RGB string problems

I've gotten two of those "chain letter drive" strings, that have the 3 LED modules made to light sign letters, but all the corner stores are now using them to basically replace neon tubes in the windows. The ones I got are 2811-2 "smart" strings (each module has its own address).

It said they were waterproof (and sometimes they are used on the outside of stores), so I placed them on the railings of the steps to the house. This was last weekend, and we had two big rainstorms (plus the cold). Now, one of the strings (which consist of 20 modules on a 16 ft string), will only follow the program from the controller for the first 8 modules, while the rest stay solid white. I swapped controllers between the two strings, and the same one does the same thing.

So what would cause an RGB string to goo 3/5ths white, and can anything be done about it?

RGB go white when all 3 colors are ON. Either the controller has an issue or all the connections/wires on all three colors are shorted together and power is being supplied to one of the colors which are shorted to the other 2.
Not knowing how they are wired I haven't a clue how to fix it. It may be there was water damage inside of the box perhaps the panels of LEDs slid down making contact somehow or something.

This is the whole thing right here:


JST connectors, three wire string, which IIRC is the 2812.

Where would the shorting of the colors occur? the pins in the connector? (tries cleaning those).
I looked closely at the modules, and they do look watertight. Again, I swapped controllers, and the same string had the issue. What do you mean panels of LED's; fo you mean the board inside the module?

It may be the "data" line. It is very sensitive to capacitive and inductive coupling. The addition of water could cause all sorts of data interference. If water did get into the system, it could be corrupting the data at the connections or worse yet, underneath the silicon coating. Dry it out the best you can and see if the problems go away. I have a bunch of the WS2812B strips and just holding the insulated data line in my hand can cause the colors to change.

More rain caused both of them to fritz out, but then the one that was good before started working right again, and other other one is just doing different things sometimes all white, then it seems random colors,
I noticed, if I tap the controller, then it will change.

What silicon coating are you referring to; the wires? I don't see where the water would get in, other than those connectors, and then, there's really nowhere else for it to go.

EricB said:

More rain caused both of them to fritz out, but then the one that was good before started working right again, and other other one is just doing different things sometimes all white, then it seems random colors,
I noticed, if I tap the controller, then it will change.

What silicon coating are you referring to; the wires? I don't see where the water would get in, other than those connectors, and then, there's really nowhere else for it to go.

Click to expand...

If water is causing issues then you may need to use something to seal it out completely. You could try putting the affected parts in a bowl of rice with an incan bulb over it and letting it sit for a few hours and see if the heat draws any moisture out.
Liquids can interfere with capacitance touch controls I've had to take apart several remotes to clean and dry them out as they would hardly work.

After the first night (last weekend), when we had that heavy rain here, I did the rice thing (no heat source), and it worked, but then there was another heavy rain I didn't know was coming, and that's when one of them seemed did the 3/5 white thing. Then another lighter rain, and both were messing up.
Now, tonight, they seem to be both working, and it's below freezing, but dry. Go figure.

I tried tying a small bag over one of the connectors, but that didn't work; so maybe I have to place it over the whole controller?
What is the "capacitance touch control"? Is that what kind of controller these are? (As for the remotes, they stay inside, of course, so they're not the problem).