theavianbrain:
Cranium and Citlee, I am in the same boat- I want to buy some from Alibaba but I'm not sure about it. I'd love to hear your experience in particular, Citlee, because if yours come OK I would buy some from that seller! Can you provide a link to the seller/item you paid for? Much appreciated, please keep us posted!
I'm afraid I can't provide a link to the exact item, but the supplier is "clenled", http://clenled.en.alibaba.com and http://www.clenled.com/en/ - the sales manager is "Andy", who is very helpful (his native language is definitely not English but bear with him). My item arrived today after a mishap with the courier being unable to find my address (not clenled's fault!).
I can't provide a link because frankly I don't know which product I have - I was chatting to Andy, initially asking about another product, and then I remembered seeing somewhere that an LPD8806 driven strip is what I really wanted, so I asked him if he had any and this is what I ended up with. I don't think it's the product in the url posted previously because it doesn't quite match up - the sections are 6 LEDs a piece, and the red wire is connected to "DA", for example. Let me show you what I mean, through interpretive dance!
Actually, maybe some photos would be better.
Here's the chip:
A section:
The join between the two sections:
I am waiting for the spec sheet from Andy, when it arrives, I'll post it here.
The text on the label on the anti-static bag it came in is as follows:
Part no: CL-FW5050RGB18-8806
IP67 waterproof color: RGB
Voltage: DV12V, 8.6W/M
Qty: 36 LED/M, 5M/roll
I am a complete and utter newb when it comes to this stuff (Arduino, controlling LEDs, using electronics on this level) so any advice appreciated. To be honest I'm not sure what to do next to actually get some light out of it - should I just go ahead with the Adafruit LPD8806 tutorial, or does that carry a risk of blowing stuff up? I do have a 12v 5a power supply that I ordered and have tested with a different (dumber) strip, which I am planning to use to power this.