WS2811 strips - 30 vs 60 LEDs per meter?

[jumblinjim]

Hello,

First time poster and another noob. I'm looking to get started with this hobby/obsession for Christmas 2016. I'm settled to start with a house outline using WS2811 LED strips. My question is should I go with 30 or 60 LED per meter 5M rolls? Viewing distance will be roughly 20 to 50 ft from my house. I've read some blog posts that suggest a human eye's resolution would not be able to notice the difference and I should simply go with 30 LEDs per meter, but will the over all brightness be better if I up it to 60 per meter? What are the opinions out there and what other considerations am I not thinking of?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Greg.Ca]

There are other considerations such as twice as much power. I don't know what you're building so you need to give us more information. I started with 30/meter and now ALL of my pixels are 60/meter. Just a preference. In my opinion, if you are going to show any photos or animation, you need the 60/meter. Just my opinion. --Greg--

 

[lakeguy]

I started pixels last year. Built a mega tree ~100 ft from road. For images, it was good and very bright. For high detail images and text, not as good. However, not willing to pay the extra

 

[i13]

30 LEDs per metre is going to be more than bright enough for a house outline.

If it is 12V then the LEDs are usually grouped and only controllable in groups of three. If you choose 12V then you probably will notice the difference in resolution. In my opinion 30 LEDs per metre grouped in threes is still plenty for a house outline. I actually think the 12V strip with 30 LEDs/10 pixels per metre is nice and easy to work with. It doesn't suffer too badly with voltage drop and the channel count is not too high.

 

[ShellNZ]

I second what i3 said, 30pm is more than enough for outline. The power required for 60pm would do my head in really. You wont be having pictures or anything I assume. My viewers would look at 30pm v 60pm and no way would they be able to tell the diff Im betting.

 

[bluzervic]

I also agree 30pm is plenty. I have some Props that are 60pm and they have to be toned down as they are just too bright. For an Outline you do not need 60pm.


-Blu

 

[David_AVD]

I use 30 l/m strips on my gutters and that is more than fine enough. I run them at about 25% level from memory as otherwise they light up the house across the street.

 

[DanJ]

I have been using 30 px/m also--plenty plenty bright!!!

 

[Boof63]

30 led/m more than enough for house outline, also make it 12 volt ,as its easier to inject power where you need it
cheers Boof63

 

[plasmadrive]

Both my Plasma Icicles and my window frames are 30p/m and my house is set back 65' from the road.. they are way plenty bright! So bright that videoing them from the street still washes out the cameras at times..

 

[fasteddy]

The issues and additional cost that 60LEDs/m bring don't seem to outweigh the benefits as 30LEDs/m is enough for the job, it seems like most that have posted here agree