I'm following this tutorial to build an Arduino powered RGB led strip controller but I'm facing two problems:
- When I use
digitalOutput
the lights are too dim. - When I use
PWM
the leds change so slightly that I can barely detect a change.
These are the parts I'm using:
- Wemos D1 mini
- a USB cable to power the Wemos
- 1k ohm resistors
- TIP31c transistors
- A power outlet 12V 1A to power the strip (which works fine with the original controller unit)
The circuit connected as presented in the tutorial (like the circuit below) doesn't work, the board does not start.
If I disconnect the board GND from the outlet GND then the board starts but the leds are too dim to be visible
What am I doing wrong?
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
esp8266
- it may be worth noting, that the PWM range for esp8266 is 0...1023, whereas I believe arduino has a range of 0...255 - so, if your code only uses a range up to 255, you're only using 1/4 of maximum, hence ... DIM :p