I have an addressable LED that takes in 5V VDD. I want to drive it with my 3V3 micro. The datasheet warns about needing 0.7 * VDD to guarantee the data line will register a high value.
* I've tested with 3V3 and "it works on the bench". Which is to say I can be sure it would work all the time, after age and along all temperatures (-20C to 50C).
* I saw some people say the same, it works "mostly" and the problem goes away when a scope is applied. Meaning it is on the ragged edge of working. But makes me think a discrete component change could help.
* One thought is a 1bit level-translator. Small and cheap, but will cost at least $0.30 between itself at volume, and capacitors, and placement. Not to mention the real estate and extra BOM parts. This is a worst case.
* Another most interesting thought I had was to not drive the two LEDs at 5V, rather 4.7V by putting a series schottky diode on the VDD. Ideally this would be .3V drop... But I fear it wouldn't be linear. That is when the LED is "off" it still draws 1mA, and the schottky might not be linearly dropping .3V. When I am on and drawing 20mA, I could see it being more reliable. If it works mostly at 5V, it seems like 4.7-4.9 would only help.
Is the schottky idea worth doing? I don't think it would heat up much, the cost is reasonable, I don't "need" it on both LEDs but I might want it to ensure the 4.7V LED is the same color as the 5V LED.
Addressables are weird and I don't have a lot of experience with them.