What smart LED strips to use?

[Bokines]

Hi,
I'm about to purchase a few roles of LED DC12V INK1003 led pixel strips from Ray's store. From what I understand this will work the same as WS2811 pixels and should work with any controller that supports WS2811. I will be using a PixLite16.
After reviewing several types of strips I have noticed that most of them only address the pixels in groups of 3 rather than every single pixel.
I have located some that do address every single pixel on the ribbon but the price is more expensive.
Is it worth paying the extra to be able to control every single pixel on the strip?
I have also come across some strips that have 60 LEDs/m. Once again are they worth the expense in the overall plan of things.
Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[arw01]

Partly depends on what you are going to do with them.


If you have the channel count in your software is one consideration as well.


I have a number of the ws2811 strips with 3 leds to the pixel and use them extensively as the house outline. I don't need more resolution than that.


I bought the ink1003 for my porcupine balls so that I would have higher resolution in that to hopefully do some text and other little tricks. For a mega tree at a distance the 3 leds a pixel is fine too, if it's pretty close I'd spend the money for the extra individual control.


i would not buy 60 led's per meter, it's a lot more power injection, they are massively bright and only if I was doing a matrix and needed really high resolution would I consider them.

 

[BundyRoy]

Bokines I have a pixlite 16 and it controls my ink1003 using the ws2811 protocol no worries. As for the number of pixels/m, I think that is a personal preference. From what I can see I think all it does is give you a better resolution if you are planning on using the strip for a matrix or mega tree where you want to portray images/text.

From what others have said matrixes can still look good with the 3 led/pixel strip anyway. I just figured that I may as well get the highest resolution I can afford now as it may give me more options later. The other thing to think about with the higher pixel strips is they draw more power and you may need more power injection.

 

[Bokines]

Thanks for the advice. I will go ahead with ink1003 with individual pixel control. to save channels I gather I can group the pixels through the setup?

I also agree that having the flexibility to control each pixel further down the track is a good idea.

Thanks again for the advise.

 

[AAH]

You can group the pixels into groups of 3 but it won't save on cpu load much when sequencing or when you output to the lights. You are still going to have 3 times as many channels to work with and the sequencer will still have to number crunch them. There will be a slight difference only because of the fact these each of the 3 pixels in a group is doing the same thing. I personally would either go with using all the pixels in individually selectable strip or else go with the 3 leds per pixel 12V strip.

 

[fasteddy]

One thing to think about when using the ink strip. If you plan to use 12vdc then you will only be able to cut the strip every metre, if you use 5vdc then you will be able to cut every pixel/LED

 

[arw01]

On the grouping if you do it at the controller level you cut your channel count by the amount of the grouping, so you have that option even with the ink1003.


If you buy the 30 leds /m ink1003 you can cut every meter unless you are ready to inject 5v down those "passive" strips as I call them. On the 60 leds a meter there is a converter every 30 leds so that you can cut them at 1/2 meter intervals.


For my porcupine balls I am just "stretching" them out at the 1/2m points, I cut em and put a return data, power, ground, and 5v line via 4 conductor rgb wire I bought from Ray and JST connectors.

 

[dariansdad]

One thing I can add to this. The 5v, WS2812b strip with 30 LEDs/meter are individually controlled. I bought some last year and had to group them in 3s simply because, my sequencing was for 50 pixels, not 150. I have not used the INK pixels, but I have used the WS2812b.


One of my new props for this year is a 17 pixel per arm with 8 arms. I was going to do 10 arms and have a full universe, but I decided against it. Here's a short video of it in action:
Burst Test on Vimeo


Just another option if you haven't already made the order. Oh, here in the states, they are about $40 per 5 meter strip.

 

[AussieDoug]

Ron, that star is great & the spiral effect is even better. Love it & need to try & find a use for it

 

[Akentut]

I bought the WS2812b /5050 5VDC from Scott Led. I now have a 32x75 Matrix. It's awesome, they come 30 leds per meter and they are fully addressable. And they are also IP68 water proof (they are in a sealed square poly sleeve.) I can do animations too. Yipeeee! They made them 75 length for me and I just cut the connectors off the end leaving some wire, then soldered the loop to make 150 lengths. Then used the extra connectors to make cables for my controllers.

I'm using 2 E682 Controllers, using 7200 channels. xLights allows me to configure the controllers so I can use 2 of them to control the entire grid. One controller is using 11 Universes (up to channel 5400) and the 2nd controller finishes it off.

Now the issue is I'M OUT OF CHANNELS! :'( But I'll get another E682.

 

[ShellNZ]

Luv the star Ron, now you've got me thinking of using some of my leftover 2812b for a megatree star. I already have a star but not terribly happy with it. I would also need to add a 5v power supply to the enclosure....hmmmm

 

[logandc99]

I like that star! Got me thinking about doing one now as well