Sp racing f3 evo led lighting connections ?

[aburn09]

Ok so I';ve completely confused myself (not difficult by the way  ).....I have the SP racing f3 evo board and have downloaded the manual to try and figure out how to connect up two strips of 8 rgb leds one set for the front and one for the back.......I';ve watched the YouTube videos on leds for betaflight so am happy that I know how to program them but the problem is where do the three wires ie plus minus and signal wires connect to the board ?
Looking at the manual I have to bridge the square pad and the arrow to the right pad..... but on the manual the picture shows the ';ir-'; pad as number 2 arrow points to yet in the instructions it says the ';ir+'; pad with the square and the right arrow needs to be bridged?
Then once that';s done where do my three wires connect into the board ?
I';ve enclosed some pictures below so if anyone has a clue can you just talk me through it as though you';re talking to a three year old....... hopefully I';ll understand then ? 

[Cheredanine]

Lol
They got you
Notice the board says it supports led strip
NOT Programable led strip

On the bottom you need to solder the two square pads to the two right arrows
This will mean the pin holes on the top have 5v and ground for an led strip but not a signal so no fc controlled one

What you may be able to do it use the resources command to map the led signal to a pad, say for example motor 5 signal pad, (if you can use a spare motor pad you can use he 5v and ground pins near it and then you don';t need to mess around with any solder jumpers)

[aburn09]

  bugger !......I assumed (obviously wrongly) it could take programmable rgb leds.....Dam now I';ll have to use my tried and trusted red and white standard non programmable led strip   

[Cheredanine]

It would definatley be worth reassigning led strip to one of the motor pads using resource command and see if that works

[aburn09]

Thanks Cheredanine.......As per usual can you explain to me in a three year old child how to set that up through the fc and betaflight and do you think they will still be programmable ?
Otherwise like I said I can use my non programmable white and red led  flexible strips I usually use but I just fancied a go at the programmable ones so I now have a pair of them which look like they could be gathering dust 

[Cheredanine]

So a funky new feature of bf (and I think picked up in cf when they adopted the bf code) is the resources command

In short this is how a function is assigned to a pin and thereby to a pad on the flight controller

If you go to the cli and type "resource" it will show you how they are assigned
You can then reassign them
the syntax for the reasgnemnt command is

resource [function name] [index] [pin

function name is like LED_STRIP or motor
Index is where multiple are used, for example motor 1 and motor 2 have e same function but different index,

Pin is the pin out of the fc, it is connected to a specific pad

So let';s say when you type resource, one of the responses was
Resource motor 5 A4

You can then re asigne motor 5 to a different pin (for example the same pin as motor 6 cos you are not using either, or "none"
And then re assign led strip to the motor 5 pads,
I am doing the syntax from memory and you need to find out which pin is connected to which pad first using the resource command, but using the example above:

resource motor 5 none
resource LED_STRIP A4
Save

(Need to check how LEDs are declared when you find the pins out, I think it is LED_STRIP but may be LED or similar)

You should then be able to drive an led strip from the motor 5 pin out without any of that solder jumper thing on the bottom of the board

If you want your plan validated typeresource in the cli and put the output here mate

[aburn09]

Thanks Cheredanine I';ll have a play later to see what damage I can do in the cli........ so if I connect the three servo wires into say motor 5 all the connections I need are there the ground,5v and signal wire and it';s really just the signal wire that needs a new command  to let the fc it';s a led and not a motor one as it has at present  .........that';s what i like/dislike about this hobby just when you think you know what you';re doing a ';spanner is thrown into the works'; and you have to then figure out another way to achieve what was to be an easy way to do something in the first place 

[Cheredanine]

Lol yeah we all know that feeling

That is why I suggested motor 5, it has all three pin outs for an LED strip, the ground and 5v are just there and can be used regardless

It occurs to me that it is possible what Dominic meant in the manual, if you short just one of the two pairs of jumpers (led+ and led- you could use that pad for the signal line for LEDs and powe/ground from other pins, but if that is what he means, it isn';t worded very well

[aburn09]

Cheredanine do you read it that on the reverse of the board you short what I';ve circled as 1 because that';s how I read it according to the diagram, but in the wording it says ir+ which would be what I';ve circled as 2 ? Then are you saying the signal wire is soldered to the pad I';ve just bridged ? Flipping the board over it then has the ir pins +and - which I';ve circled which I assume it';s where the the ground and 5v feed goes to the rgb led light strip?

[aburn09]

 forget that I';ve just realised the ir- and the ir+ on the back relate to the front of the board  :embarrassed........ so getting back do I then short the board at the back circled 1 then the signal could go to that then the plus and minus feed is through the ir holes + and - ?

[Cheredanine]

No mate,
Just dealing with it+ because - will operate the same
The pin out on the top of the board will have continuity to to square pad in the middle on the the bottom, (in your circle 1)

When you solder jumper this you are connecting it to one of two outs on the cpu

I am saying he may have meant jumper the right arrow to the centre will connect a pin from the fc which will have continuity with the right arrow,

That could connect a signal to the ir+ pin out
Doesn';t make sense that there are two
But I would try using the + only, connect the square to the tight arrow in your 1 circle with a solder jumper, and connect the signal wire of your LEDs to the it+ pin out on your top picture
Connect the led + and g to motor 5 + and g and hen try that

If that doesn';t work then use resource to remap and connect the led signal to motor 5 signal

[aburn09]

Yep the penny has now dropped.......regardless put the leds plus and minus feed in motor 5 them first try putting the signal wire in ir+ after bridging the square and right arrow on the back......If that doesn';t work then go into cli and use resourse to remap motor 5 signal wire to led strip.........See finally got there 

[aburn09]

Can';t even get the leds to light up full stop I';ve taken them off the board and plugged all three wires into an old naze but still no life can';t see how the wiring is wrong also tried the other set of lights and they don';t work either ?

[Cheredanine]

That looks ok, are you sure about your 5v supply?

[aburn09]

Cheredanine my multimeter is showing just over 5v on my old naze and the SP f3 evo headers so can';t see why they won';t at least light up ?  also I';ve now burnt through the jumpers at the back trying to solder a very small bridge and it being close to the micro sd card so awkward....... So back to your other idea of going through the motor headers I';ve typed in resource into the cli and got what you can see in the photo now do I change ';resource motor 5 A06'; to A08 or do I do I retype ';resource motor 5 LED_STRIP 1 A08'; ?

[Cheredanine]

Ok mate
You have enabled led feature on the config page on the naze and then set up the LEDs? You had the battery plugged in? (USB won';t power the LEDs)

Anyway

So you can';t share the resource
Motor 5 is currently on A06
LED_STRIP is on A08
To use the motor 5 signal pin to control the led strip you need to move motor 5 off A06 and then move the led strip on to it

So in the cli type
resource motor 5 none
That should move motor 5 off A06 (I think the parameter is "none" might be nil, nada or whatever the developer decided was cool at the time
Assuming that works
The next step is
resource LED_STRIP 1 A06
That should re assign the led to that pad.

Esach of those should get a response that indicates success.
You can check by typing resource again

Next we need to save the settings
Type
save

You will then need to disconnect and power down

Reconnect
Set the led feature on the config tab and set up the LEDs
Power cycle and off you got

[aburn09]

Thanks Cheredanine I';ll have another play tonight I';m just concerned now as to why none of my three sets of brand new rgb light strips work by running a 5v and ground through them ? I know they are programmable but with just power going through them they should still light up white ?

[aburn09]

Cheredanine your knowledge is spot on as usual I have now reconfigured the resource and i have lights  ....... now got to spend time on programming them to do what i want 

[Cheredanine]

Lol well done mate, changing the colours, Larson effect, it never gets boring

[aburn09]

 knew things were going too well    when I';ve connected up my lights I';ve put the front white and back red but watch the video out doesn';t make sense if I hold the back light it goes red but when I put it down it flickers white ???? I';ve unsoldered and resoldered also swapped the lights around but same result ??
https://youtu.be/PH2uigBnMhc

[Cheredanine]

As per other although what is the table you are putting them on made from?