Help me understand some conflicting information.

Greg.Ca

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http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5m-led-digital-strip-DC12V-input-WS2811IC-256-scale-10pcs-IC-and-30pcs-5050-SMD-RGB/701799_568458133.html

I wish to purchase the above product and have received some conflicting information that I need clarified before I purchase. My belief (and I certainly my be wrong) is that three 5050's in a row are wired in series and therefore CANNOT controlled individually. Every time I address a pixel, am I controlling a unique 5050 or am I only able to control three wired in series and every three are unique? Not sure?

I wish to have EACH 5050 controlled uniquely so that I can build a perfect square 'dot matrix'. Please help me understand so that I don't purchase the wrong strips. Thanks --Greg--
 

Superman

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fasteddy

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That strip wont do what you want as its 3 leds per controllable section, what you are wanting is either 30 LEDs/m or 60 LEDs/m which are 5vdc using black PCB for a matrix which is here

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/BLACK-PCB-5m-WS2811-LED-digital-strip-30leds-m-with-30pcs-WS2811-built-in-the-5050/701799_684974109.html

and 60 individually controlled LEDs/m strip

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/BLACK-PCB-4m-WS2811-LED-digital-strip-60leds-m-with-60pcs-WS2811-built-in-the-5050/701799_700420631.html
 

jcmarksafb

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You are right. On the strips you control 3 led's at a time. If you want to control each led then look into the pixel strings. Just look them up on Ray's store. Search ws2811 pixel strings. They have both the 12 and 5 volt pixels.
 

Greg.Ca

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So, is it a correct statement that if I want to control only one 5050 at a time instead of three, then my options drop from 12VDC strips to 5VDC strips? Is this correct?

I have been told that if I purchase 5VDC strips that I have to feed power at both the starting points and the ending point of each 5 meter strip? (Power injection at the end of the strip?) Is this correct?


Is one power supply required for EACH 5 meter strip?

The controller I wanted to purchase http://www.sandevices.com/E681info.html indicates that it will work with either a 5 or 12V power source so I don't see an issue there. Anything else I need to consider before I purchase my first strips?

How far (length) before I must re-inject power for 5DVC strips? As it stands now, it looks like the 'matrix' that I want to build can only be stored in 8 feet sections anyways so I would have to cut the 5 meter strips in half anyway. Thanks --Greg--
 

fasteddy

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With strip if you want individual control then it will be 5vdc because of the design of LEDs. a 5050 led has a forward voltage of approx 3 volts for green/blue, so to run at 12 volts you would be dropping 9 volts, but if you put 3 LEDs together you get 9 volts, so this is why you will see 3 LED per section strip in 12vdc and why you see single 5050 led as 5vdc.

As far as having to supply power from both ends of a strip then depending on the distance from the power supply to the lights will more determine that factor. but you will definetly have to inject between strips with 5vdc.

You can run multiple strips from a single power supply, you can run upto 8 30 LED/M strips from a 350 watt power supply.

Do you know there are other controller choices other than the sandevices that may offer better value and easier setup, take a look here for some other choices and here for the manual on the P12R, they now support the 2811 pixels
 

smeighan

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ɟɐsʇǝppʎ said:
With strip if you want individual control then it will be 5vdc because of the design of LEDs. a 5050 led has a forward voltage of approx 3 volts for green/blue, so to run at 12 volts you would be dropping 9 volts, but if you put 3 LEDs together you get 9 volts, so this is why you will see 3 LED per section strip in 12vdc and why you see single 5050 led as 5vdc.

As far as having to supply power from both ends of a strip then depending on the distance from the power supply to the lights will more determine that factor. but you will definetly have to inject between strips with 5vdc.

You can run multiple strips from a single power supply, you can run upto 8 30 LED/M strips from a 350 watt power supply.

Do you know there are other controller choices other than the sandevices that may offer better value and easier setup, take a look here for some other choices and here for the manual on the P12R, they now support the 2811 pixels


fasteddy; I am confused. I have 180x flex strips. There are 10 IC's per meter and 30 pixels per meter. If i send channel 1, the first pixel turns RED, the other pixels do not turn on.
send ch 1, Pixel 1 is red
[SIZE=78%]send ch 2,[/SIZE] Pixel 1 is Green
[SIZE=78%]send ch 3,[/SIZE] Pixel 1 is Blue
send ch 4, Pixel 2 is Red
send ch 5, Pixel 2 is Green
send ch 6, Pixel 2 is Blue
.etc.


It works perfectly with all my nutcracker effects.


I am able to control each pixel individually even though it is one IC for 3 pixels.


These are the flex strips i am using


http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/4m-waterproof-LED-digital-strip-by-tube-DC12V-input-without-controller-10pcs-TM1809IC-m-30pcs-5050/701799_425556741.html




I am using the pixelnet hubs. 16 strings and a total of 4096 channels per hub. I had 12,100 channels this year or 24 universes. I used Nutcracker to create sequence and xLights to play them back. I had no lag in the display.


http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/images/thumb/a/a3/Hub-Finished2.jpg/160px-Hub-Finished2.jpg


This year i expect to be around 18-20,000 channels of smart rgb stuff.


am i missing something?


thanks
sean
 

smeighan

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prof said:
sean,

that chip has 9 outputs so each led can be controlled individually


That explains it.


I am happy with these 180x flex strips. 120 nodes on 4m. The end pixel seems the same brightness as the first and there is no power injection anywhere in my display. All nodes are addressable. It will use more power. but with my 20x120 pixels most of the time during my show i am less than 2amp draw from the 110v line per box. Each box handles 8 universes, 3 boxes so maybe 6-8 amps.


I plugged all 3 power supplies, 450w pc power supplies, into two 15amp 110v circuits to run the 12,100 channels. I also plugged in my incandescent into these same two outlets.


So much less current than my last years show which was half incandescent and half led. But most lights were on all the time last year.


This is one of the advantages of animating the lights and using led's everywhere, much less electricity.
 

fasteddy

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smeighan said:
prof said:
sean,

that chip has 9 outputs so each led can be controlled individually


That explains it.


I am happy with these 180x flex strips. 120 nodes on 4m. The end pixel seems the same brightness as the first and there is no power injection anywhere in my display. All nodes are addressable. It will use more power. but with my 20x120 pixels most of the time during my show i am less than 2amp draw from the 110v line per box. Each box handles 8 universes, 3 boxes so maybe 6-8 amps.


I plugged all 3 power supplies, 450w pc power supplies, into two 15amp 110v circuits to run the 12,100 channels. I also plugged in my incandescent into these same two outlets.


So much less current than my last years show which was half incandescent and half led. But most lights were on all the time last year.


This is one of the advantages of animating the lights and using led's everywhere, much less electricity.

Prof is correct here, you would be using the 1809 IC which is 9 outputs on the chip, there are some others out there that are multi output chips like the 2803, but these are not as commonly used.
The OP was looking at making a matrix so in my belief for the money, and the fact that it is asthetically better looking and the 2811 IC is within the LED and its black PCB makes the 2811 ideal for using to create a matrix.

Sean that is the graet thing about the high efficiency LEDs we now use, power is the least of your worries and people running large shows needing to upgrade their electrical panels and services is a thing of the past
 
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