RGB LED Strips

[Time2Jet]

What'd be a good recommendation for LED light strips and control?  I have a TP Link driver, Hue Bridge/Hub already in the system if that helps.  I'd prefer to buy the strips and the controller.  The off the shelf stuff isn't long enough for what I need.  

[msgreenf]

the TP Link Kasa is awesome

[zaphod]

You can buy generic RGB or RGBW strips for about $12/16ft. Then for controllers there are options that connect to a Hue system (Dresden Elektronik), or can be controlled via Wifi with an app called MagicHome.  These have drivers for C4.

If you go longer than one roll, which is 16ft or 5m, then you may need a secondary power source so it doesn't dim.

Those options may be cheaper on a per foot basis if you have a longer run.

[msgreenf]

i have those too but i don't find them as bright as the kasa

[Pounce]

Shelly RGBW .

[Time2Jet]

3 hours ago, msgreenf said:

i have those too but i don't find them as bright as the kasa

The problem is that my kids want them installed behind their televisions.  The TP's are 80"  which isn't even enough for the smallest TCL Roku 49".  The Shelly looks interesting.  @Pounce is there a driver for the Shelly?  

[msgreenf]

You can extend the tp links

[Pounce]

12 minutes ago, time2jet said:

@Pounce is there a driver for the Shelly? 

 

[Time2Jet]

You can extend the tp links

Sure. It’s $30 for another meter. I think the original kit is 2 meters. So you’d have $150 invested for backlighting a 55” display. Then the incremental cost of the driver. Since I have the driver, it could be cheaper, I’m researching cost & benefit. But as you add additional meters to the project, at least the tape costs significantly less in bulk.


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[Zuhair]

The problem is that my kids want them installed behind their televisions.  The TP's are 80"  which isn't even enough for the smallest TCL Roku 49".  The Shelly looks interesting. @Pounce is there a driver for the Shelly?  

I use Shelly with Berto driver, works awesome.

[Pounce]

8 hours ago, Zuhair said:

I use Shelly with Berto driver, works awesome.

But doesn't do this:

[Time2Jet]

But doesn't do this:

I just grabbed 3 rolls of IA Led Strips and 3 Shelly RGBW2’s. The LED strips call for 5V DC, but not sure which amperage I should get. Can anyone enlighten me on that? (US based).

 

I’m going to use the driver [mention]Pounce [/mention] suggested. It looks pretty awesome.

 

 

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[RyanE]

You need to determine maximum wattage for the LEDs you've purchased, for the length you're installing.

In other words, how many watts are the strips using if all RGB, WW are on full.  Longer the strip, the more current you'll need.

Also, you shouldn't run more than 1 roll without either a booster, or a dedicated power connection, as the LEDs fade the further down the line.

RyanE

 

[Köhler Medientechnik]

4 hours ago, RyanE said:

Also, you shouldn't run more than 1 roll without either a booster, or a dedicated power connection, as the LEDs fade the further down the line.

That´s the reason why i prefer 24V stripes. 5V only for special applications (pixel stripes).

[Time2Jet]

So I can use 5v 30amps with no damage? I admittedly don’t understand how amperage works. I know that certain devices draw more amps and therefore require more. Just don’t understand if a 30amp rated 5v DC power supply will mean “up to” 30amps.

Anyone recommend decent power supplies? Trying to avoid huge wall warts. But want it to be perfectly safe and efficient.


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[lippavisual]

30 amp means it won’t power more than 30 amps at 5v.

every strip gives you a power rating usually in watts.  Convert amps to watts or vice versa to figure out how much lighting you can use.

Meanwell Is the standard of you ask me.

[Pounce]

1 hour ago, lippavisual said:

Meanwell Is the standard of you ask me.

This, but they need to be out of the way or hidden. They don't look like a wall wart.

[Time2Jet]

2 hours ago, lippavisual said:

30 amp means it won’t power more than 30 amps at 5v.

every strip gives you a power rating usually in watts.  Convert amps to watts or vice versa to figure out how much lighting you can use.

Meanwell Is the standard of you ask me.

Thank you @lippavisual.  It just struck me that the Shelly RBGW2 controller may not support 5v.  Ughhhhhh...  I need to get some new strips.  The idea of 5v was to power the strips and controller via the USB port on a new gen display.

 

@Pounce you have experience with the Shelly controller, thoughts about powering it with these 5v max strips I have?  Regardless, I looked at the Meanwell lineup and didn't see a 5v power supply there.  

[Pounce]

I picked this site at random after googling meanwell and 5v. Looks like some good info and they list the various products. You might find it useful to find the product you want on a site you want to use.

https://www.ledsupply.com/blog/meanwell-power-supply-guide/

[Time2Jet]

I picked this site at random after googling meanwell and 5v. Looks like some good info and they list the various products. You might find it useful to find the product you want on a site you want to use.
https://www.ledsupply.com/blog/meanwell-power-supply-guide/

Great find. I’m going to know way more about power supplies and controllers than I bargained for. I’ll take it. Very nice.


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[Köhler Medientechnik]

10 hours ago, time2jet said:

The idea of 5v was to power the strips and controller via the USB port on a new gen display.

That won´t work. A USB port is not designed to power lighting. Specification goes up to 900mA for USB 3. 

Low output LED stripes would have e.g. 9W/m, which would already be double the amount of Ampere (1.800mA) you could get out of a USB port.
An higher output LED stripes can easily go up to 40W/m and more.

I´d also recommend Meanwell for power supply.

[Time2Jet]

I have researched the whole AMP situation and my strips are 18 watts/m. I need a 5v/20amp ps. Now here’s likely the dealbreaker. My Shelly RGBW2 only supports 12/24v. Trash the LED strips and grab new? Is there a dual PS scenario?


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[lippavisual]

Not sure why you chose 5v in the first place.  They won’t be that bright really.

12/24v is commonplace.  With a plethora of devices available.

superbrightled

ecolocity

environmental lights

are a few places to find equipment.

i believe blackwire is selling some stuff now too. 

[zaphod]

Get new strips.  12V are the most common and are quite cheap - about $15-25 per 5m roll on Amazon or specialty LED online retailers. 

How long is your run?  If it is longer than one roll then you may want to use an amplifier, or get additional controllers and you can set these up as different zones.  You might be able to use one power supply to drive multiple controllers, but you will need to run wires from the power supply to all controllers.

I haven't used the Shelly controller, but it looks pretty good.  There are also cheap Wifi controllers that can be integrated into C4 that use an app called Magic Home or FluxLED.

[Time2Jet]

48 minutes ago, lippavisual said:

Not sure why you chose 5v in the first place.  They won’t be that bright really.

12/24v is commonplace.  With a plethora of devices available.

superbrightled

ecolocity

environmental lights

are a few places to find equipment.

i believe blackwire is selling some stuff now too. 

I didn't buy them.  My 15 year old daughter did.  I asked her to show me the item description and she showed me a 12v reel instead of the one's she actually clicked and bought.  That's when I decided to do Shelly control because I like the look of the driver UI.  Turns out, they were 5v, but since they were only to edge backlight her display and some movie posters, I grabbed 3 Shelly controllers.  My bad.