Building a Setup using multiple Stripes/Segments

[heeeeeenerika]

Hey,
I was wondering about how to possibly built a solid an stable Ambilight Setup, not just with LEDs behind the TV, but also at other locations in the room, for example under the TV console, or on the sides next to the TV (yes I've watched a lot of Chris Maher's Videos).

I read through few discussions and your manuals to HyperSPI, and at first I wanted to ask if it's correct, when using only HyperSPI, to connect all of my seperate LED Stripes to only one ESP32 (or a different controller) and compile my own firmware for that (where I set my PINs and stuff for the seperate segments/stripes).
If that's right, I think I would have to boost each data signal from 3,3 to 5V seperately, right?
Can I also connect a stripe to the ESP32 that is further away, like up to 2-3 meters? Or maybe even more? I am wondering how far I can go in reality with a boosted data signal (I am using SK6812 60 LEDs/m Stripes, dont' know if that's important for this question).

Another possibility for this distance-problem would be of course WLED. But when I tried that, for me, the latency was too high, even when I told the raspberry to open an own hotspot, with that the ESP connected to.
In the Videos of Chris Maher it all seems to work fine (I think he only uses WLED as controller for his stripes), so maybe I am missing something? But I am also just not feeling good about using WLED (or other network based protocols) on something that needs to have a very low latency. And it just seems to be more prone for problems.

Maybe you have some recommandations on how to build this kind of Ambilight Setup in a clean, solid and stable way.

Thanks in advance for your answers/thoughts :)

[awawa-dev]

Hi
You are completely right about WiFi and WLED being a gamble. Environmental interference and the varying quality of cheap AliExpress ESP boards make it hard to get perfect real-time sync. There is an alternative lightweight driver called Hyperk that strips out the WLED bloatware, though it currently only supports a single segment.

Regarding the distance, NeoPixel data is very sensitive to noise and usually fails beyond a meter without a level shifter. Without one, you are operating right on the edge of the official spec. If your power supply slightly boosts the voltage, the LED's logic threshold shifts because it is based on the supply voltage, and the strip will stop recognizing the data signal entirely. Even with a level shifter, EMI will be a challenge for NeoPixel protocols at those distances.

In this specific case, where the challenge is the long distance, HyperSerialPico (there are boards with build-in level shifters and all rp2040 support high speed serial communication over USB-CDC) or HyperSerialESP32 (pay attention to ESP UART specification) might be a more optimal solution than HyperSPI. It completely avoids latency issues, USB connection over few meters should not be a problem and natively supports multi-segment setups for up to two segments if that fits your plan. Multi-segment always require to compile your own firmware for selected pins/gpio.