Spreadsheet Range Name "Light_code" Text Is '1-1-1

A spreadsheet range name "Light_code" text is '1-1-1

my VBA code reads the Lightcode string at character position 1,3 & 5 successfully but I need to stop it when the characters are equal.

My errant code is reading backwards from 5,3 & 1 to see if an earlier character was the same to set variable "equal" to True.

Using MsgBox I can find b=1 and also Mid(LightCode, v - 2, 1)=1 but not inside the loop which is required because Lightcode can grow to
'6-6-6-6-6-6

code below

If ActiveSheet.Range("A10")(1, 1).Text = "Y" Then
equal = True 'equal light sizes

Do While v 1

If b = Mid(LightCode, v - 2, 1) Then
equal = True
MsgBox "b is " & b & _
"Mid(LightCode, v - 2, 1) is " & Mid(LightCode, v - 2, 1)

'dont draw duplicate vertical dimensions
Else
v = v - 2
equal = False
End If
Loop
Else
equal = False 'draw dimensions
End If