Reddit mentions of BTF-LIGHTING WS2812B RGB 5050SMD Individual Addressable 16.4FT 60Pixels/m 300Pixels Flexible Black PCB Full Color LED Pixel Strip Dream Color IP65 Waterproof Making LED Screen LED Wall Only DC5V

According to the ASUS Maximus XI Formula Motherboard Manual -

>"The addressable RGB header supports WS2812B addressable RGB LED strips ... and a maximum of 120 LEDs"

This product BTF Lighting LED is a 5050 SMD LED - it should have a power draw of 20mA per LED according to the data I found here.

So, in theory, 3A / 20mA = 150 LEDs.

I am assuming 120 is the limit due to power fluctuations?

I need about 9'-4" (2.84m) of LED strip to back-lite my wall mount. This should work? - 60 LED/m = 170 LEDs = 85 LEDs per addressable RGB header

Also - does anyone know where I can find a second addressable RGB header cable like what comes with the motherboard?

Here is the equipment list.

BTF-LIGHTING Digital Addressable Led Strip Music Controller X2 35.88

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759PQ46B/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

BTF-LIGHTING WS2812 32.88

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CDTEKAG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You will need a 5volt 10 am power supply. 15.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075CZ9G11/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Might need some small gauge wire although not needed.

I think power supply came with a DC Power Connector you will need one. 6.00 for a couple of them.

https://www.amazon.com/Chanzon-Connector-Female-Security-Adapter/dp/B079R9WCG2/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1539355038&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=DC+Power+Connector&psc=1

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Place the power supply and reciever in a plastic or weather proof container if you intend to use outdoors. I drll 2 holes in each side. One hole for power cable going in container to strip, the other hole for 1/8 min and led strip power going out of container. I use hot glue gun to seal the holes.

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Here is a great tutorial video from strip company. the above is for 5v 10amp strip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14i_7Rzz5Y0

Hit me up if you get stuck.

NOW GO ENJOY YOURSELVES.

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This is definitely a doable project. The hardest part of the things you mentioned is probably truly waterproofing the whole thing, but if you're not planning on dunking it in water, using it in the rain, or leaving it in a puddle it should be fine just generally covering things up.

1. You'll want what are called addressable leds, probably using the WS2812b chip, like the ones here. You could alternatively make your own matrix using strip lights like the ones here which have the option to be waterproof, though it would be a lot more involved and you'd have to make a lot of cuts which would have to be waterproofed anyway.I'm not too familiar with SMS functionality, but there is a chip called the ESP32 which you can program in the arduino IDE and has bluetooth built in. There are also external modules you could use which would probably help with the SMS functionality, and then can communicate to the main microcontroller.For cables, standard addressable led connectors look like this and you usually get a few extra when you buy strips/matrices, but having more isn't bad and they are pretty cheap. Depending on where you place you electronics, you might need up to a 2m or so run of cable. If you are running the led signals this long, make sure to use higher gauge wire as there is less voltage drop for both the power and signal lines.Depending on your microcontroller, you might need to do something called level shifting/level converting, which is where you take a signal at say, 3.3v and boost it to 5v. If this is the case you'll need a level shifter. A pretty standard choice is the 74AHCT125. Unless you have a compelling reason, I would choose that one since other level converters can have issues with driving LEDs. You can also get it much cheaper on places like digikey/mouser.
   
2. In terms of guides, the video the other commentor linked below is a good start and sparkfun has a good addressable LED guide. In general, looking up "Addressable led tutorial" or something like that will get a lot of results. I'm not sure how much microcontroller experience or similar you have, but tutorials for that should be even more numerous. Start small, for example just flashing a color on and off or something, and work from there.
   
3. Definitely feasible. Depending on how long you plan to use it for, your batteries may not even need to be that big. At max brightness (full white), a WS2812b led will use approximately 60mA at 5v. Keep in mind full brightness is BRIGHT. Like hard to look at bright. Depending on the ambient lighting, you could get away with half brightness or even less. Further, if you only use one color of RGB, we can say you use 10mA per led. Further, with scrolling text you won't have all of them lit at once, reducing power consumption even more. With all this in mind, lets say you want to drive 250 leds for 4 hours. Assuming they are all on (which they likely won't) and in one color at half brightness, it would use 10mA*250*4hour = 10,000mAh. Cell phones usually charge at 5v, and if you wanted to reduce cost, you could just use a 10,000mAh battery pack which aren't even that big/rare. This would also allow for quick swap, just unplug the usb cable and swap to a new battery pack. Other than that you could use 26650 cells or some other type of battery pack, though you'd likely need some sort of battery management system for that work efficiently.
   
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   Let me know if you have any other questions! I'm not sure how familiar you are with electronics so if anything is unclear let me know.