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I'm trying to make a large LED grid (23x10 with 4inx4in squares), and I've been experimenting with what the cheapest way to do it is. I can make one of these for around 75 cents USD. The layers are:

1. Balsa square backplane: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MM185Q2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
2. Reflective aluminum tape (helps increase the brightness a bit)
   
3. Single WS2812B RBG LED: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014QKWJDU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
4. Soldered on connectors: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EV70C78/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
5. 4x4 housing square made from gluing together 3 4x1s from home depot
   
6. Tracing paper square
   
7. Nylon Silk cloth square: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XSBDWXX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   It's pretty easy to construct (the hardest part is soldering on the connectors), but I have several complaints I'd love cheap alternatives to.
   
   

• The frame is thicker than I'd like. I think I can fix this by just sawing off some of the edges - going to play with this later.
  
• I don't know for sure the tape is helping compared to light colored wood.
  
• I'm slightly concerned about heat, but I'm testing that now.
  
• I'd love to find a cheap 3-pin connector so I don't have to solder all of these.
  
• **The main problem I'm having is sufficiently diffusing the light over the square.** The camera makes it look more pronounced than it is, but there's a definite circle in the middle where the LED is. I've tried facing it the other way (towards the reflective tape), but then you get the shadow of the LED ribbon, which looks worse. I've also tried more/different layers of diffusion material. Materials I've tried (in many combinations and at many distances) include:
  
  • Tissues
    
  • Regular paper
    
  • Card stock drawing paper
    
  • Paper towel
    
  • Toilet paper
    
  • Nylon diffusion fabric
    
  • Tracing paper
    
    The ones that work the best are the tracing and nylon, but it's still not great.
    
    Happy to talk about the project, and would love advice if anyone has done something similar!
    
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    Edit: I just tried making the housing thicker (from 0.5in to 1.5in) and it made it a LOT better. I think I'm happy with it now as long as I can find a way to clean up the edges.

The most portable power solution that will give you decent run time but not weigh as much as a brick will be lipo or li-ion batteries, you want a 3 cell pack (also referred to as 3S), they can be had pretty cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/2200mAh-Airplane-Quadcopter-Helicopter-Multi-Motor/dp/B077P73SDS/ref=sr_1_11_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1550791043&sr=8-11-spons&keywords=3+cell+lipo&psc=1

You do need a speciffic charger for them though, again can be had pretty cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/jrelecs-Battery-Balance-Charger-Batteries/dp/B018FQKWGM/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1550791043&sr=8-19&keywords=3+cell+lipo

Your link says the strips draw a max of 5 Amp, which is quite a lot, the 2200mAh pack I linked above will last anywhere from about 20 minutes to an hour depending what colour you have the strips and how bright. A higher capacity pack will last longer but also cost more, you need to decide how much runtime you want vs how much you want to spend.

For future reference, 5V strips are much easier to power for portable use.

yeah, one of those strips are 24v strips, i'm surprised they lit up at all. 12v1A isn't enough current to do much.

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this page says that you're looking at 72W for the full 5m strip, http://www.ledlightsworld.com/page.html?id=38

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so that's a 12v, 6A power supply. I recommend trying to cut a small piece off one strip, and see if that works with your controllers

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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AAO4CUY/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 these ones are kinda crap to be honest. they don't have red green and blue in each led, only a red led, then a blue, then a green. in aggregate with really amazing diffusion you'll be able to make purples and oranges, but it won't look near as good as the other two strips you listed which are actually rgb per chip.

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so step one: cut off 5 leds (or wherever the cut line is on the strip) and see if that works with your power supply and controller. if it does then get a better power supply (hint: it won't look like a tiny little wall wart. at a minimum you'll need something that looks like this, however if you want some of the best you can get, mean well has you covered: https://www.amazon.com/MEAN-WELL-RS-75-12-Supply-Single/dp/B005T8XCLW/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1550809827&sr=8-18&keywords=12v+6a+dc+power+supply

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let me know if you have any questions!

> QuinLED dimmers

Love the site - will def have a look through there to pick up some tips.

Thinks your idea of DIY is well beyond mine. Currently only looking to combine strip, controller and power supply separately so no real soldering.

Probably going for a Milight controller, which google suggest has STM8S003F3 with 2khz. So that sounds like it'll be OK.

>any camera will pick it up easily and disqualifies it as film lighting, etc.

It's more driven by health concern. I want to mimimize blue light waves at night (hence rgbcct) and worried about headaches from sub-visual flickering. Sorta like old 60 hz CRT monitors...where the flickering is just on the edge of what humans can see

Thanks!

Needs to be delivered by hand by Friday.

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Based on information I've gotten here and from friends, the guy screwed up the order and that's probably why he bailed on the job. I guess 5v is weird? And they are purple instead of white because he didn't order RGB-W. I've ordered these 12v white LEDs.

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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HSF65MC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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By my calculation I'll be using 90 feet per light box. Just need to figure out how to battery power those. There's a chance there will be outlets on site but the client wants battery just in case. Feel like I've got two options here, got for wall plugin and include plug in batteries. Which my friend said was a lot of necessary conversions... or find a no-nonsense easily rechargeable battery. I won't be operating these, sales people will so I need to make it simple, plug and play, either way.

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Yeah, from the looks of it, your LED strip is a "dumb" RGB, in that each color channel, ie Red, Green, and Blue, each gets its own voltage line, along with a fourth ground wire. This means that the WHOLE strip will always be the same color based on whatever voltage is coming from your controller.


In my experience, all of the music reactive controllers are built to control addressable LED strips, most commonly of the WS2812B variety.


In order to connect your current controller to a usable strip, you'll need to buy an addressable strip like this one


I highly recommend checking out the adafruit LED tutorial. The whole world of LEDs can get pretty overwhelming pretty fast, but once you have a solid understanding of electrical currents, circuitry, and LED formats, you'll find yourself taking on increasingly ambitious projects!!


If you need any other pointers or suggestions on where to start looking, please shoot me a DM any time :D

Definitely go with a power pack. I have 88 LEDs on a tophat powered with this guy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZZYBAI2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Doesn't fall asleep, lasts about 10 hours with FastLED brightness set to ~25/255. Which is actually a little bit too bright for a costume piece that's worn at night. These LEDs pack a punch! Good luck!

You have similar goals, and are in a similar place as I am so I don't have much to add. I personally don't want to the bare LEDs because I'm worried that they will be too directional so I was considering this diffusing mounting channel. A very diy friend of mine said you can also rub the tips with a bit of sandpaper to frost them, but I'm taking that with a grain of salt. Good luck with your project.if possible please post your results.

https://www.amazon.com/daylight-Bi-pin-halogen-replacement-equivalent-5packs/dp/B077Q4WCWT/ref=asc_df_B077Q4WCWT/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241869999306&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11880619207738113069&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002051&hvtargid=pla-411526575340&psc=1

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https://www.amazon.com/Satco-Threaded-G9-Halogen-Socket/dp/B004JQWXLA/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1543245710&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=g9+socket&psc=1

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https://www.amazon.com/GE-Molded-8-Foot-Brown-54435/dp/B000UTE278/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1543245971&sr=1-4&keywords=lamp+cord

I didn't check the voltage/amps rating on the socket but just verify that it accommodates 120v, amps will be under a half, I'd imagine. That little light should be pretty bright but if you shop around a little you'll see there are thousands of these DIY bulbs and sockets on Amazon and ebay.

u/Firealarm102 If you opt for multiple power supplies, you'll need to make sure you connect the grounds for all of your power supplies *but not the high voltage (VCC) lines*.

Alternatively you could get one (very large) power supply rated for up to ~80A and keep groups of strips in parallel (and isolated) circuits. For example you could design three completely separate circuits of 5 meters each (of LEDs), and join them only at the power supply. That way you could use the same power supply, and since current cannot flow from one group to another, you can get away with thinner wires to each of the 3 circuits than you would if it was all on one circuit. The catch is that you'd need 3 sets of parallel power cables from PSU to LEDs instead of one.

Also keep an eye on wire gauges to avoid things catching fire. Using one PSU with 3 parallel circuits, or 3 separate PSUs, you'd need around 8 or 10 AWG wire to sustain 18A with stranded-core wire. Or if you used just a single circuit and one PSU, you'd need 1 AWG wire (which is insane). See https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html.

With this high current, you'll want to look at good ways to splitting the power lines. I would strongly caution against just soldering a bunch of wires together to achieve parallel circuits. You could use some of these instead: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K2K6M0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Regardless of your choice of power supply arrangement, you should try to inject power every 1M of LEDs, with this high pixel density. If you opt for 3 groups of 5 meters, that means that each of your 3 power circuits will need 5 parallel circuits inside of that.

If your LEDs live close to your power supply (within a few meters), your data line can still pass through these isolated circuit boundaries just fine, since the circuits will share the same ground (via the power supply). If you need really long cables from PSU to LEDs, you may want to consider 12V instead of 5V LEDs - that will also let you use much thinner wires.

For more information I'd recommend checking out Adafruit's guide to powering 5V LEDs like this: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/powering-neopixels

In larger projects where you are going to have to split a large supply into several separated runs you'll want to fuse each run independently. If you ar going to run 40A from a 60A power supply for instance, like others have suggested below it's best to run a few wires at for instance 10A.

Although it's not 100% accurate, power will take the way of the least resistance so if you lay down several wires next to your LED strip, the higher amount of copper and lower amount of resistance on those wires to the specific spots will automatically "distribute" the power among the available paths.

Always fuse below the rating of the wire (and if possible the end device), so if the wire is rated up to 15A for instance, fusing for 10A is a good idea that way, whatever happens it can never go up in smoke and cause a fire.

Since we are talking low voltage, car parts are easily available and cheap. For just a few links you could use one of these blocks: https://www.amazon.com/Support-Truck-Circuit-Standard-Holder/dp/B012CQEPN2 but if the project is a bit more complex or high amount of wires and Amps are used, these distribution blocks make your life a whole lot easier!: https://www.amazon.com/Kohree-Automotive-Waterproof-Negative-Indicator/dp/B07S99H25W Those are really excellent to work with, you can get them in 6 or 12 way variants and they take cheap car fuses which are available in lots of different values.

I purchased an Arduino and 3 sets of these led strips as they go around the ceiling in the room. I also got mounting brackets as it defuses the lights AND can screw into surfaces as opposed to the LED which has a sticker backing, so once on a surface they can't really be moved. But with the mounting hardware I could possibly move them.... maybe.

I also got this power supply but with 3 strips I don't go over a Brigthness of 150-ish. (as opposed to 255) You'll also need a ac power cable to the power supply. However, so good news here, if you're only using one strip you SHOULD be able to get by with only power from the USB.

Now on to programming; There is the Arduino IDE free of course, but you'll have to learn a TINY amount of C. If you've worked with C#, JavaScript you'll be fine. It's not that low level. You will want to get the FastLED library and then select the DemoReel100 project and it will show you lots of options on how to control the LEDs.

As for having your PC control the LEDs, it will depend on exactly what that means. I have a C# app that sends data to the Arduino and then the Arduino deals with the execution of that command.

Here's the strip I'm using. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018X04ES2/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I'm using these lights for a music performance so just white strips aren't an option. I'm currently using these https://www.amazon.com/Makerfocus-Charging-Lithium-Battery-Protection/dp/B071RG4YWM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1549826895&sr=8-5&keywords=charger+module. With a fully charged battery, I'm still not getting as much brightness as when I have the charger module plugged in via USB or adding a battery at both ends, but would like to just use 1 battery if possible. I won't be running the lights at full white except for the end of the show.

I’ve used these diffusers with good results. No more spots on my retinas.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Sand-Surface-PMMA-Lens-Diameter-10mm-Light-Transmission-For-SMD-5050-LED/352163883530?itemId=352163883530&varId=621600413364

I would recommend 30 LEDs per meter strips that are NOT waterproof. If they have waterproofing it will be basically impossible to attach. I used superglue and lots of patience. If you go higher density on the lights it’s gonna take a long time.

The other option is to use metal tracks that little plastic filters snap into. The metal also works as a nice heat sink and way to attach to the wall. You can also use higher density 60 LEDs per meter strips without worrying about the pain of attaching individual lenses. Don’t get 120 LEDs per meter - too power hungry for most applications. There are several types and perhaps better prices out there but an example would be this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01DM7G91G/ref=aw_pd_cart_vw_4_3?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01DM7G91G&pd_rd_r=8KYAQMZKJTM0X2P7DWX6&pd_rd_w=c2rRH&pd_rd_wg=z9ew8&psc=1&refRID=8KYAQMZKJTM0X2P7DWX6

Amazon

Edit:

Something like this, but there are lots of styles on amazon. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01DM7G91G/

Also, this is just the aluminum channel. Lights, wire, and power supply sold separately.

I have decided to just build my own. I will be using a raspberry pi as the controller. Here are the parts list:

• Raspberry pi (I am using an older model which I had laying around)
  
  
• Microphone: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KLRBHGM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• Jumpers for GIPO: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZF1ZSZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• WS2801 LED addressable strip: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E8QSWXI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• LED strip connector: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DC0KKJU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• 5v 20A power supply: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D8FLWGE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  I will probably be building a web server to allow me to change the colors from my phone.

How would this work out?

LEDs

Controller

PSU