Use RGBW strips with SK6812/SC6812 chips because it has an extra white LED which makes it even more flexible than plain vanilla ws2812. Addressable LED strips is a must because it makes your lighting geometry very very flexible (not just for the effects)
These usually have 3 cables (+V, control, gnd).
There are others like APA102 that have a CLK wire and is still addressable.
Do NOT choose an RGB led strip that has 5 wires — these are usually not addressable, since the R, G, B wires are usually just PWM control that sets the same color for the entire strip. (you can change colors but only for the entire strip, not individually, making it impossible to do segments and cool effects via software)
quinled led controllers work out of the box with homeassistant’s built-in wled integration so you could run it out of the box.
What I wanted was flexibility - once I put up my led strip then it can be configured for normal home lighting, and RGB lighting for special occasions.
I ended up choosing RGBW chips, because this not only has R, G, B parts in the LED but also a white channel for general lighting. So if I don’t want color, I can just turn on the white for general lighting without wasting watts on color.
I saw a video on youtube about the SK6812 (now the newer RGB+W led chips is apparently called SC6812 allowing for a much higher frequency)
I scrounged around endlessly for retailers, brands. After ordering several times of different samples on online retaliers like aliexpress and lazada, it gets really frustrating because of the number of dropshippers and middlemen retailers out there that sometimes run out of stock, specify the wrong specs, etc.
Finally I found out the best way to do it is to request a quote for your specifications directly using alibaba.com , where a real salesperson from the factory would make the LED up to your specs!
I ended up requesting the factory make a 5V RGB+cool white strip, (5V seems to provide the most efficient power, albeit more cabling is required) 11-12mm wide, 100 leds/meter. (The factory apparently can customize it so you can choose whatever chip and density you like)
I tried the SP108e controller, but the integration with homeassistant is custom, but still kind of sparse.
Since wled is already integrated, I tried to solder my own controller, but it gets tedious when I wanted 5+ controllers and 12+ data outputs.
I ended up finding this guy makes pre-assembled pre-installed esp32 wled controllers which you can just buy and save a ton of time soldering it yourself:
Due to the 5V requirement I ended up with large power supplies, and currents up to 30A, so space to put them is a consideration, and I guess an aluminium strip to act as a heatsink would also be useful. If you have longer strips, you could probably benefit from 12V instead because they will allow the strip to run longer without power injection cabling.
As an added bonus, these SK6812 / SC6812 strips could also be pasted in a downlight casing, creating nice controllable RGBW downlights for your house if you have false ceilings.
My idea is to connect my downlights using these rgbw led strips in DC, this saves a lot of space in the ceiling from all the drivers/controllers, and it would be easier and more efficient if I have a solar powered battery to switch power directly to the LED strips (instead of inverting DC to AC to DC again) - ( although I haven’t really done it yet )