Pixel direction needed please!?!

[cwbotner]

All;
I need to get a order for my RGB lights in this week!! And I am more confused now, than ever!!
I know I can get order from Ray ok, but these prices are great!! Does anyone else have experience from Green Lantern?? Or Shenzhen Clen Optoelectronics
Questions I have is that I like the 2811 chip due to it's price, and I hear 5v is brighter, so I like that... But when lookin at these China websites, they have 30 of what appears to be the same thing!! Please see link provided.
1) what is the difference?
2) for Angus's price on the 2801ic, should I be checking out a different IC chip? ( Angus Posted invoice in vendor section)
3) which chip is best? Brightness, quality and dimmable? ( for the $$)


Please help ASAP!!
Kindest Regards
Collin


[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]http://greenlantern.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-213526071-9/led_strip_lights.html[/font]

 

[fasteddy]

The brightness is mainly determined by the LED bin type used as all LEDS are not created equally and so are binned into seperate piles based on their output.
The IC also has some control of brightness but generally there is not much difference. for example the 2801 will control the LED at 20 millamps, the 2811 will control the LEDs at 18.5 milliamps, the visual difference would be very hard to detect with these differences. I personally would use the 2801 or 2811, you can find a comparison here

With Strings it is better to use 5VDC as this is the correct design, 12VDC pixels only came about due to the requests from the community due to dealing with voltage drops. But there are fors and against for both 12vdc and 5vdc strings as outlined in this thread

And then there is the bit rate of the IC which come in
5 BIT - 6803 (32 dimming steps per colour)
8 BIT - 2811, 2801, 1804 (256 dimming steps per colour)
12 BIT - 3001, 3005

These are the main IC used within the hobby. The 12 bit is only good if you want to use dimming curves as the DMX and E1.31 signal is 8 bit.

For the strip the 2811 is by far the best prices strip compared to anything else with 2811 strip as low as $32 for 5 metre length

The 2801 and the 2811 are fairly close in price when it comes to strings, you may save a dollar or 2 for a string of 2811 over 2801

Now as far as dealing with other vendors other than Ray, then you may have to deal with more expensive shipping costs or vendors that do not understand the requirements of our hobby. Ray has learnt how to deal with the community. So using other vendors may be unchartered territory and there could be surprises. just make sure you are very clear and consice with your communications

 

[cwbotner]

Thanks again Eddy!!
These RGB stripswill be for my mega tree.
Would you make a recommendation on which ic to use?
What is the difference between the $32 and $70 2811 strips on Rays website?
What is the difference between 10ic/m vrs 32 ic/m? I understand the logical, but not how it relates to my Mega tree.


Also can you explain the pixel extenders? Do I need a transmit, and a receiver? Difference between them, and maybe an example of the use?
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-ppx/[/font]
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI][/size][/font]
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI][/size]Thanks again!![/font]

 

[Beacy]

I have always used Ray as I know what I will get and there is minimal risk I have heard some horror stories about others that take your money then ask extra for freight later on and dont release the order till it's paid.


Ray is tried and tested and knows that we as a community buy a lot from him - he may be at times not as cheap but it is the safety factor

 

[cwbotner]

Would you make a recommendation on which ic to use?
What is the difference between the $32 and $70 2811 strips on Rays website?
What is the difference between 10ic/m vrs 32 ic/m? I understand the logical, but not how it relates to my Mega tree.


Also can you explain the pixel extenders? Do I need a transmit, and a receiver? Difference between them, and maybe an example of the use?
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-ppx/[/font]

[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]Thanks again!![/font]

 

[fasteddy]

Would you make a recommendation on which ic to use?

I wont make a recommendation as everyone will base their own desicion on what features they want based on cost, colour depth, wire numbers, voltage used distance and many other factors.
What i will tell you is what im currently using this year and why. Im using the 2811 strip because cost is a very important factor to me. Most people watching my display will never notice the difference between different types of pixels types used, if I have used 5 bit instead of 8 bit or 10IC/M instead of 32IC/M. What i want is the best bang for my buck and what the audience notices is more lights. So the 2811 strip being only $32 per strip offers by far the best value to my display than anything else.

What is the difference between the $32 and $70 2811 strips on Rays website?
What is the difference between 10ic/m vrs 32 ic/m? I understand the logical, but not how it relates to my Mega tree.

The difference is the IC count which is the amount of controllable sections with in a strip. The 10 IC/M strip is 10 controllable sections per metre which contain 3 RGB 5050 LEDs per 100mm controllable section. So it is 150 channels which is 50 controallble RGB sections. This strip is 12vdc
The 32 IC/M means it has 32 individual controllable sections per metre which means each section is much smaller. It also will use 1 whole 512 Channel DMX universe to run this strip. So it is 480 channels which is 160 controllable sections. This strip is 5vdc
So how it would relate to a mega tree is the 32 IC/M will give you more resolution but will also require more controllers.
When you talk avbout a mega tree what type of tree are you thinking. As this strip is not really reccomended to just hang under its own weight. The silicone tube used to protect the strip is not as tough as a solid silicone coating and i have built my 12 strip flat tree using 25mm electrical conduit to mount the strip on to. If you are actually planning on doing a 3D tree then strip may not actually be the best choice as the issue with strip is it is directional and doesnt shine much light behind itself.

Also can you explain the pixel extenders? Do I need a transmit, and a receiver? Difference between them, and maybe an example of the use?
[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-ppx/[/font]

[font=.HelveticaNeueUI]Thanks again!![/font]

They are used to extend the range of the data signal of a pixel from the controller to the first pixel to over 100 metres.
Pixels recieve data from the controller to control them, the issue is that data signal only has a limited range, each Ic has a different distance they can theoretically achieve, like the 2811, it can achieve distnace greater than 10 metres based on the spec. The 2801 can acheive about 6 metres between pixels. So if you have the controller a longer distance than this then you can use a pixel extender which sends out the signal throught the transmitter to then recieve the data at the other end through the reciever unit. The other option to extend range is to use dummy pixels which are a pixel you dont actually sequence but is used to extend the range as each IC regenerates the data signal.
But if its a tree you are thinking of then the best approach is to have the controller next to the tree and then not needing to worry about having to egenerate the signal or using pixel extenders.