Permanent LED light strings - best way to hang?

Hot damn i'mma dummy

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I'd lay the strips out on the lawn in front of the house in the two versions below and run some animations. Pick the one that looks the best.

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There are a host of controller options. WLED is a very popular one and allows for both of these setups to act the same- you can reverse each segment and have the animations play each way. Granted, you want the “right” way before you permanently install it, but both of these can be right, assuming the controller allows for it (my front lawn has a 50-pixel section running one direction and a 116 pixel section running the opposite, but with the reverse segment option, they basically function as a single segment, and animations “flow” through them to where you’d need to look at the actual cabling to know they are “split.”

WLED is awesome. I run it on all my LED's.

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FWIW I put LEDs all around the ceiling in my son's room and the physical wiring is like option 1

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The advantage of running option 1 is that you have to "injection points" for your data signal. The advantage of that is if you lose a LED that interrupts the data signal the maximum it can take out is 1/2 your strips/stings. Mine is not run this way (I don't think reversing was an option back when I put mine up). Problems in the data signal early in the segment could potentially take down all of my LED's. I had this happen a couple of years ago. Of course it was at the highest point of my roofline...

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I’ll get WLED.

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Don't forget a controller. DiGQuad highly recommended.

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DiGQuad

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Mine comes Monday. Can’t wait.

How far apart does everyone space their lights? I think I’m going to vinyl j-channel route with pixel lights. I was thinking 3” but now considering moving them closer.

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DiGQuad

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I went with the DigOcta and so far do not regret it (though it took way too long to learn to flip the resistor switch when I had flickering lights, and now I have all these F-amps that I’m not using because it turns out I never really needed them).

On a side note, I gave the Chinese communist party unfettered access to my entire life doing this Wi-Fi install, correct?

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gave the Chinese communist party unfettered access to my entire life doing this Wi-Fi install, correct?

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You installed it on your separate IOT network and isolated it from your “home” network, right?

AliExpress link for 12mm 12v pixels


Link to AliExpress for c9-like 12v.



As you may be able to see, I like Paulzhang ETOPLED store.


Long story:
Initially bought from HolidayCoro. I have ZERO negatives to say about them. And they ship hella fast. The 200 pixels that outline my roof and the mounting strips that I use come from them. But they’re $1/pixel, and these are a bit cheaper and still have compatible xconnect pigtails. And I wanted to buy 500 of each type. They probably have better quality control than China, but I’m willing to take the risk.


I’m now sort of locked into this “strawberry” bulb for c9. It’s not my favorite. The pixabulb form factor is nice. But there are other options out there. If you search on AE for “12v milky c9” or throw “2811” somewhere in there, you’ll find a dozen or so other form factors, essentially all 12mm bullets in a custom case, with an “opaque” or “milky” bulb that I think would look better, but I was unaware of their existence when I started. The view from the road is probably not hugely different, but I just like the way light diffuses through that for my purposes (above- dull, “normal”-looking lights that change colors). I also like the rectangle base option and think those would have other great mounting options, like inside of PVC J-channel or maybe even some could be fit into the HolidayCoro aluminum pixel mount (looks like 1/2” PVC sawed in half and pre-drilled for 12mm nodes, mounts on 1/2” clips and is stiff without sag. I have mild sagging in mine and didn’t put enough J-bolts on my regular old PVC to hang them on my gutters. I have more j bolts in supply for when they come down on Ash Wednesday, but for now it’s noticeable to me. Don’t get me wrong, it looks as good as any other DIY house, but if you have an eye for it, it’s not quite “pro” looking).


So if I were starting over, I don’t want to say that I’d necessarily change form factors, but you should at least know there are at least 3 types of c9 (rectangle flat base, round flat base like mine, and then the “bullet” with wires going up the bottom end), and then you can find frosted/opaque/milky plastic on at least 2 of those. They are all 2811 pixels and will work with any ws2811 pixel controller


I could be wrong; but I think all c9-like ones are 12v. I have not seen many 5v but you may see them. There are lots of 5v 12mm pixels (which is the same pixel inside some of these c9). Just make sure you pick a voltage and stick with it unless you know why that statement is not entirely true; and if you’re choosing a voltage and don’t want to learn, I would recommend 12v over 5v (if you don’t want to learn anymore about it and talk about what that’s also not an absolute truth)



If you want a “fast” setup to toy with, buy a single strand from HolidayCoro- they aren’t terribly expensive (but then you either waste the strand or stick with the form factor), two female and one male pigtails, an Athom WLED controller (the one that says high current or high power. Not the strip controller with r/g/b lanes), and this power supply which can change voltages. I’d probably order 12mm nodes from them, and then this is eventually a fun setup for a tiny (3-4’) christmas tree (indoors) or a yard prop with a new power supply and a box.

Then when you get into outdoor stuff, you want a larger DC landscaping transformer to run power all over +/- a better controller (shout out DrZ diguno/quad/octa)