2811 strings - addressable question

cdjazman

cdjazman

Full time elf
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
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I only have used strip for my lights.

Looking at doing some stuff with strings.

My question is - Are all 2811 strings addressable? ie. Each pixel / node different color if wanted......

Reason for question is trying to decide between 2 items from Ray with 2 different prices...... Are they the same apart from 18awg and 20awg wire...?

Option 1:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/18AWG-wire-100pcs-string-DC12V-12mm-WS2811-addressable-RGB-led-smart-pixel-node-with-all-color/32465132460.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.264.rQvzxx

Option 2:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100pcs-DC12V-12mm-WS2811-led-smart-pixel-node-with-all-color-wire-20AWG-IP68-rated/1932882946.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.270.rQvzxx
 
They are all individually addressable. The extra voltage is dropped across a resistor instead of being used to emit light by having the LEDs in series sections of 3. That's why I prefer 5V if using a large number of pixel nodes in a small area. The wire is the only difference between those.
 
i13 said:
They are all individually addressable. The extra voltage is dropped across a resistor instead of being used to emit light by having the LEDs in series sections of 3. That's why I prefer 5V if using a large number of pixel nodes in a small area. The wire is the only difference between those.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer. 8) :)
 
You may as well get the thicker wire version which is 18AWG.


This thread still has me concerned about voltage drop with 12V. https://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,7420.0.html
 
cdjazman said:
i13 said:
You may as well get the thicker wire version which is 18AWG.


This thread still has me concerned about voltage drop with 12V. https://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,7420.0.html
Click to expand...

Good points.

OK so changing to 5v string - will have to add 5v power supply too...... :( More $$......
Click to expand...


I used Ray's 12v pixel nodes (18 AWG wire) connected to a Falcon F16 and power injected through 16 AWG extension cord wire and was able to power nearly 150 pixels with only a single injection point. 150+ required that I either lower the power output to around 60% (which was still bright as hell!) or use injection at the beginning and end of the string run.

I think you'll be fine using 12v pixels.
 
I use ray wu 12v nodes on some of my elements..


One run is 100 nodes spread over about 40m.. Powered at the start and end of the length and they work great..


Cheers,
Nik
 
Food for thought. Initial project would be about 100 long.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
I am running 12v ws2811 nodes in my mega tree, each string is 96 nodes long with power being fed in from the input end no power injection at the end and works fine for all 16 strings.


Unfortunately everyone will experience differences with their lights, since these are not technically mass produced there isn't the same quality control checks done on all of the components, they generally wire everything up, solder it all together and run a quick test to ensure everything lights up, then do the waterproofing and test again, if it all lights up the string works, I doubt they would be measuring the voltage on the end of every string to make sure that all of the resistors are working correctly and that the voltage drop is within tolerance, so some strings will work fine, others might not be so great.


It's the risk we take when we buy stuff direct from Chinese wholesalers. If we wanted quality products most of our displays would be half the size, or some of us might not even have displays at all if we purchased commercial quality lights.


As Fing says "Your Milage may Vary" and this holds true for everything we do :)
 
I was just suggesting going with the 18AWG version over the 20AWG version because of that thread I linked to.

The reason I said large numbers is that you'd likely want to get a separate supply anyway. If it's just 100 nodes then you may as well stick with the voltage of the nearest power supply. Another option is a DC-DC convertor. Put 12V in and get 5V out. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5A-DC-DC-Step-Down-Switching-Power-Supply-DC5-38V-input-adjustableDC1-25-36V-output/701799_1659517282.html
It eliminates the voltage drop between the power supply and first pixel. Some people use them with other voltages e.g. 24V to 12V or 5V for this reason. Unfortunately each WS2811 pixel typically draws 55mA so 100 of these is 5.5A which is too much for the 5A convertor I linked to. There are more powerful ones but the price goes up.
 
i13 said:
I was just suggesting going with the 18AWG version over the 20AWG version because of that thread I linked to.

The reason I said large numbers is that you'd likely want to get a separate supply anyway. If it's just 100 nodes then you may as well stick with the voltage of the nearest power supply. Another option is a DC-DC convertor. Put 12V in and get 5V out. https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5A-DC-DC-Step-Down-Switching-Power-Supply-DC5-38V-input-adjustableDC1-25-36V-output/701799_1659517282.html
It eliminates the voltage drop between the power supply and first pixel. Some people use them with other voltages e.g. 24V to 12V or 5V for this reason. Unfortunately each WS2811 pixel typically draws 55mA so 100 of these is 5.5A which is too much for the 5A convertor I linked to. There are more powerful ones but the price goes up.
Click to expand...
All good. I read into the thread that 5v could have been a better option. I will see how 12v goes. Always learning.

I will definately take your advice on the 18awg though.

Another reason for that is so I can use the KISS method on myself and not connect wrong voltage to wrong supply. Partly due to being a bit of a nuff sometimes. [emoji1] [emoji1] [emoji1]

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
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