diff --git a/firmware/src/board/heltec_v4.rs b/firmware/src/board/heltec_v4.rs
index 5603bea2..ae52f316 100644
--- a/firmware/src/board/heltec_v4.rs
+++ b/firmware/src/board/heltec_v4.rs
@@ -77,11 +77,18 @@ impl LoRaBoard for Board {
         let i2c = mcu::init_i2c(p.I2C0, p.GPIO17, p.GPIO18);
         let display = Some(DisplayParts { i2c });
 
-        // WS2812B RGB LED on GPIO38 via RMT channel 0
-        let rmt = Rmt::new(p.RMT, Rate::from_mhz(80))
-            .expect("RMT init")
-            .into_async();
-        let led_channel = rmt.channel0
+        // WS2812B RGB LED on GPIO38 via RMT channel 0.
+        // Wrap in ManuallyDrop so the Rmt peripheral isn't disabled when
+        // the struct is dropped after we take channel0.
+        let rmt = core::mem::ManuallyDrop::new(
+            Rmt::new(p.RMT, Rate::from_mhz(80))
+                .expect("RMT init")
+                .into_async(),
+        );
+        // SAFETY: we're reading channel0 out of the ManuallyDrop wrapper.
+        // The Rmt won't be dropped, so the peripheral stays enabled.
+        let channel0 = unsafe { core::ptr::read(&raw const rmt.channel0) };
+        let led_channel = channel0
             .configure_tx(
                 p.GPIO38,
                 TxChannelConfig::default()
diff --git a/firmware/src/driver/ws2812.rs b/firmware/src/driver/ws2812.rs
index 46dbb58f..840c2a2f 100644
--- a/firmware/src/driver/ws2812.rs
+++ b/firmware/src/driver/ws2812.rs
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ impl Ws2812 {
 impl RgbLed for Ws2812 {
     async fn set_rgb(&mut self, r: u8, g: u8, b: u8) {
         let data = Self::encode(r, g, b);
-        let _ = self.channel.transmit(&data).await;
+        if let Err(e) = self.channel.transmit(&data).await {
+            defmt::warn!("WS2812 transmit error: {}", e);
+        }
     }
 }