I picked up an addressable 12V 21M (69ft) 20LED outdoor for $12 on Amazon. The included controller is, as you would expect, loaded with crap software. I don’t have a Govee or Atom set ($50 - $100) to see how the brightness compares. But they aren’t real bright, more decoration than actually light up your patio.
It was fairly easy to convert over to using with WLED. The lights use the WS281x protocol. The controller and connections are all waterproof. There wasn’t anything salvageable in the controller. The board inside was covered in some kind of clear stuff, softer than hot glue or silicone. Just cut off the wires close to the board and use them to make your new controller waterproof. The output pins / wires are not labelled. The outermost wire is 12v, center data, and innermost is ground. Mark the 12v line when you cut it because it would be easy to get them confused with the round adapter.
12$ is really cheap but could you please clarify few points because i am interested in getting them :
what did you mean by "they aren’t real bright " ? Are they still visible in daylight ? And are they well made ?
Is this ws2811 or ws2812b ? it says on the site they are individually addressable but they did not mention any IC type ?!!! And you never mentioned ws2812b and its 12V so I am assuming ws2811 , is this correct or is it different for patio lights ?
In all cases I hope they work well for you and please post your actual project result if possible.
cheers