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Dumb rgb ribboms, rope or pixels.


racerc20

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Just about anywhere. (HC, Amazon...)  RGB (dumb) is easy. Pixels (smart) have many additional rules to pay attention to.

What voltage are you running on each bank of your cmb24D board?

I chose 12V for both banks. If you chose 5V, you need the AUX 12V adapter to run the board as the board will power itself from bank 1 if 12V on that

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About the only thing to make sure of with dumb RGB is that the common wire is positive.  If the common wire is negative, you can't use it with any of the common lighting controllers.

 

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The ones from Amazon are no longer there, but I have purchased these a while back as well-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5M-10M-SMD-3528-5050-5630-300LEDs-RGB-White-LED-Strip-Light-12V-Power-Supply-US-/181435517609?var=&hash=item2a3e664aa9:m:mmgadYafbc7VDDFUDiSYJzA

 

Just search for RGB Waterproof 5050 SMD 5M 16FT 150 LED RGB Strip lights and you can find a bunch for cheap.  Just make sure they have an waterproof rating of IP65 or better.

 

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Probqably need to educate yourself a little more on ltypes of lighting to use before buying anything. 

Just for dumb strips, lots of decisions.  They come in various levels of waterproofing form non-waterproofed, to resin covered, enpty silicon tube to injection silicon tubes. 

Once you know what you want, can you then start searching ebery'er for specific products. 

 

;"Pixels" generally refers to "smart pixels" where each bulb can be programed and you need a pixel controller for that.

   "Dumb nodes" which resemble pixels bulbs, can only be controlled for an entire string of nodes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What size wire are you guys running from your controllers out to your strips. Someone was suggesting that I use  CAT5 or 6. I just have concerns on voltage drop with that small of a wire even with 24v. Thoughts and suggestions ??

Thanks
K P

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Most of mine are 16/4 speaker wire.  I use the bigger gauge because some of my runs are about 40-50ft away and I was concerned with voltage drop.  There is a little but you can't really tell unless you know how and what to look for.

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6 hours ago, Killer Panda said:

What size wire are you guys running from your controllers out to your strips. Someone was suggesting that I use  CAT5 or 6. I just have concerns on voltage drop with that small of a wire even with 24v. Thoughts and suggestions ??

Thanks
K P

If you're using Dumb RGB Strips, they generally come with power cords unless you take the DIY approach. There are accessories you can buy to connect to the controller.

You will need pigtails on the controller board to receive the plug for the lights. WowLights is an excellent source and so are some other vendors listed here. CAT 5/6 is generally used for communication.

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Most of mine are 16/4 speaker cables as well. I recommend against using Cat-5 unless it’s a small amount of lights and a short cable distance. 

 

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This is a DIY project. I have 15' dumb RGB runs each on its own channel and they are 24v.. But some of these runs out to them will be up to 50'. Short runs I may consider the cat 5 by doubling up the pairs. But the longer runs I'm going to get 16-4 due to the voltage drop.  I was just checking to see if anyone has used the cat 5 in the past. I'll play with it this week and see what the results will be before I hooking them up permanently. 

Also, has anyone one left there LED tape lights up year round before?  I'm thinking on doing so.

Thanks

K P

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2 hours ago, Killer Panda said:

Also, has anyone one left there LED tape lights up year round before?  I'm thinking on doing so.

I run a year round landscaping lighting show.  Much of it is based on RGB strips (both smart and dumb).  This web page shows most of it.

http://newburghlights.org/Landscaping.html

 

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Thanks   Jim

Most of the lighting will wall washing so much of it will be out of the weather and direct sun light. I've use the rope light for over a decade now and I assume that wear will be very similar.

K P

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  • 1 month later...

Well Freinds,

I used the CAT5 for short runs less than 30' for using each pair for each color and power. I measured the load and it was at a peak .36 amp which the Cat5 handled fine. Basically used 2  24awg wires for each color and had no problem. The other note is I was using 24v lights and not 12v due to voltage drop on longer runs.

Thanks ,

KP

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