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The DigiX => DigiX Support => Topic started by: dlmorgan999 on October 18, 2014, 02:34:46 pm

Title: Power issue
Post by: dlmorgan999 on October 18, 2014, 02:34:46 pm
I am working on an LED project using the DigiX.  I have a total of 260 LPD8806 LEDs.  I'm using an external 5V 10A power supply.  I have a cable coming from the power supply that feeds both the 5V and ground lines on the 4-pin cable to the LEDs, and also feeds the DigiX via the VIN and GND pins right next to pin 54 (SPCK1).

Here is the issue.  If I connect the external power, I get odd behavior on the LED string - not all LEDs light, and the patterns don't change as expected (as a point of information, these LEDs use hardware SPI and I'm connecting to pins 75 and 76 for that).  The moment I connect a USB cable to my laptop though (in addition to the external power that is already connected), everything starts working just fine.

Can anyone help?
Title: Re: Power issue
Post by: dlmorgan999 on October 18, 2014, 06:46:12 pm
In researching this further, my suspicion is that with an external 5V regulated power supply, I should be using one of the pin marked 5V (3 pins away from what I'm using now).   The image on the Kickstarter page labels that pin as "3.4-5.5V Input or 5V Out".

That is a bit confusing to me (how can a pin be either input or output voltage?).  I'm guessing the VIN pin I'm using goes through the onboard regulator, and it's probably not happy with < 6V, but I'd still like to hear confirmation from someone before I make any changes.
Title: Re: Power issue
Post by: digistump on November 08, 2014, 05:55:52 pm
Yes a 5V supply should be fed into the 5V pin (and ground to ground) - your just bypassing the 5V regulator then