Do these strips work if you connect sections of them in parallel?
I get that any animation might / will be duplicated across the strips that are in parallel, but that's what I want. I think I understand the whole signalling - watched a Youtube video a while ago that describes it - but I've not seen confirmation that the signalling will work in parallel. Are there impedance or other issues?
If I understand the signalling correctly, each LED micro controller [MC] regenerates and passes on the signalling minus the first part that tells it what to do for color etc, so as long as two or more MC can read the signal, they all should pass it along, right? I did a whole drawing, but I think we get it right?
I'm designing RGB lighting for a computer case and it's a lot more convenient to just pass the signals and power around to the start of several strips rather than wiring the whole case in series.
That's ok. It's a cheap strip / controller / ps kit from Amazon - Whole thing for about $14. No way to determine what controller it has or exactly what the strips are.
If there is lots of variability around this question, guess I'll just give it a try when I get it.
Thanks,
wp
That's ok. It's a cheap strip / controller / ps kit from Amazon
So why not send us a link so we can see.
Basically there are two sorts of strip. One where you can control the colour of each LED or group of three LEDs individually. These typically have a supply of 5V ( or 12V for the groups of three ) and one data input, which can be connected to an Arduino pin.
The second type all the LEDs on the strip are the same colour. These are powered always by 12V and have three wires each one controlling the red, green and blue components of the LED's colour. These need power FETs to drive each individual colour component being driven by a PWM signal.
Ok Sure... This seemed so cheap that I couldn't pass it up as a possibility for LED lighting for a computer case.
These are RGB and a Four Wire chain. Two for power and two for signal apparently.
The signalling apparently must use PWM - pulse width modulation? since the string supports animation as well as color changing.
While I won't be using Arduino as a controller, since this kit contains a controller, you folks here seem knowledgeable about these LEDs.
Your "link" is not clickable. There was a reason I asked you to read the forum guide, to see if you could learn how to post a clickable link. If you can't do that, the learning curve that would allow you to control an led strip of any kind would not be a comfortable for you and you would not enjoy it. Enjoy your other hobbies.
Looking at your lights from the link you posted LED 3528, these are not individually addressable LED's like you get with ws2811, which do contain the micro-controller you stated at the beginning.
These LEDs are analog RGB, but not like the normal 5050 LED RGBs. The 5050 LEDs have all three colors in each LED. These are a strip that has a red LED, green LED, and red LED each spaced apart separately about an inch.
Now, to answer the second question, yes, you could tie these in parallel. You won't be using the 5volt feed from the Arduino, you will have to integrate the power supply with the project to properly lite it up.
This video clearly shows animation - see about 1:20 - and different colors among the LEDs. So I conclude that the little white box in the kit contains a PWM controller. Apparently this controller settings are changed by the IR remote.
To make things clear. I'm not considering using Arduino or other additional controller, but am asking about the properties of this type of LED strip and whether they can be connected in Parallel rather than just Series with this type of PWM controller.
Yep, as mentioned earlier, you can cut and run these in parallel to the power supply. Remember your cut-point is every three LEDs on the strip.
The Red, Green, and Blue LEDs are broke out as separate LEDs on the strip. So color mixtures would not be as decent as using a 5050 RGB LED strip, where all three colors are included in each and every LED. The mixture (to get diff colors) looks a whole lot better.
Good luck...
EDIT: One other note I was going to mention. The Video is showing a 24-button remote however, the title of the product being sold states a 44 button remote. Just making sure you get what you ordered
Ok. Thanks... Yes, as you say, James. Just got them in the mail. And they are not what I expected. They are strips of R and G and B LEDs. Not RGB LEDs. Looks like some of you picked up on that. I'll try the parallel thing with this later but I expect it to work.
What I need for my application is RGB led strips with a controller, not R - G - B LEDs. So looks like I need to look for 5050 RGB strips not 2438 strips or whatever these are. These are 3 R, 3 G 3 B LEDs separated along the strip with NO controller for the 9 LEDs. The LEDs are just wired to R G B wires with a common +12v source. The LEDs are separated by about 1 cm along the strip.
Not what I want as I say. I'll look for some 5050s and watch the videos more carefully next time. Hey. Not out much at this price.
I'll make a suggestion for you. The following strip is a complete kit (Remote, Adapter, silicon covered).
Further, the circuit board printed on is black (default normally is white).
The remote controller is RF (most are usually IR and need line-of-site to work).
The tape backing (which on most all strips is usually worthless) is foam tape (seems to work better).
Finally, I've purchased these before. They've worked great.
The silicon covered (which mos manufacturers will call waterproof, but not really), comes on these, but depending on your application may not be necessary.
NOTE : This is 3528 SMD LED lights,so each LED lamp bead has only 1 kind of color (Red,Green or Blue),so there are 3 kinds of lamp beads on the light strip
