What is An Addressable LED Strip and How To Control Them

What Is An Addressable LED Strip Light

When you require a dynamic lighting solution, LED strips are an excellent alternative. They are available in a variety of colors, can be mounted almost anywhere, and need little upkeep. You’d be hard-pressed to find any lighting system that provides as much value and flair.

Addressable LED strips, on the other hand, raise the bar to a whole new level. They provide you with more control choices as well as unique effects to make your lighting setup even more brilliant. The catch is that you must select the appropriate type of addressable LED strip for your requirements.

Each addressable LED in a programmable LED strip includes an inbuilt driver that permits the brightness and color of each RESULTED IN to be set individually; that is, each LED can be a different color than the one next to it. It enables you to apply different effects to different portions of the LED strip at the same time or in intervals. It’s perfect for showing animations and other dynamic displays or for creating beautiful and complicated lighting effects.

Individually addressable RGB LED strips are available in 5V and 12V versions, with each having its own set of benefits. 12V LED strips are less vulnerable to voltage loss and may thus travel longer distances before the LEDs fade and the colors become incorrect. If you’re going to run your strips any distance, you’ll probably want to inject power at both ends at the absolute least, and possibly somewhere in the center as well if you’re using the 5V kind. The importance of the use of a five-volt strip is you will be able to a NodeMCU using the same power with no need for an additional voltage regulator.

Individually Addressable LED Strips Come in a Variety of Styles

The SK6812 is a single-wire interface chipset that is directly incorporated into SMD5050 or 8-12mm through-hole LEDs. Typically the least expensive option, but with slower data and PWM rates. There are several versions, all of which use the same protocol.

WS2812 is similar to SK6812.

APA107 is our current “new child on the block.” This chipset, like the WS2812, is built into the SMD5050 LED, however, it utilizes a 2-wire interface and enables PWM speeds of up to 30Mbps and 9kHz. The exclusive design of Newstar.

HD107s: An improved APA107 with a PWM refresh rate of +26kHz.

SK6813/WS2813: 6-pin SMD5050 package version (originally with 6 pins as the SK6812).

WS2815 is a digital-led source of lighting with an RGB chip and a power circuit control fitted in the SMD 5050 kit 

WS2801 is a medium-level price two wired panels with an eight-color output channel with one Mbps data required throughout the system.

WS2811: A bare IC variation that is commonly used for Christmas lights and 12V strips (3 RGB LEDs per IC)

WS2811 400kHz: The initial version of the chipset operates at 400kHz, as opposed to all subsequent variants, which operate at 800kHz. This variation requires the usage of LED TYPE.WS2811 400. These are becoming increasingly scarce.

LPD8806: An older but still functional chipset with a 2-wire interface that can handle 20Mbps and high PWM speeds. The disadvantage is that each IC controls two LEDs, and each channel has just seven bits rather than eight, thus it can only handle one-eighth of the color.

How Does An Addressable LED Strip Light Work

The operation of an addressable LED strip involves a collaborative effort of several sections. They are as follows:

• Chips for integrated circuits

• LEDs are light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

• A source of power

• A wireless controller

Each LED has its integrated circuit chip. This is the mechanism that allows you to control individual LEDs. The controllers used to operate them are likewise distinctive; they contain data channels to send commands rather than merely matching RGB pins like ordinary RGB LED strips.

Keeping this in mind, the addressable LED strip operates as follows

• When the power supply is turned on, a direct current goes to the LEDs, causing them to light up in the default configuration.

• To create an effect, you would use the controller to provide a command that addresses the specific LEDs you want to control.

• The controller then sends a signal to the integrated circuit chips on the LEDs.

• If you enter a timed-interval lighting effect, the circuit chips will either execute the instruction immediately or store it for later execution.

What Components Do You Need To Prepare

What you’ll need is as follows:

• A PC, laptop, MAC, or another computer capable of running the Arduino IDE

• A copy of the fastLED IDE library.

• A microprocessor (we recommend either the UNO R3 or the Pro Micro)

• The required length of addressable led strip lights, can be RGB party lights or WS2811 LEDs.

• A power supply with a 5-volt output (VUPN7753)

• A screw terminal to dc barrel connector adapter (optional) CD021

• A few wires for connecting data and power to the Arduino (I used male-male jumper leads).

Programming Arduino

It is simple to connect the Arduino. From here on, we’ll be discussing the Arduino Uno R3 or an R3 equivalent.

The LED strip requires 5 volts from the power supply. Both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE must be connected to the LED strip.

Then connect a POSITIVE and NEGATIVE 5 VOLT from the power supply to the Arduino and connect the 5 VOLT positive to the Arduino’s “5V” header. Connect the 5 VOLT negative to the Arduino’s “GND” adjacent to the “5V” header.

Finally, connect the “Din” on the LED strip to the Arduino’s header pin that reads “12.” (Alternatively, you can utilize any data pin specified in your fastLED software.) For my project, I just used pin 12).

Arduino is a free and open-source electrical prototyping platform. It consists of a physical circuit board and software that may be executed on a computer to program the physical circuit board. It is because of this programmability that it may be utilized as an addressable LED strip controller. To utilize Arduino as a control device, however, you must first check that your addressable LED strip is compatible with it.

To use Arduino to operate an addressable LED strip, you must first install a library.  A library is  an encrypted system with commands on the Arduino panel board to transfer signals to the addressable light strip. There are several libraries to pick from, some of which are even free. The major difference is that some tend to be more compatible with a vast number of addressable LED strips more than others.

To install the FastLED library:

1. Download the FastLED library by clicking here. In your Downloads area, there should be a.zip folder.

2. Unzip the.zip archive to obtain the FastLED-master folder.

3. FastLED-master should be renamed FastLED.

4. Place the FastLED folder in the libraries folder of your Arduino IDE installation.

5. Finally, restart the Arduino IDE.

Libraries are frequently delivered in ZIP format. To begin utilizing your library, unpack it and store it in the Arduino’s libraries folder. You’ll also need to configure the specifications of your LED strip set up before you can start inputting commands into the program. This definition will allow you to select which LED channels to operate.

After you’ve installed the necessary libraries, upload the following code to your Arduino board. Copy the code below or go to File > Examples > FastLED > ColorPalette.

You must modify the NUM LEDS variable to reflect the number of LEDs in your custom LED strip. The LED strip in our case is 14 LEDs long.

If you wish to control the LED strip with another Arduino pin, adjust the LED PIN variable.