I bought this LED strip on Amazon for a community education project but I'm not sure how to power/program it. The light strip will be embedded into a display board that contains text bubbles, and the LED strip will gradually light up to guide viewers to read each of the text bubbles.
The Amazon product description says that the strip is controllable with Arduino, but didn't give any specific examples or resources. I'm worried about burning out the Arduino by connecting the lights to a 12v power supply.
Can anyone confirm that it's possible to program this specific light strip using an Arduino Uno or Mega? I plan on using the entire length of the strip (16.4ft).
Yes, it is possible to use this strip with Arduino.
But care must be taken not to damage the strip or the Arduino.
There are 540 LEDs on the 5m (16.4ft) strip.
The product is confusing, the strip title says they are WS2811 type LEDs. but in the description (About this item) it says they are
3838SMD . ("5M long strip with 540pcs 3838SMD LEDs,"")
The technical information states that the strip is for 12V and that the consumption is 108W.
108/12 = 9A, so the source needs to provide +- 11A
If it is the WS2811 type, it is only an LED driver, therefore it uses LEDs connected to the driver.
Ref:
Yes it can be done.
Interesting project but we are not a free design or code writing service. We will be happy help out with your design and or code but first you have to make an attempt to design it, write it, post
it and explain what is not working properly.
If there is hardware it is always best to post links to technical information as there are many versions of the same or different items. Since we cannot see your project, my eyes are to weak, you need to post using the language of electronics, an annotated schematic (best) or a clear picture of a drawing. Pictures never hurt. Frizzing diagrams are not considered schematics here.
What research have you done for this project? What have you looked at?
The wiring is trivial
As about code - there are two libraries that common used for addressable leds - FastLED and NeoPixel. Each of them contains an examples and manual for start.
A little. But I think it may not be a total mystery. From the product description:
WS2811 12V LED Neon Strip
So we're dealing with WS2811 addressable LED drivers. The product is a 'neon' strip, which generally stands for "an array of tiny LED emitters encased in a (semi-)transparent strip, mimicking old-skool Neon tubes".
One WS2811 IC controls 6 LEDs
OK, so we can expect the LEDs to be addressable in sets of 6. This could either be 2 sets or separate R, G and B LEDs, or 6 separate RGB LEDs. From a functional viewpoint, the difference doesn't matter much. We know the nominal power supply voltage.
5M long strip with 540pcs 3838SMD LEDs
So the implementation is 3838SMD LEDs; 3838 is a regular LED form factor. It's a 3.8x3.8mm footprint (coincidence, huh!)
Given the 540 LEDs and the fact that each 'pixel' consists of 6 LEDs, we know that there are 90 'pixels' we can address individually, each 'pixel' representing a segment of the 5m strip. Given that there are 90 pixels, we know that each pixel has a length of about 55.6mm (500cm / 90 pixels).
Not necessarily; 3838 is just the form factor. It correlates only weakly with emitter power. Current consumption per meter furthermore depends on the density of the LEDs. Finally, supply voltage matters. The strip you're referring to has a 24V supply (not 12V) and a LED density of 6 LEDs per 25mm or 240LEDs per meter (not 108 LEDs/m). But depending on the actual emitter used, things can still go in either direction.
It does, though. The specs include this:
Wattage: 108 watts
So that's 9A for the entire strip at full power or 200mW per individual LED. In practice, it'll likely be a little less; I'd be comfortable using a 10A supply for this. @BaileeA from the Amazon link for your power supply, select the "120W" option for this strip.
