Any good deals found for ws2811's or lpd6803's?

[dgrant]

As stated, anyone find any good deals on these led strips? I'm using both but a quick test today, I'm seeing about a %50 failure rate after not used since two years ago. The implication is that I need to acquire about 50 strips, 16 minimum in 6803 or modify things to use 2811's or whatever.

[k6ccc]

If you have time (likely a problem this late in the year), Ray Wu in China is usually one of the best prices, but shipping time can be very long.

Don't have anything else.

 

[dgrant]

Apparently Ray Wu stopped carrying LPD6803's as they're not showing in his store. He's where I got most all of my strips. I was seriously thinking of replacing the 6803's with 2811's. I initially bought the 6803's since they were very close to being the LOR CCR's when first released. Anyway, I pulled out 10 of them then found 5 were good and 5 were not. They've been stored in the garage, therefore hot/cold. Truly its a shame they can't make them any better and now the prices that I see, are considerably higher than before but no promises of them lasting any longer. I use the 6803's on a pixel tree and the 2811's on my matrix. Yes, other 2811's for circles, 2811 nodes on arches, firesticks and so on. Easy to rewire the 6803 channels to 2811's and those are on a E682 which will support both.

Just looking for a good deal that so far, I can't find. 🙃

[dgrant]

Guess I'm going to replace the 6803's with 2811's. Found a decent price for them on alexpress from btf lighting and free shipping. I wanted 40 but to keep the price down I ordered 30. After tax it'll be about $294 for the order. So will be doing some removal and attachment of the new strips plus some minor re-wiring at the strip end only of the cables. I'll stick with the 4-wire cables but just disconnect the one wire no longer needed. Simple matter to re-command the e682 they'll be tied too. My matrix already uses all 2811's so I should be good.

[dgrant]

I received the ws2811's and have started the process to re-wire things. Since some of my 6803's are still good and some have JST 4-pin connectors, I had a simple idea to add a JST 3-pin connector to the existing 4-pin and therefore have the ability to swap them out. Yes, of course the controller output channel has to be altered to the different type and the rgb order but a comparison of the two strips, the leds are spaced apart the same distance. Now the color and dimming curves are probably different but hey, a failure means I can make it work quickly. Might not be perfect very so close that only I will know.

I still do not know if I'm going to run the show this year, but leaning that way. Sort of depends on available time. I'm now stopped while waiting on the additional JST 4-pin connectors to arrive. I've already finished all of my sequences and since I'm stepping down from doing two homes together, I'm doing just one, therefore the sequences all had to be altered to accommodate.