Starting out, 5V or 12v?

[darrenr]

Hi all,
About to place my first ever order with Ray and don't want to make a mistake i'll regret, so advise welcome please!.
I'm outlining the front of my house in smart RGB strip. The runs are a couple of 4.2m lengths down each side of the roof outline and 6m back and forth across the front a few times. The controller will close, either 1.5m or about 4m from every end of a strip and so I really only want to power inject at the ends.

I can't decide to go either 12v or 5v, or 30/60 leds per meter. I like the idea of 5v, but 12v might be a better way to go - I'm just not sure about the resolution?

So, thoughts of 12v vs 5v and 30leds vs 60leds please...
Many thanks
Darren

 

[David_AVD]

I found the resolution of the 12V 30 LEDs (10 pixels) per metre fine on my house gutters.

 

[djgra79]

12v 30LEDs strip all over my house outlines, spinners and arches. Given some of the longer distances to cover on the roof, 5v will require more power injection due to voltage drop. That's not to say that 12v won't need it, it will just require less.
As for 30 LED resolution, it's a strip so you're limited with the effects anyway, and at a greater viewing distance from the roof tops to the viewers on the road, I don't think 60 LED is necessary imo.
Cheers, Graham

 

[scamper]

30/meter is fine. I use all 12v strips and 5v pixels. Cost was a big factor in buying the pixels for me.

 

[Roosta]

Same as the blokes above..

12v is generally easier to work with from a voltage drop perspective..

30/10 is fine from a reasonable viewing distance, however if viewing from close by higher density may be worthwhile..

My whole display is pretty much 30/10 12v strip, except for a few hundred pixel nodes..

If i had my time again i would probably have gone 60/60 strip or nodes on the megatree.. but at the time it was considerably more expensive, and I also like simplicity of using 1 type across my display.. makes it hard to bugger anything up

 

[The Bald Boy]

New to this - seems 12v is the way to go. Less issues with loss of power and less power injection needed.

 

[tooms]

12V is just easier, 5V is nice if you're an electrician, instrument fitter, C++ programmer, boilermaker, xlights expert & wife whisperer all in one, I just turn my pixels down to 40% output and enjoy longer runs between power injection and less power supplies, if I was running P10 panels and alot of high density light props I'd go to 5V.

 

[lithgowlights]

I am almost 100% 5V, with just a few 12V modules and do not regret my decision. I would not personally use 12V unless it was the only option, and I prefer to design for 100% brightess, and have well over 1000 pixels per power supply without needing to drop the brightness. Having said that, 12V pixels and strip are fine

 

[Martin Mueller]

Hi all,
About to place my first ever order with Ray and don't want to make a mistake i'll regret, so advise welcome please!.
I'm outlining the front of my house in smart RGB strip. The runs are a couple of 4.2m lengths down each side of the roof outline and 6m back and forth across the front a few times. The controller will close, either 1.5m or about 4m from every end of a strip and so I really only want to power inject at the ends.

I can't decide to go either 12v or 5v, or 30/60 leds per meter. I like the idea of 5v, but 12v might be a better way to go - I'm just not sure about the resolution?

So, thoughts of 12v vs 5v and 30leds vs 60leds please...
Many thanks
Darren

 

[Martin Mueller]

I use 5V WS2811 bullet pixels for most of my show. I have removed almost ALL WS2812 strips (30 and 60 / m) due to reliability issues (as my stock of spares for a prop gets depleted, I convert the props to bullet nodes or 3:1 strips). The WS2811 3:1 strips have the IC and the LEDs seperated and they seem to work reliably. These 3:1 strips are the only 12v elements in my show. Everything else is 5v. 100% of my show is power injected. 0% of my elements get power from my controllers. This allows me to put the low maintenance power supplies all over the display and the expensive controllers in safe locations.

Do not be afraid of power injection. It allows you to locate controllers in a location that makes them easy to maintain.