Different Styles of Pixels

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Pixel Properties

Pixels come in many different shapes and properties. The most common properties are:

Form Factor

• Strings (Can be any length, but more then 50 pixels will require power injection)
  1. 12mm pixel nodes
• Strips (Usually 5M length)
  1. Bare board (no waterproofing)
  2. Hollow Tube
  3. Solid Tube
     • Solid Silicone
     • Solid Epoxy Resin
• Modules
  1. Square
  2. Rectangular

LEDs per meter

• Strips

(Note, many 12VDC strips have 3 LEDs wired together as one pixel)

• 1. 30 LED/m
  2. 60 LED/m
• Strings
  1. 10 LED/m (100mm spacing between nodes is common )

Power Supply Voltage

(Note: LEDs generally draw 20ma per color, or 60ma (0.06A) per pixel)

• 1. 5VDC
  2. 12VDC
  3. 24VDC

LED Type

• 1. 3528 surface mount (3.5mm x 2.8mm) (typically used in strips and modules)
  2. 5050 surface mount (5.0mm x 5.0mm) (typically used in strips and modules)
  3. 8mm (typically used in strings)

Waterproofing

(don't trust the IP ratings, they vary quite a bit!) Additional information about sealing pixel strings

• 1. Injection Molded Silicone
  2. Epoxy Resin coated PCB in Silicone
  3. Cast Epoxy Resin in Sleeve
  4. Cast Epoxy Resin coated PCB

Control chip and number of wires

(3 wire= V+,GND,Data) (4 wire=V+,GND,Data,Clock)

• 1. 4 bits per color, 16 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 16x16x16 = 4,096 colors)
     • GE Color Effects (GECE)- 3 wire Wiring Diagram Protocol Bulb Orientation
  2. 5 bits per color, 32 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 32x32x32 = 32,768 colors)
     • LPD6803 - 4 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED) Datasheet English
     • D705 - 4 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED) Datasheet Chinese
     • LPD1101
     • UCS6909
     • UCS6912
  3. 7 bits per color, 128 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 128x128x128 = 2,097,152colors)
     • LPD8806
     • LPD8809
  4. 8 bits per color, 256 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 256x256x256 = 16,777,216 colors)
     • WS2801 - 4 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED)
     • WS2803 - 4 wire (can drive 18 channels, or 6 RGB LED)
     • WS2811 - 3 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED)
     • TM1803 - 3 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED) Datasheet (English)
     • TM1804 - 3 wire (can drive 3 channels, or 1 RGB LED)
     • TM1809 - 3 wire (can drive 9 channels, or 3 RGB LEDs) Datasheet (English)
     • TM1812 (can drive 12 channels, or 4 RGB LEDs)
     • SM16715
     • SM16716
     • P9813 - 4 wire
     • P9816 - 4 wire
     • HX512A (Native DMX) Datasheet Chinese
  5. 12 bits per color, 4,096 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 4096x4096x4096 = 68,719,476,736 colors) (Note: E1.31 and DMX only support 8 bit data, so the extra bits are used for gamma color correction)
     • TLS3001 - 3 wire Datasheet Chinese
     • TLS3002
     • CYT3001
     • CYT3005 - 3 wire
  6. 14 bits per color, 16,834 dimming levels per color. (Total Colors = 16834*16834*16834 = 4,642,956,181,504 colors) (Note: E1.31 and DMX only support 8 bit data, so the extra bits are used for gamma color correction)
     • MY9941 (Native DMX)
     • MY9942 (Native DMX)
     • MY9943 (Native DMX)

Examples of Pixels available from different vendors

Form Factor	IC	Length	Voltage	LEDs per Meter	ICs per meter	Link
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example

DIYLEDEXPRESS.COM

Form Factor	IC	Length	Voltage	LEDs per Meter	ICs per meter	Link	Image
String	WS2811	50 pixels	5vdc	10	10	http://www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=179
String	WS2801	50 pixels	5vdc	10	10	http://www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=178
String (Square)	WS2811	50 pixels	12vdc	10	10	http://www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=189
Module	WS2811	20 pixels	12vdc	10	10	http://www.diyledexpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=160

Ray Wu

Form Factor	IC	Length	Voltage	LEDs per Meter	ICs per meter	Link	Image
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example	Example