individual rgb strips build need advice please!?

Bayonett Priest · June 10, 2019

so i wan to use this ip65 and 144leds 2m:

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/Address-WS2812B-pixel-streifen-licht-einzeln-WS2811-ic-Integrierte-RGB-DC5V-30-60-144-led-m/32939696881.html?spm=a2g0x.10010108.100008.2.6d053e19C8Uzkw&pvid=ffc3d58f-659e-454a-8cbd-820e55c9a3f9&gps-id=pcDetailLeftTrendProduct&scm=1007.13438.125068.0&scm-url=1007.13438.125068.0&scm_id=1007.13438.125068.0

what else do i need to buy to use them? want to use 2 of those! can i just connect them together? there is a single red and a white cable there what is that and do i need to solder them together to us the 2 in a line? is there a easy way to do it? dont have any solderingtool or experience!

mariushm · June 12, 2019

Those are addressable leds. They'll have 3 wires: voltage (+), ground (-) and data (probably the white wire). Look at the pictures in the link, you see there Vin (voltage) , Din (data in), GND (ground) and you can see the wires perfectly

The data wire is used to tell each LED on the strip what color to show - you can use a microcontroller like an arduino for example to program each led to have a specific color. The leds don't remember the last color set, so you must program each led every time you send power to the strip. Without programming, the LEDs may be white all the time, or may be some random color.

Also, you need a lot of power ... assuming average of 40mA for each led, you're looking at 144 x 40 = 5,760 mA or around 6A ... so you'd need a power supply that can do 5v and 6A.

You won't be able to power such a long strip from just one end... you'll most likely have to insert power after every 50 leds or so, or make 3 separate strips of around 50 leds.