it, say's auto input voltage 5v-24v. Have you seen this new version? I don't want to fry my board before I even get started
What is the purpose of having the ability to power the ESP32 separately with its own power supply?
love the idea but my quad's 32 board is DOA??? It lights up red however both flashers or my computer won't recognize the 32? The only recognition I get is my computer saying USB DEVISE NOT RECOGNIZED it says it malfunctioned and does not recognize it? Even tried a bridge driver. HELP???
Would I be able to use 24v adressable strips with this board, if I use it's own 5/12v powesupply for the ESP32? I can run 10m with out power injection on the 24v strips, would be nice I could use this board for future projects. :)
Hey!! Just wondering if the DigQuads will be back in stock for the holiday season?
I received my New Quad WLED and flashed as directed on my MAC with WLED_0.11.1_ESP32.bin and no longer comes up only WIFI search to connect. Any ideas?
Can I use the DIG-QUAD with Xlights?
Can you use all three power inputs on the dig quad from one power supply? Or should just one pair of negative and positive from the power supply be enough?
I watched a video that Quindor did and he recommended filling all the inputs on quad with all the outputs from power supply.
SO... when can we expect the DigQuad to be in stock?
Awesome video! Quick question, I'm going to be injecting quite a long string of leds. Can I inject straight from a power supply and not use the power outputs on the dig-quad? Thanks
You can, yes, but then your injection lines would not be fuse protected and you'll also need to do some for power distribution (as in, where to screw in the wires).
So there is no need to power inject from your 60amp power supply directly when using the dig power outlets
Does it matter if im using a laptop or desktop. Cant seem to get it tonshow up in the serial port but under control panel it will show cp2104 usb to kart bridge controller. Not very techy tech. Am I doing something wrong.
First of all, let me just say that your videos are very helpful and second of all, I have been looking for the Dig-uno and the Dig-quad controllers but I have had no luck finding them online. Could you please help me?
I'm starting my project and bought addressable 12v led for arches. What is the maximum per channel and at what distance I should add power?
There’s no absolute right answer for those questions. Each channel can handle 800 LEDs just fine. You can push it higher but as you add more LEDs per channel you’ll see decreases in performance. Mostly as lower fps, so choppy transitions or stuttering. When you need to add power is also variable. It depends on the size of your wire, the which effect is being displayed, which colors and what brightness level. If you’re set on solid white at 100% brightness then after about 200-250 pixels you’ll probably see dimming, which means you need to add power. With an effect like Colortwinkle with a brightness of less than 50% you could have all 800 LEDs on the channel work fine with no extra power injection. What I do is either expect I’m going to need power injection and just run the extra wires or assume I won’t need it and wire it all up, turn it on and look for dimming. If I see signs that I need more power THEN I will add it. Hope that helps.
Excellent video! One question - what pin/header will control a relay for separate power supplies? (small power keeps the board awake all the time, and big power only comes on when the lights are on).
It's suggested to use Q3, there is a pinout table here: quinled.info/2020/07/02/quinled-dig-quad-pinout/ so you see which pins do what and can custom compile WLED is needed.
@@IntermitTech Wow, I'm going to have to learn how to do that. Any suggestions on where to start? I'm curious why this wouldn't be included in WLED like it is on the Uno. If I figure it out I'll be sure to share the code. It's not like Q3 is being used for anything else, and you've got that nice header pin right there for it :)
@@gnospanker Problem lies in the ESP8266 vs ESP32, pins are correct for the ESP8266 but with a ESP32 on top of it, the pins change. I'm working on getting custom compiled versions available at some point. :)
@@IntermitTech that'd be awesome thank you!
Why are there 3 positives and 3 negatives for led power input on the board? You used one of those pairs, what are the other two used for?
Power injection for long strings, other strings, etc.
Couldn't see the URL for the 4 channel drivers because your logo was in the way and it's not in the description. Can you post that URL?
@@IntermitTech Thanks. I finally found it. 👍
Who did the layout design of this board? Why is the data connector under the processor board? OMG, where did you people get the connectors on the DigQuad board? It got the worst screws. I had to go through six screw drivers to find one that worked hardly ( i.e., watch type screw driver). It would be nice to include a page with a simple wiring diagram and web links on how to wire it and use the WLED program with the assembled boards (not everyone has a technical background or capacity of locating setup data on Internet). Thanks for working and producing this board and its associated WLED. It appears to function well compared to my other three Chinese made LED controllers which sometimes miss turning-on some LED lights (or colors) and could make one to wonder, if the LED strip is defective. I guess, it is really good to have the built-in level shifter on the board. Thanks so much...
Oh wow, sad to hear you are having so much issues with the terminals! In design, choices always need to be made and since most people generally don't change their wiring every day, having them under the ESP32 module generally isn't too much of an issue. If you are building DIY you could also swap out those data connections for a pluggable style connector if you'd like!
Wiring diagrams can be found here: quinled.info/2020/10/03/quinled-dig-quad-wiring-guide/
Hope it helps!
Wondering why there is 3 terminals for power, anyone know?
I ordered 2 dig-quad a few days ago and it still has not processed out of my account yet. I was wondering if you knew when or about how long it will be before I would receive them. Sorry to bug you. This is my first time every working with leds and I am anxious about getting them up and running. I should the lights in a week or so. I’m sure I will have other questions as I go lol. I really appreciate the help.
would be nice if WLED supported esp8285
so I have a problem, I ordered a power supply I think it's too big? 5V at 60A can I convert somehow or will I need to buy 2 smaller power supplies?
Power supplies have the ability to put out lots of power, like 60amps on your model, but they will only USE what the lights need or "ask for". You should be fine with the large power supply. Usually when having a small load on a large power supply it will run more efficiently and cooler.
correct me if wrong, I kept on seeing you connect 12v to the main LED power supplies, only time you mentioned 5V was for the dedicated power to the ESP chip, via the 5V input points,
what id LED's are 5V based ?
Ignore played it again... :)
Thank you for your explanation. I have one question: When I use the sk6812 leds, do I have the same features as a ws2812 strip but with a white channel?
Won't I lose some features in competition with the ws2812 strips?
And if I use the sk6812 strips is it recommend to use an esp32 instead of an 8266?
Sorry for a maybe stupid question :). I saw a video where I understood the sk6812 could only show white colors with wled. I just want to be sure before ordering😉.
RGBW is fully supported and works in all the same ways as ws2812b except that you have 4rth white channel you can control separately. No limitations other then that the recommended amount of LEDs per channel is a bit lower since each LED takes 4 "bits" instead of 3 "bits". So where normally I'd recommend 500~600LEDs per channel to keep a good update rate (60FPS) with sk6812 RGBW this is more around ~400LEDs per channel.
@@IntermitTech Thank you. Now I can order the strip without risking that it won't work ;)
I just got mine from China and it will not power on. The esp8266 at first turned on and ,the blue light , but after the first time trying to light some led it stopped working. I had 2 spare 8266 and tried those and again they'll light up when plugged in the computer once I plug them in the diguno they stop working.
is it possible to wire it up so that when you power on the ESP32 the LED powersupply comes on and when you shut dowon the ESP32 the LED powersupply goes off? Or can you toggle the LED powersupply on and off through the WLED software?
The best way to get help is to join the discord server linked in the description in my videos.
what about the other 3 data ports can this be controlled independent from each other or why would i need a quad instead of a uno ?
Yes the extra three data ports are to be used with the multi channel fork of wled, this allows you to run four different strips simultaneously with different effects
The video covers the alternate bin file to use all 4 digital outputs as well.
@@andrewmanning3941 can you also sync all 4 to run the same?
The way my house is I can’t really start at one end, I plan to start kind of in the middle and have 3 lines split out in different directions.
So this means I can get some 12v adressable let's and have the controller powered separately on 5v. . great ..
What would be the drop voltage comparison between 5v and 12v for let's say 10 MTRS wiring before the led strip ?
I'm trying to centralize several of these controllers or nodemcu's and the Lee's would be 10 mtrs away .. 20x1 MTR strips of let's on a different level of the house ?
Come to the DrZzs Discord and we should be able to help. discord.gg/g8VrPtVg
Well the ESP work with x lights? If so the ESP with the digiquad would be four channels?
My understanding is yes will work with Xlights
Hey man, great video. Exactly what I was looking for. But why and how would you use other data wires? Would you send a second data wire to a completely different string? Can you send a second data wire to a string that already has a data wire from the first data terminal. How far can a data wire go before you get to much voltage drop? Does 12 volt lights have a 5 or 12 volt dat@ wire?
A good place to ask this question is with the Pixelheads on my Discord Channel: discord.gg/8gvF67h
hello ... from Italy 🤗. I was wondering how many LED pixels does the dig support for each channel? thank you so much
as many pixels as you want since you are only sending signal to the pixels.
just make sure to change the amount of led on the wled setting if that is the app that you are using to control the led
How far can I run a wire for the data going to a line from the quad. I have 50 feet of lights(300 pixles), a jump about 13 feet to the roof line to about 15 feet(90 pixels), another jump that's about 7 feet to the other 50 feet (300 pixels) of lights. In the past, I have used two cheap controllers. The data couldn't take the first jump. However , the second controller would be connected to the first 20 feet of the roofline and survived the 7 foot jump. Switching to the quad and curious.
The best way to get answers to this sort of stuff is to join the discord channel. There are lots of people to help. It is just really difficult to troubleshoot over comments.
after I flash it I cannot see the WLED-AP on my laptop or my Mac. I have tried so many times... please help!!!
Try to flash again. You may need to refresh your wireless clients list or turn off wifi then back on again on your computer.
My new DigQuad doesn't have the jumpers on it. It has L1 L2 L3 L4. I'm not getting any power to lights. Board has been reflashed and is connected. What should I check next?
When you flashed it did you use install.quinled.info/ ? That will preset all the outputs to the correct pins.
The newer versions no longer require moving a jumper.
I must be doing something incorrect. I can't get more than two strips of lights to work.
I have six WS2812b (150lights) strips connected to each other, tried power injecting still can't get more than two strips of lights to work. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Tried dialing in the settings, but still no luck.
Might need to check your WLED Settings. Make sure you have the appropriate number of LEDS entered as well as power.
Hello I buy a quinled board from the store but the leds are not turning on even when I have 5 volt coming out, I try to reach out trough the store contact but got no answer. Can you please help me! Thank you
did you get this resolved? I answer every inquiry from the store contact form.
I have a question, what about if I need two power supplies
Keep all the (-) dc leads connected to each other and all earth grounds connected to each other.
hi there,
i just got the dig-quad board but i'm having trouble with the ports out puts.
i trying to use it on my mega tree and star. i have 496 pixels on my tree and 50 for the star. i set up the board with 546 total and tried to segment them in two. i used led port 1 just for the tree and led 2 for the star. the tree is working fine but i can't get the star to work. it lights up white but nothing else.
Did you custom compile the multi-channel mod firmware with those amount of LEDs? Then it should work fine: quinled.info/2020/09/06/quinled-dig-quad-alpha-multi-channel-wled/
Does the multi channel mod firmware come already installed on the digiquads or do I have to install that
Is there a guide for Alexa integration for WLED?
I'm looking for it too..
Come to the DrZzs Discord and we should be able to help. discord.gg/g8VrPtVg
thanks for the explanation. Is there a matching stl file for 3D printing?
I haven't seen a case for the DigQuad yet. Someone will hopefully design one soon.
www.thingiverse.com/thing:4593484
@@mrbilky cool, thank you, I couldn't find it under the name quin led quad.
what sort of tablet is being used to control the WLED as WLED is an app not a program as far as i know.
Well i tried, got power out the the output of the board , but no lights, seems easy but it isnt.
And have no idea about all the wireless stuff.
Well no one seems to look here, seems i blew the board up somehow, now cant connect, the discord is so messy for this and really couldn't figure it out at all, time to try something new.
Arrrrg!!!! I tested my new QUAD using 5v system and 12v system. Both worked well. I did notice my QUAD’s data slot 2 and 3 are reversed. Doesn’t really matter now as I think I smoked something when hooking QUAD up outside for final install. I forgot to switch jumper back to 12v from 5v. I’m seeing the blue led on board light up. But when I put WiFi chip on, blue light shuts off. (I confirmed WiFi chip still powers on by plugging into puter). I do get 12v out to the lights....I just don’t get lights. Can this be fixed, or will I need to purchase another QUAD??? Thanks for any help!
The 5v side works. Although no lights on board or esp32, I do get 12v reading from output terminal going to lights?
I would like to frame my main living room window.. total length needed is 39.5 meters. I really like the idea of a cob articulated bright LED light strip, but would really not have to rely on boosters..or at the very most 2. 24v is ok. Can someone please help with a solution, suggestion, or point me in a general direction? Thank in advanced everyone.
Can you do USB?
Will it work with 5V WS2811 strings?
yes
Is it possible to just do a network reset without losing my other settings? My WiFi changed and I can’t connect now. 😢
The best way to get answers to questions like this is to join the discord channel. There are lost of knowledgable people there that can answer questions. It can be difficult to troubleshoot via TH-cam comments.