WS2812B LEDs: power consumption? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2022, 01:46:30 am
content: For those who have worked with those WS2812B programmable LEDs, would you have any figures for their power consumption? The datasheet (at least the one I have, from "Worldsemi"), doesn't give any figure for that.Would like to know what the current draw @5V is, at least for the two cases: LED powered but completely OFF, (all 3 values zero) and LED powered and all 3 colors full ON (all 3 values at the maximum.)

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2022, 11:28:34 pm
content: I guess I'll have to measure that myself. Weird that it's not documented. I have ordered some.

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 12:45:14 am
content: On their product pages for NeoPixels, Adafruit say that each WS2812B consumes approximately 60mA when all 3 colours are on fully:https://www.adafruit.com/product/1376.And indeed, the version of the datasheet linked on that page shows (under "LED characteristic parameter" section) that each of R, G, and B LEDs consumes 20mA each. But there are so many versions of the WS2812B datasheet over the years, so the contents vary. That datasheet seems to be from 2012, but the "version 5" datasheet I have from 2019 says 12mA.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 01:27:04 am
content: Ah thanks. The version I have states uh, nothing!I suspect that there may be a lot of different versions of those actual LEDs as well, with different characteristics. I have ordered from two different places actually, so I'll see if there is such a wide difference.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 08, 2022, 03:39:59 am
content: My recollection is that each color is rated for 20mA max, and they use analog current limiting so the draw from the supply will be 20mA * 3 colors for all colors fully on.

author: rooppoorali
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2022, 09:53:39 am
content: Here is some info about the power consumption of WS2812B LEDs:https://randomnerdtutorials.com/guide-for-ws2812b-addressable-rgb-led-strip-with-arduino/https://forum.arduino.cc/t/reducing-ws2812b-power-consumption/322007

author: Ranayna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2022, 10:55:43 am
content: Small datapoint, and also a couple of years old.A grid of 100 WS2812 LEDs that i build took more than 5 Amps on full brightness when white was set.I suspect the dinky wires i used back then may also have been a limiting factor

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2022, 06:54:41 pm
content: Thanks. There just seems to be a lot of variants of those LEDs out there, so they are not all identical.From all gathered material, looks like it's in the 10mA - 20mA range for each color of one LED, so from 30mA to 60mA per RGB LED at full intensity.

author: FinOminal
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 10, 2024, 12:22:30 am
content: A purchase from RayWu in 2014 (assuming world semi WS2812B chip)Measured on Fluke 179 multimeterAdafruitNeoPixel library in Arduino//codeAdafruit_NeoPixel pixels = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);pixels.setBrightness(255);pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(255,0,0));All On: 42.61maGreen: 14.08maRed: 14.71maBlue: 14.28maAll Off: 0.5ma