At the various Christmaslighting forums it is agreed that led-strips are unreliable and hard to repair, so the node type led’s are advised, especially for hard to reach places. I only use strips for props that are easy to replace or repair (ground level).
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I appreciate that. But they are already up there!
These are also 2815s, which should be a tad more reliable. But my solder welds keep breaking. I am hopeful this repair will stick. I don’t like the look of the other ones when they are off.
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I looked at the node type when I did this, but they had more up front cost at the time.
The solderjoints/welds are like the grubscrews of ledstrips…
That is correct. The strip type is much cheaper to set-up, but the bullet type is much easier to maintain.
Strain is your enemy. This applies to both bullet- and node type.
I picked up some of the bullet type. I was thinking about re-wiring our christmas tree with the bullet lights and wled to make the tree do fun stuff.
There is a big tree (like 4 stories tall) made of addressable LEDs next to the highway in Denver. We have to drive by it in early evening (and conveniently, there is always traffic there). The kids love it, so naturally, I want to do something similar (maybe just one story high though).
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Out of curiosity, you mention the ws2812, ws2815 which are 5V and 12V driven respectively. Is one better than the other from a run-length perspective? For your weather conditions, would you recommend IP65 or IP67 rating and for holiday lighting, do you use 30 or 60 leds per meter?
Use the 12v. Higher voltage = less current. I had bad issues with voltage drop over long distances with mine even with power injection.
A friend of mine discovered that the multi-color trees at home depot and lowe’s are using ws2812 LEDs. You can modify the tree to use your own controller.
This is the tree he used if you can find it somewhere else
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I believe the 12V gets converted to 5V at each LED in the 2815. I tried to stress it and get it to change color and it did when the voltage dropped under 5V. So in my opinion 12V is better for longer runs.
I found the YT video that recommended ip65 inside the aluminum channel with a diffuser. That’s what I’m using. The ip67 is thicker and harder to connect strands.
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That is very tempting. I am conflicted because I dislike lawn decorations but I love adding WLED where it doesn’t come standard.
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The best place to learn more about LED lighting is Falcon Christmas - Index
I have a Christmas display with a 24 foot mega tree (3200 WLED’s).
There is also a Zoom room that is free, normally someone in it 24/7 to help and answer questions.
Launch Meeting - Zoom
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This is als a good source of information: AusChristmasLighting 101 | AusChristmasLighting
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Those trees are on a steep discount. I’m still waiting for the govee spotlights to go on sale.
Edit: nevermind. The tree is “out of stock”. Darn.
Not permanent, but these are Christmas Ligths…
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