I am ventruing into my first wled project but an absolute novice when it comes to this stuff.
Im looking at installing some led strips to my patio. The main function will be for general lighting so wanting something with an ok warm white colour but also like the idea of rgb option for parties. The plan is to install a 1/4 round diffuser on the beam between the sheets to allow the light to reflect up onto the gloss white sheets. I know the strip dosnt really need a diffuser but its more for asthetics.
From my research it appears the FCOB SPI RGBW WS2814 IC 896LEDs/M seems to be the best option in terms of warm white with rgb capabilties. I understand each LED isnt addressable but rather it has zones which is fine for what i am wanting it for.
Materials im looking to use LEDs Power Supply
Controller = QuinLED-Dig-Uno
Attached are my plans and some photos of the area.
10 A fuse on a 10A power supply doesn’t do much since the fuse can only blow at current levels the power supply cannot produce (unless you don’t trust the power supply label for some reason).
Turning off the strip power while leaving the esp running means you’ll be driving the inputs while unpowered. I’ve done this for short periods of time and it mostly seems ok but this can have negative long term effects on the reliability of data inputs since you’ll end up powering them through the data line. It would be better to switch the ESP and then (if needed) also switch the power supplies.
The only issue with “switching the ESP” is - how do you switch it back on?
There are many scenarios where a software switch is vastly preferable to a hardware relay.
I understand the worry about apply data to the 1st LED with out powering it up, but that’s much less of a concern if you make sure you still have a common ground. That means using a relay on the LED V+ line only, leave grounds attached.
The ESP can be set to “Software Off” in the GUI so that it sends no data even it remains connected to the data line.
And if you’re really worried, you could always use a relay to switch the data line as well.
Thanks for the advice. Maybe im over complicating it. Was more for ease of use for my wife and kids to be able to turn the lights on in case i was not home to control it via the app.
Quick question. Do you know if the QuinLED-Dig-Uno outputs the data line at 5v? or am i going to need to level shifter to boost the voltage above 3.3v?
