# DOT3K White LED bars
**URL:** https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125
**Category:** New Products
**Created:** [October 29, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125 "2014-10-29T19:35:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/1 "2014-10-29T19:35:00Z")
How do you keep the white LEDS permanently off
they’re very bright!
---
### Author:  [@jon](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/jon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/2 "2014-10-30T07:51:58Z")
All of the LEDs on Dot3K (white bar graph and the backlight for the display) are PWM controlled which means you can set them to any brightness you like!
What’s the code you’re running to enable the bargraph LEDs?
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### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/3 "2014-10-30T10:22:42Z")
which code to turn them off completely - is it set\_bar ?
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### Author:  [@jon](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/jon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/4 "2014-10-30T10:51:24Z")
I believe so! With a “value” of 0 the lights should be off completely.
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### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/5 "2014-10-30T12:08:36Z")
I must be missing something -
this code has no effect.
```
backlight.set_bar(8,0)
backlight.set_bar(7,0)
backlight.set_bar(5,0)
backlight.set_bar(4,0)
backlight.set_bar(3,0)
backlight.set_bar(2,0)
backlight.set_bar(1,0)
backlight.set_bar(0,0)
```
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### Author:  [@gadgetoid](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/gadgetoid)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/6 "2014-10-30T12:51:47Z")
How are you turning them on in the first place? Did you run an earlier script that uses them for something?
I fired up an interactive python and I could toggle them on/off like so:
```
sudo python
>>> import dot3k.backlight as bl
>>> bl.set_bar(0,255)
>>> bl.set_bar(0,0)
```
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### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/7 "2014-10-30T13:51:58Z")
I don’t want to toggle them I want them completely off.
running those commands just momentarily flashes them - but they don’t stay off.
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### Author:  [@gadgetoid](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/gadgetoid)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/8 "2014-10-30T14:51:21Z")
Unless you’ve got another script running that’s turning them back on, they shouldn’t be on at all. They’re certainly not turned on by default!
Have you tried shutting down, disconnecting and reconnecting power and trying again? That should eliminate any external factors that might be keeping them turned on.
Under normal circumstances, they should turn off with exactly the commands you listed.
---
### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/9 "2014-10-30T15:16:42Z")
I have nothing else running. they always come on during a reboot
and bl.set\_bar(0,0) has no effect at all other than flashing them on and off?
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### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/10 "2014-11-02T19:44:06Z")
I think I found the problem - it was previous piglow script that was running on boot?
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### Author:  [@aoakley](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/aoakley)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/11 "2014-11-02T20:19:38Z")
Yeah, that’d do it.
The DoT3K does a _lot_ in a small and beautifully formed package (and cheap, too). With I2C, SPI and some GPIO stuff going on, it is very easy to have some residual stuff lying around on your machine from an install of a previous add-on.
I found the best way to trouble-shoot was to put a fresh bare Raspbian install on a spare SD card and test from that.
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### Author:  [@jon](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/jon)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/12 "2014-11-02T20:32:50Z")
Aha! That completely explains it :-)
The backlight and bargraph on DOT3K are powered by the same chip used on PiGlow :-) We used it as we’re familiar with it and it’s a great little LED driver!
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### Author:  [@irnbru](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/irnbru)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/dot3k-white-led-bars/125/13 "2014-11-02T20:47:37Z")
yeah - so worked fine, when I disabled a piglow clock script.
all working good now.
indeed it’s an awesome piece of kit when up and running!