The New Hotness

Even though I’m using what seem to be good-quality parts, one of the WS2812 RGB LEDs in a Glass Tile frame died:

Glass Tile - 2x2 - first WS2812B failure — Glass Tile – 2×2 – first WS2812B failure

It passed the Josh Sharpie Test:

Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB unknown — Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB unknown

After building the third Glass Tile unit, one of the LEDs didn’t light up due to an easily diagnosed problem:

Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB cold solder - as found — Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB cold solder – as found

A closer look:

Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - PCB cold solder — Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – PCB cold solder

Shortly thereafter, the Nissan Fog Lamp developed an obvious beam problem:

Nissan Fog Lamp - failed WS2812 effect — Nissan Fog Lamp – failed WS2812 effect

The WS2812 had the proper voltages / signals at all its pins and was still firmly stuck to the central “heatsink”:

Nissan Fog Lamp - failed WS2812 detail — Nissan Fog Lamp – failed WS2812 detail

It also passed the Josh Sharpie Test:

Glass Tile - WS2812 failure - tape - unknown — Glass Tile – WS2812 failure – tape – unknown

I’m particularly surprised by this one, because eleven of the twelve flex-PCB WS2812s in the Hard Drive Platter light have been running continuously for years with no additional failures.

The alert reader will note the common factor: no matter what substrate the LED is (supposed to be) soldered to, no matter when I bought it, no matter what it’s wired into, a WS2812 will fail.

They’re all back in operation:

Although nobody knows for how long …

Obviously, it’s time to refresh my programmable RGB LED stockpile!

The New Hotness

More WS2812 Failures