LED light strips are amazing!

[disappoint]

That sounds awesome, nice to know that there's a solution for this already. I'll definitely look into that when I do decide to do it.

Looks like the actual addressable LED units are buyable individually too. Imagine the possibilities if you do a matrix along the fascia. :biggrin: I'm guessing these have a unique address almost like a MAC address and work similar to "1 wire" sensors?

You don't want to buy them individually unless you're going to sew them onto fabric using conductive thread or something. Too much soldering on your part to use individual ones. Much easier to get the 5 meter roll with weatherproofing. They are all soldered on flexible PCB already. They come in black or white PCB. I chose white because they will be installed in a white window sill. You'll want black if they will be installed on something where the background is black or a dark color.

Even though they will be indoors, I got the ones with the weatherproof jacket to protect the LEDs and keep them clean (it's easier to clean the weatherproof jacket than LEDs on a PCB.) and in case I ever want to install them outside. A word of caution: Even though the PCB is flexible, it's a bit delicate in that if you flex it sharply too often it could break. Mine hasn't yet but that is because I was aware of this already and treated it carefully. If you have to make sharp bends you'll want to bend it once and leave it like that to avoid damage. Turns that are wide are not a problem but too many sharp bends in the same spot should be done as few times as possible. If you do happen to break it though worst case scenario you'll lose only 1 LED because you can cut the damaged part out and solder the rest of the strip together.

They don't have an address like a MAC address, they require specific timing to address them. But if you use for example an Arduino, thanks to the open source library available on Github, programming them becomes very easy. I got you covered on the code and any questions you might have on this just PM me.

 

[Engineer]

That before/after is crazy. What's the approx retail cost of one of those bad boys? Yeezus look at those heat sinks.

I have no idea. They gave our shop one as a gift (along with three of the top home ceiling fans). I can tell you it's so bright that we had to connect the built in dimmer to a POT to turn it down. I can't stare into it without going blind and then having big green spots in my eyesight for several minutes afterward.

 

[lxskllr]

It's like those car HID lights, those things are ridiculously wrong. They should be illegal. It's like staring at a non diffused ultra bright LED except it's that bright at all angles. Seeing those lights more and more now too. I almost want to install a sensor on my car that detects those and fires a burst of microwaves to kill the bulb. Actually, if I knew how to do that, hell yeah I'd do it! That would be hard to detect too.

I've been driving a lot more in the dark, and they've really been getting on my nerves lately. Seems like people can't drive in the dark anymore. They need ultra bright lights, and then use high beams on top of that. I miss the plain old sealed beam headlights. They were sufficient for driving, and didn't produce eye searing light.

 

[disappoint]

Oh yeah they really need to have a diffuser. That is something I'd want to ensure if I do any kind of LED strip stuff for outside the house.

I forgot to mention the weatherproof jacket acts like a good diffuser so don't get the ones without that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You don't want to buy them individually unless you're going to sew them onto fabric using conductive thread or something. Too much soldering on your part to use individual ones. Much easier to get the 5 meter roll with weatherproofing. They are all soldered on flexible PCB already. They come in black or white PCB. I chose white because they will be installed in a white window sill. You'll want black if they will be installed on something where the background is black or a dark color.

Even though they will be indoors, I got the ones with the weatherproof jacket to protect the LEDs and keep them clean (it's easier to clean the weatherproof jacket than LEDs on a PCB.) and in case I ever want to install them outside. A word of caution: Even though the PCB is flexible, it's a bit delicate in that if you flex it sharply too often it could break. Mine hasn't yet but that is because I was aware of this already and treated it carefully. If you have to make sharp bends you'll want to bend it once and leave it like that to avoid damage. Turns that are wide are not a problem but too many sharp bends in the same spot should be done as few times as possible. If you do happen to break it though worst case scenario you'll lose only 1 LED because you can cut the damaged part out and solder the rest of the strip together.

They don't have an address like a MAC address, they require specific timing to address them. But if you use for example an Arduino, thanks to the open source library available on Github, programming them becomes very easy. I got you covered on the code and any questions you might have on this just PM me.

Yeah definitely, but it's nice to know it's an option, if I decided I wanted to make small pluggable units or something. But yeah I'd probably go with the strip lighting and maybe even do 3 or more passes if I want to have different effects. I'd want white too as the fascia is white. Though I probably could put them under the overhang too but probably get better light quality if they're on the fascia. Or could do both for different effects. Hmmm I seriously need to look into this now. :biggrin:

 

[disappoint]

Yeah definitely, but it's nice to know it's an option, if I decided I wanted to make small pluggable units or something. But yeah I'd probably go with the strip lighting and maybe even do 3 or more passes if I want to have different effects. I'd want white too as the fascia is white. Though I probably could put them under the overhang too but probably get better light quality if they're on the fascia. Or could do both for different effects. Hmmm I seriously need to look into this now. :biggrin:

What do you mean by 3 or more passes?

I ask because I'm almost certain you don't mean 3 5 meter rolls. It's not that 15 meters can't be done, but the power requirements will be more than you might expect, and the PCB alone can only handle so much. You would have to add supply lines typically at each 5 meter run.

Quick back of the envelope calculation:

Each LED requires 60mA. For the least density strip of 30 LEDs per meter that is 150 LEDs for 5 meters. 150 x 60mA=9000mA or 9A at 5V. That's 45W. Granted that's maximum: If the LEDs are lit bright white (RGB) and full intensity, and every single one lit, which is atypical if you want a colorful display with effects, but possible and must be accounted for just in case. If it's the 60 LEDs per meter strip double that power. For 3 strips it would be triple that power.

Like I said I don't think you mean that, maybe you meant have the LEDs light up in sequence back and forth for 3 passes? That wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What do you mean by 3 or more passes?

I ask because I'm almost certain you don't mean 3 5 meter rolls. It's not that 15 meters can't be done, but the power requirements will be more than you might expect, and the PCB alone can only handle so much. You would have to add supply lines typically at each 5 meter run.

Quick back of the envelope calculation:

Each LED requires 60mA. For the least density strip of 30 LEDs per meter that is 150 LEDs for 5 meters. 150 x 60mA=9000mA or 9A at 5V. That's 45W. Granted that's maximum: If the LEDs are lit bright white (RGB) and full intensity, and every single one lit, which is atypical if you want a colorful display with effects, but possible and must be accounted for just in case. If it's the 60 LEDs per meter strip double that power. For 3 strips it would be triple that power.

Like I said I don't think you mean that, maybe you meant have the LEDs light up in sequence back and forth for 3 passes? That wouldn't be a problem.

Oh I meant like have multiple on top of each other as separate channels. Basically it would create a matrix. Though to make it worthwhile to do a matrix I'd probably want more than 3. And yeah I would definitely need to lookup and abide by power requirements when I do this. Need to break them up into separate sections and use proper capacity mosfets and not drive directly off the microcontroler. Basically they would be driven separately but in software they'd all be combined as one.

But to keep it simple chances are I'd end up going with a single line especially if these are very bright on their own.

 

[disappoint]

Oh I meant like have multiple on top of each other as separate channels. Basically it would create a matrix. Though to make it worthwhile to do a matrix I'd probably want more than 3. And yeah I would definitely need to lookup and abide by power requirements when I do this. Need to break them up into separate sections and use proper capacity mosfets and not drive directly off the microcontroler. Basically they would be driven separately but in software they'd all be combined as one.

But to keep it simple chances are I'd end up going with a single line especially if these are very bright on their own.

If you use WS2812B you won't need any MOSFETs. You will need a ~1000uF capacitor across the power lines +5V and GND and a ~330Ω resistor in series with the data line. Beauty is you need only 1 data line per strip.