# What can you achieve with RGB strip lights?



## Joe.Smith (Sep 23, 2010)

Hi, 
I have a question which might be stupid, but I just don't understand what effects I can achieve with RGB strip lights. I understand a lot depends on the controller, and with a DMX controller for instance I can achieve a whole range of colours. But with what strip light? Or can it be any LED strip light for instance? 
So I just buy any strip light - even the ones advertised as knowing 8 colours only, and add a DMX and the range of colours go up to a hundred e.g.? 
I know I have to check the connecting mode (both strip and controller should be common cathode or anode). But anything else?
Cheers, 
Joe


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## kutop (Sep 24, 2010)

You look like interesting, I am working in LED strip factory for 2 years and sell LED strips to worldwide. For 5050 RGB LED strip, it is different from single color like white, blue 5050 LED strip, because RGB use different LED chips from these single color LED strip though all of them are 5050 SMD LEDs. What you thought seems impossible.


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## Noctilucent (Sep 24, 2010)

Keep in mind that there's a small range of RGB strip lights that you could be referring to - so it would help which ones you're thinking of; though getting CA vs CC out of the way is smart 

There's basic 'dumb' strip lights, and DMX strip lights.

The 'dumb' strip lights are just the LEDs + resistors on a strip, all hooked together so that if you apply 12V (typically) to R, G or B, the red, green or blue chips of the SMD leds will all light up the same (though if you have a very long strip, some losses occur in the stip itself, and the LEDs near the end of the strip will fade.. RED fades least, so if you try for white, the end of the strip looks pink.. solution: drive both ends). You can hook up a great many controllers to these - from the cheap drivers off of e-bay that come with infra-red/RF remotes, to Clive's RGB controller ( http://www.bigclive.com/rgbcont.htm ) to a rather nice programmable one available from Conrad in Europe and probably similar off of DealExtreme. You can set any solid color on these strips (usually the drivers are limited to 6 or 8 bits, and it's not entirely linear from 'off' to full brightness.. but you can use an analog driver and get absolutely whatever color you want) and of course you can 'animate' between colors to get a change along the colors of the rainbow, a strobe-like flashing effect, etc. The important thing, though, is that -all- color chips of the same color light up together along the entire length of the strip.

The DMX strip lights are different. Depending on the exact strip you're getting, you can address each LED group or even each LED separately. This means you can do additional effects like a light looping back and forth between the ends of the strip, like the Knight Rider car effect, and many, many more.
These strips are, of course, much more expensive -and- you have to make sure that the strip you're getting is absolutely compatible with the DMX driver you're planning on using. DMX(512) is supposed to be a standard, but it's not always strictly adhered to. Order a single strip if you want to check compatibility with a driver you already have before ordering longer lengths.
Again, though, quite a bit more expensive.. but not much choice if you absolutely want these effects.

Unless you abuse the controller (or let a computer act as one), I don't think you can even hook a DMX controller up to a 'dumb' LED strip as it expects a regular voltage.. and not network packet info


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## abstractavr (Oct 7, 2010)

Joe.Smith said:


> Hi,
> I have a question which might be stupid, but I just don't understand what effects I can achieve with RGB strip lights. I understand a lot depends on the controller, and with a DMX controller for instance I can achieve a whole range of colours. But with what strip light? Or can it be any LED strip light for instance?
> So I just buy any strip light - even the ones advertised as knowing 8 colours only, and add a DMX and the range of colours go up to a hundred e.g.?
> I know I have to check the connecting mode (both strip and controller should be common cathode or anode). But anything else?
> ...



Hi Joe, you can achieve the full spectrum of colours with an RGB strip light if you have the right driver & control system. I work for a company called Abstract AVR ltd and they offer both 1W high power RGB strips as well as flexible SMD LED strips. Any of these can achieve amazing effects if you use a DMX LED driver module.

Effects of the LED strips that can be achieved with a proven DMX driver are as follows: Full spectrum colour change, individual colours, fade, dim, transition speed up/down. And if you have a programmable controller you can also go even further by actually choosing your favorite colours and setting the time delay between transitions.

If you would like more information feel free to get in touch with me by pm.


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## Joe.Smith (Oct 13, 2010)

Hi, thanks for the many advice. I didn't have time to get back to the forum for a while. 
Well, the reason I had this question is because I have a set of RGB strip lights I bought about an year ago with a controller. It all works perfectly well, but displays 8 colours only at the moment. I wondered if I could add more colours by simply changing the controller and not having to reinstall the strip lights. 
Here is the strip light I have, and the controller is also from the same company. http://www.ledcentre.uk.com/232-led-strip-lights/173-30-smd-power-5050-strip-led-light-rgb-12-v-dc.html
I love the strip lights, and they are bright enough for what I need, also they would be a pain to replace, so if there is no chance changing the controller, I will just leave it as it is. 
Thanks for your help, 
Joe


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## Noctilucent (Oct 13, 2010)

Well, you're in luck, then.. that looks like a regular ol' 'dumb' light strip. Basically each strip is composed of groups of 3 LEDs in series with each color having a separate resistor to ditch some excess power, running off of 12V.

So don't bother with a DMX -driver- as the strip won't understand what the DMX is trying to say with all those ones and zeroes 

As far as drivers go - see my previous post. Plenty of drivers with fun effects even for these simple strips.


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## Joe.Smith (Oct 14, 2010)

Thanks a lot, so I can still vary the colours with a controller that allows more colours, but not DMX. 
Thank you very much once again for the help.


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## Noctilucent (Oct 14, 2010)

yep.. The ones with an IR remote are actually quite nice (as long as you have line of sight, but that shouldn't be a problem.. can always rewire the sensor). There's two that are very cheaply available - you'd recognize them from the size of the remote and number of buttons on there. I'd recommend the larger one as it lets you actually choose your own colors* and store these in 6 memory slots.. the smaller one just gives you the presets.

* that asterisk refers to what I noted above on the 6bit / 8bit thing. The controller I just mentioned tends to be 6bits. That means there's just 64 levels of brightness, and the darkest level is not all that dark. What that means in practice is that if you take a pure red at its brightest and add the darkest level of blue, the color will already look quite pink. An analog mixer - not based on PWM, so much less energy efficient - should give you much better control over the exact color you want to use.. but obviously doesn't give you the preset colors, fancy effects, etc.


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