Mystery LED String?

I was at the Space and saw these LED strings…

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They looked like they were 3 wire addressable devices possibly ws2811 based…
Figured I could hook them up to a controller running WLED and hang them in the front windows…
But they don’t seem to like the WS2811 protocol…

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They are setup like the serial addressable LED (each module has an In and an Out)
They are 12V (each module has a 5V regulator)
Rather than the expected WS2811 chip they seem to have a Microchip 16F506 processor…
Wondered if anyone was aware of these and what protocol was used to drive them…

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I’d probably go down this list and try all of the three wire protocols. Pretty old school to have a whole microcontroller for each LED, neat.

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Good idea…
They are kinda old school so may even predate the various WS28xx protocols…

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No luck with any of the signals I can generate with FastLed or the NeoPixel library…
Also tried all the options with a semi-commercial pixel controller (SanDevices E6804)…
Thinking it’s a old commercial product that used a proprietary controller (probably took DMX into the controller) and a proprietary protocol to control the LED modules…
Will keep trying…

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Awesome. I love experiments like this. Looking forward to seeing you crack it/get it working.

I have one of those strings new in their box. I got it at IKEA several years ago. I’ll check if there is a controller on my box.

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Mine is monochrome, so can’t help you. However, I found this:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01N52925W

If you give up trying to figure out the protocol, let me give it a try. This would be fun :slight_smile:

Looks like these are most likely a proprietary system that most likely predate any of the current Pixel protocols…
I do like the form factor and my rebuild them using two of these in each pod:
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Will use the same wire as it forms part of the system to hold the pod together:

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You do have a PIC programmer. Just sayin’…

ya…

briefly thought about that but don’t really feel like spending days trying to disassembly code for a protocol that i have no specs or example of to save myself hours or work to just replace em with WS2811…

not to mention that there are only about 30 lights and i may never see anymore like this…

and the fact i have no skills in PIC assembly coding…
or coding what so ever…

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