Little Guidance with Setting up a WS2811 PCB + LED Series

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

Hello,
I have a n00b level of education and experience with electronics - my background is mainly in programming. I am using the Arduino to control a series of LEDs. They are being controlled by WS2811 PCBs (shift registers) I've bought. I will be connecting 60 of them in series.

The WS2811's I have: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111126360488?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
The LEDs I have: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111086321121?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I am wondering about how to properly go about soldering a few of these together in a strip. I will be using the adafruit neopixel library to control them. One thing I don't completely understand is whether their recommendation of a " capacitor (1000 µF, 6.3V or higher) across the + and – terminals" applies to my project, too. Powering NeoPixels | Adafruit NeoPixel Überguide | Adafruit Learning System.

Could anyone offer some advice on the soldering and connecting of two of these LEDs in series so I can be confident I won't just fry everything? Like, an Explain-like-I'm-Five (ELI5) kinda approach :stuck_out_tongue:

2

Add big cap to end of strip from +5 to Gnd.
Tack wires to pads on the module. Looks like the LED will drop right into the holes, long lead is +.
Test each one before soldering to a board.
+5, Gnd goes to each board.
Arduino data out goes to DI on first board, DO of first board goes to DI on next board .
VDD resistor and 0.1uF cap on the datasheet are on the module already.

3

I'm not sure what you mean by the 'end of strip'
I have a bunch of PCBs. There are spots to tack on front and back and then holes for the LED. Besides the LED there are:

  • 5V In,
    -5V out,
    -GND 'in'
    -GND 'out'
    -DI
    -DO

I'd like to string these together into a series. Looks like the DI gets tacked to one side and then the DO to the other side. Same with the Power and ground wires, as far as I can tell. I'm unsure whether I need to tack the ground wire to the back of every chip or just the last in the series.

4

Every strip needs power & gnd connected.
You will have power, gnd connected to one end of the string, and the cap across the power & gnd pins at the other end of the string.
I have a drawing made, posting is not working at the moment tho.
See figure 1 in the datasheet

+5 & Gnd to each module is not shown, the cap & resistor shown are part of your module.