I am planning on using a new lighting system for my new room, its about 5m x 5m (well I dont know thats just a guess but at most its that much). My new lighting system is putting RGB LED strips on the where the wall hits the floor and then where the roof hits the wall, so thats 25 meters of LED RGB strip lights for the top and 25m for the bottom which will mean 50 meters of RGB LED strip lighting.
I have discovered where I'm getting my stuff from...
So I have found all that now I need to know how to control this RGB LED strip lighting, I was thinking connecting the 50metres of rgb strip lighting (non addressable) together then connecting to arduino. From the arduino there will be two potentiometers, 1 potentiometer will control what colour the room will be and the other will be how bright it is. And I will also have a switch connected to the arduino for on and off.
My questions are..
Is it possible to connect the 50 meters of LED RGB non addresable LEDS together?
If I can connect the 50 meter strips together will it connect to the arduino?
How can I make this connect to arduino?
Which external power can I use?
What are the parts I use?
How can I make this project??
Diagram?
Code?
Anything that helppss!!?
Thanks guys for all replies (make sure the replies are useful)
That's... that's going to be very bright. Those are 24W strips per 5 meters.... so you want 240W of LEDs in your room? You'll need sunglasses - also, that's going to be really unpleasant to be around if it's all RGB LEDs - they tend to make a very harsh white light, and if you're PWMing them for brightness, you'll see tracers when you turn your head with the LEDs in view. I'd back off on the RGB lighting (maybe 4 strips, around the perimeter?), and add a strip or two of warm white (bearing in mind the white led strips, at least from that listing, are considerably higher power than the RGB ones)
You will need MOSFETs to switch the load (somewhat large ones, or multiple sets of them, if you're doing 50 meters of that stuff). You will also need an external power supply capable of supplying them - at least 2 amps per meter @ 12V
Edit: didn't catch that the power of the RGB strips was so much lower than the other ones.
DrAzzy:
That's... that's going to be very bright. Those are 24W strips per 5 meters.... so you want 240W of LEDs in your room? You'll need sunglasses - also, that's going to be really unpleasant to be around if it's all RGB LEDs - they tend to make a very harsh white light, and if you're PWMing them for brightness, you'll see tracers when you turn your head with the LEDs in view. I'd back off on the RGB lighting (maybe 4 strips, around the perimeter?), and add a strip or two of warm white (bearing in mind the white led strips, at least from that listing, are considerably higher power than the RGB ones)
You will need MOSFETs to switch the load (somewhat large ones, or multiple sets of them, if you're doing 50 meters of that stuff). You will also need an external power supply capable of supplying them - at least 2 amps per meter @ 12V
Edit: didn't catch that the power of the RGB strips was so much lower than the other ones.
Ok thanks for your reply, so whats the problem with RGB making white?
Also if you think the RGB's white isnt good enough I really want RGB so I may have an RGB and a white, whats the difference between warm white and cool white?
Also what are tracers?
edit: Actually after a bit of research I dont really need RGB LED
It isn't a problem for the RGB to make white, it is just that the white that they make is not a soft pleasant white, it is pretty harsh, however being that they are RGB you can adjust the "white" to suit your taste.
Tracers can be explained like this, pick up a digital clock and wave it back and forth really quick, it is not really on all the time, it is being flashed on/off 60 times per second, so basically you will see that as you wave it there are places where it appears on and places where it appears off. You will get the same effect if you are controlling color/brightness via PWM, the LEDs are actually being flashed on and off rapidly tricking your brain into seeing them as different colors or reduced brightness, when you turn your head you will get the same sort of effect as you do waving the digital alarm clock.
It is certainly possible to control 50 meters of non-addressable LEDs; however like DrAzzy your power requirements are going to be pretty high. It is still workable, nothing too crazy but you are going to have to pay attention to this power requirement, you can't just grab the first cheap 12V power supply you see (the 5050 RGBs state 2A per 5 meter, so 10A power supply minimum).
Also, like DrAzzy was saying you are going to need to drive the LEDs with MOSFETs. An Arduino can't directly control 12V and even if it could the amount of current that it can provide is not going to light many LEDs.
As far as code it is nothing too difficult, you were saying two potentiometers (one for brightness, one for color), while that is all fine you will have to devise a scheme to control 3 colors from one potentiometer (if you decide to go with the RGB ones), otherwise perhaps 4 pots, one for each individual color, and one that would reduce or increase brightness of all colors at together.
Warm white is a more yellowish light, cool white is a bluer light.
The light that you end up with from RGB leds turned on full white is a very harsh cool white, with unusually poor color rendition - some things don't quite look the same color. If you try to fix it by turning down the blue, it gets yellower, but it still just doesn't look right (and the color rendition still sucks).
Most people find warm white more comfortable for living spaces (cooler whites may be appropriate for workspaces). If you're pairing it with RGB LEDs, I'd definitely get the warm white, since you can get a cool white from them. Cool white leds are often slightly brighter for the same amount of power.
DrAzzy:
Warm white is a more yellowish light, cool white is a bluer light.
The light that you end up with from RGB leds turned on full white is a very harsh cool white, with unusually poor color rendition - some things don't quite look the same color. If you try to fix it by turning down the blue, it gets yellower, but it still just doesn't look right (and the color rendition still sucks).
Most people find warm white more comfortable for living spaces (cooler whites may be appropriate for workspaces). If you're pairing it with RGB LEDs, I'd definitely get the warm white, since you can get a cool white from them. Cool white leds are often slightly brighter for the same amount of power.
Ok thanks guys, Ok I have changed my opinion again. I will have 2 strips and 5 potentiometer, So one strip will be an RGB and another will be warm white, a potentiometer will control red, another green, another blue and the other warm white, and one more for brightness, I think It will look good. Does anyone know another retailers which will sell them cheaper or for less watts?