Okay, so I’m looking to do some LED strip light signs. Looking on Amazon there are at least a million options. Of course I’m looking to keep the price down a little but could some of you give me a list of what I need. I’ve dabbled in electronics wiring but it was mostly just drone assembly.
What I’m looking at (if possible). Two different colors running off the same power supply. There just a ton of options and it’s all a little confusing with all the stuff for them out there.
Do you just want a strip that is a solid color where you just plug it in and it lights up (two wire), do you want controllable lights that you can change the colors (but they’ll all be the same) (usually 3 wire), or do you want lights where each LED is individually controllable (usually 3 or 4 wire)? Here’s a good reference with lots of info: https://www.flexfireleds.com/pages/Comparison-between-3528-LEDs-and-5050-LEDs.html
3 and 4 wire leds need a controller, either a pre-made one or an arduino/raspberry pi. Generally speaking, the power you need for strips is about 1-1.5A per meter, but some super brights can pull upwards of 2A per meter. Some strips are 5v and some are 12v. It’s no problem to run multiple strips off one power supply, if they both take the same voltage and the power supply can provide enough amps for both.
I’d be happy with something cheap that is one color or being able to change the color and they are all the same.
Pretty much I’m wanting one color behind one layer (near the wall) and another color between the bottom board and a top layer, both different colors but plugged into the same power source.
Which colors do you want? LEDs with preset colors generally come in bright white, warm white, blue, red and Green. Link to an Ebay item below. The SMD to pick for that is 5630, then pick a color. If you want to be able to set the color yourself, you’d use a 5050 and pick RGB. The other choice on this listing is the 3528, which uses less power, but gives less light. All three of these strip/chip choices are 300 LEDs per meter, and you can cut them anywhere on the strip where it’s marked (every 3 LEDs).
You’ll want to be careful with cutting the strips and then having to solder on a new connection, the chips are very sensitive to heat and you can burn them out just soldering the wires on. I have used adapters like this with good success https://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-PCB-Cable-2-Pin-LED-Strip-Connector-3528-5050-Single-Color-Adapter-Useful/232263298353?hash=item3613f8ad31%3Am%3AmtPLQcZJrVI-Iysz5HZA6aw&var=531500196570&_sacat=0&_nkw=led+strip+connector&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1311.R1.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.XLED+strip+connec.TRS0.TSS0
Whether you get a 2/3/4 pin will depend on which strip you buy, so watch for that. The above is for single color LED strips with 2 pins.
I used >>these<< LED strips from Amazon. These are USB-powered, self-adhesive and can produce single color, gradually-color changing color or “disco”…where they react to sound. The nice thing about them for the project that I did, is that I can put in a rechargeable battery bank to have a wireless set-up.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.