Anyone Know About Pixel LED Strips?

[paulrockliffe]

I've been very very slowly converting a loft and while doing it I installed the wiring for some LED strips as secondary lighting. I've done both gables with some plaster-in profiles, which looks really good with the shape of the roof. I've got three shelves that I want to illuminate too.

Since I designed it all and had the electrical work done I've discovered addressable LED strips and really want to use those. I keep trying to get to the bottom of what I need, getting a headache and leaving it, but I really want to sort it now.

Because I didn't know about addressable strips the wiring setup is 240v goes to a bank of switches, then one to each gable and one to the three shelves. The idea was turn on at the switch, 240v to a driver, 12v etc to the LED strip, simple. By a stroke of fortune there happens to be an ethernet cable at each 240v outlet wired back to a cupboard where I also have access to the 240v supply to each location and I can use WiFi too.

I don't have permanent live at the LED strip locations, which may be an issue for programmed lighting because the controller would drop in and out when the lights are off? But I think I could put controllers/drivers in the cupboard behind the light switch and send low voltage to the outlets instead and give them permanent 240v live there and switched live from the light switch.

I want to retain the use of the light switches for on-off control. I'd like to be able to set them up quickly so that the light switch works and they come on with white light, then add a programmer later.

I want to be able to control the three locations independently, because I want to be able to syncronise the shelf colour with the outside temperature eventually. I'm happy to hack about with Raspberry Pi/Arduino or PC control rather than some sort of expensive controller, but my priority is getting the lights working off the switches without losing the ability to add the control in later.

I'm leaning towards setting all the controls up in the cupboard because I'd like to be able to program the lights to come on regardless of how the light switch is set, perhaps use the light=on as an over-ride that turns everything white?

I'm rambling now, but can anyone offer advice on what my options are and how best to set it up without spending loads and loads on something my wife probably thinks is a complete waste of time and money?

Thanks!

Oh, the shelves I want like a mini light fitting that I can recess, like a ceiling spotlight rather than a strip and not overly bright. Any suggestions for that?

[Russ35]

Have a look at intermit.tech and dr zzs on youtube. They cover all things led strips.

Intermit.tech has designed his own multi channel controllers for 5v and 12v led strips. Can handle high amps and multiple strips at the same time. Latest versions comes with his own design layout for esp32 boards for the controller. There is an on board antenna version, external antenna, or cat 5 board. Thee are pads to solder a DS18B20 Temperature sensor on if I remember correctly.

Software used to generate the light shows is WLED.

Not particularly cheap, but a safe way to do it, fussed, designed to handle high amps etc.

Remember the addressable RGB strips are power hungry, effectively 3 or 4 leds each position, white takes the most power. Depending how long your led strip is you may also need to insert power to the strip each x meters.