ambient TV lighting...HELP!!!!!!!!

Using Arduino Project Guidance
#1

I am new to Arduino and have no experience with electronics so here I am attempting to create ambient lighting for my TV. I have researched how to do this myself and found alot of material.

The project that I have found that I thought would work with my skill level (extremely low to non-existent) was from Adafruit website (http://www.adafruit.com/products/461). However, because I did not want to spend too much on the lights, I would have to buy extra lights and a power supply that would carry more voltage, I decided to use their version of the project and adapt it to what I was able to find locally.

Here is a list of the materials I have to work with:

SMD5050/RGB150 LED Tape light 16.5ft (5m)36W 150 LEDs

adapter-5A 60W 12V DC power supply

Arduino UNO microcontroller

I have also downloaded all of the accompanying software for the Arduino, processor and programming codes that came with the project. To make a long story not as long, my problem is connecting the lights to the Arduino board and getting it to work. I have tried to connect the lights as shown by the instructions but it does not work. I have tried to find alternative instructions as well as trouble shooting on the web as well as electricians. No help. will I need to use a bread board or can I use what I have to make my project work? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

#2

Adafruit website RGB light have each pixels use a WS2801 chip for full 24 bit color control by 2-pin SPI-like protocol, hence three wires that control by Arduino.

The RGB lights that you had was just raw LED that need driver to have sufficient current to drive it, about 1.2 Amps per meter and you can not control the color and brightness of every single “pixel” because it connected all in parallel.

http://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-strips/overview

#3

Thanks. So I would need about 3, 1 per colored wire and a breadboard in order to make my lights work?

#4