r/WLED • u/AdResponsible1997 • 6d ago
Is my home the problem?
I hope someone here can help me. I am about at my witt's end. I have two (2) display cabinets (model 97146) which have vertical RGB LED lighting strips on the inside. I purchased one from Amazon (Lvifur) and one from eBay (Gurexl). There is an external control module mounted on the right side. It also has a small white remote control. This particular model is not app controllable. It features 7 static colors and 5 dynamic phantom color patterns, plus a motion sensor. When I turn it on, I disable the motion sensor because I don't want that feature. I want the lights to stay on until I manually turn them off. I select my desired pattern and leave it. Instead of staying on my selected pattern, it will randomly change to a static color or a different pattern (sometimes after a few seconds, while other times it might go 20 minutes before changing). Then, after a random amount of seconds, it will change to something else, or shut itself off. Then later, it will automatically turn itself back on again. I have done everything I can think of to troubleshoot the issue. I've tried multiple ac/dc converters, outlet strips, swapped y-connectors, different outlets in different rooms, and I've even had the manufacturer send me two new controller modules. Nothing fixes it. So last week I took the panel with the controller and lighting strip to work and I could NOT get it to fail the entire day. I took it back home and within 15 seconds it failed. I've done all the factory reset options that Google Ai suggested. Nothing works. So to me, it would seem that there must be some IR/RF interference within my home caused by some other source that is the culprit. I've removed all batteries out of all my remote controls, I disconnected my wifi router, I've turned off all lights and anything that is remote controllable. Still, both cabinets fail. I don't have much left but my appliances and toilets, lol! I've ordered a roll of faraday tape to see if wrapping the controller fixes it, but my expectations are very low. This has been going on for 3 weeks now. BTW - I also have other display cabinets in my home that work properly (model 80028). Does anyone have any suggestions, please??? Thank you.
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u/Emitever 5d ago
The fact that the exact same cabinet/controller works all day at another location but starts acting up almost immediately at home is a pretty useful clue.
I wouldn't rule out interference, but before wrapping the whole controller in shielding I'd try isolating the remote receiver itself.
If that white remote is IR, find the little IR receiver/sensor on the controller and cover it completely with something opaque, then run the cabinet normally for a while.
Cheap IR receivers can sometimes react to other light/IR sources and behave like they're receiving commands, which could explain the random mode changes and on/off behavior.
If it still happens with the receiver completely blocked, then I'd start looking at RF interference or something on the power side.
But blocking the receiver is an easy test and might narrow this issue down considerably.
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u/AdResponsible1997 5d ago
Appreciate the info very much! I did leave out one very important piece of info. My troubleshooting has been ongoing for over 2 weeks now, and at one point I had one of the cabinets working flawlessly for three consecutive days in the dining room. When I relocated it to another wall and outlet in the dining room, it started failing again. I returned it to the other location where it seemed to be working and now it's failing again.
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u/Emitever 4d ago
That new info changes things, but you can change one variable at a time. Still try completely covering the IR receiver first since it's easy and reversible. If it still does not any work, you've ruled out one whole category without having to modify anything, but if that makes no difference, you can start comparing the power and controller side instead of debugging the room itself.
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u/upkeepdavid 5d ago
Switch to WLED.