Pironman 5 WS2812 will not respond to any settings

General
1

Situation

  • Running a Raspberry Pi 5 inside a Pironman 5 case.

  • Case LEDs (WS2812 RGB strip) and OLED/fan previously worked fine.

  • After recent updates, the RGB LEDs stopped working.

  • OLED and fan still work normally.

Symptoms

  • I’ve got this error when checking the service:

    rgb_strip init failed:
ws2811_init failed with code -3 (Hardware revision is not supported)

I’ve completely removed and reinstalled via the official docs here: Setting Up on Raspberry Pi OS/Ubuntu/Kali Linux/Homebridge — SunFounder Pironman 5 documentation I’ve also tried the instructions here: GitHub - sunfounder/pironman5: Code for Raspberry Pi 5 case (Pironman5) without success.

git clone https://github.com/sunfounder/pironman5.git
cd pironman5
git checkout tags/1.3.4
sudo python3 install.py


Linux pi5 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-2712 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.47-1+rpt1~bookworm (2025-09-16) aarch64 GNU/Linux

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

The LEDs don’t turn off if I change the configuration to disable them. I’ve tried both Am I missing something? I’ve tried both RGB pin options (10/SPI and 21/PCM), I confirmed SPI is still enabled in raspi-config and checked that /dev/spidev10.0 exists.

Are there instructions for a full uninstalled/reinstall? What is the correct version to use? Any other tests I need to do? I’d rather avoid a full OS install.

2

Please follow the steps in the tutorial below to install the correct software version:

Important: Please install version 1.2.15 of the pironman5 software. Version 1.3.4 is an internal testing branch and is not recommended for use.

Run the following commands to complete the installation:
cd ~
sudo rm -rf pironman5
git clone -b 1.2.15 GitHub - sunfounder/pironman5: Code for Raspberry Pi 5 case (Pironman5) --depth 1
cd ~/pironman5
sudo python3 install.py
If your I/O board has been set to different RGB pins, please move the jumper back to the SPI 10 position.

After the installation is complete, restart your system and check if the RGB LED now works properly.

3

I found the culprit:
dtoverlay=tft35a:rotate=90

I realised I had configuration for a 3.5" TFT screen I tested that’s hogging SPI0

#hdmi_group=2
#hdmi_mode=1
#hdmi_mode=87
#hdmi_cvt 480 320 60 6 0 0 0
#hdmi_drive=2

I see now you have provisions in your documentation for this.

It is fixed now. Thanks for your help.

4

Glad to hear that you successfully located and resolved the issue!
Yes, the RGB LED in the case uses SPI pin 10, and the 3.5" LCD also uses SPI pin 10, so you need to choose one of them

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