It’s a great LED strip for the price and is extremely bright. It’s been designed to replace normal room lighting and has 3 modes of operation, COLD, WARM & COLD and WARM only. It’s completely dimmable and controlled via the mqtt light component.
Standard 2.54mm header you can buy from eBay. Used for so much when playing with ESP’s Arduino’s etc. I found this supplier but you may find one closer to you.
So just to be clear the PCB where you attach the header is already inside the the ESP module, all I need to do is add the 4 pin header, is that correct? I was confused as I thought it was the whole board I needed to buy. Thanks
Correct. In fact the PCB is the ESP module. They use the ESP chip and create their own module rather than buying pre-made ESP modules like the ESP-03 ESP-12 etc. I guess as manufactures it makes more sense for them to do that because they can customize the module for their exact requirements.
So yeah… install a header there and treat it like a normal ESP module in Arduino, upload the code and boooom.
There is not much info on the itead page about these things and the team there resolutely avoid answering some questions.
So does each one come with 4 led strips each 52cm long?
How bright are they? No watt or lumen values on their page.
(Sorry I know this is not related to your firmware, but reading the forum on itead makes my blood boil that the fundamental question re brightness is not answered.)
Yes they come as you see in the picture. Also you need to leave all 4 strips connected. All the LEDS are in series and the voltage that the power supply delivers has been specifically designed for the amount of LEDS on all 4 strips. If you remove one, then you risk destroying them due to over voltage.
They are not the type of LEDS you find in an RGB decorative strip. They are the kind you find in a LED globe designed to light up a room. I don’t know the lumens or watts, but I can tell you this, at full brightness they are extremely bright and hard to look at. The only real concern I have is because of the way they are wired, if 1 led dies, it takes them all out. Without knowing the quality of LEDS used, it’s hard to know how reliable they would be over a long period. For $20 though, you take a punt. 2 bayonet LED globes will cost close to that. I installed them over my workbench. Fantastic is all I can say. I switch them to COOL when I’m soldering, working etc, then WARM and down low as a mood light. Very happy.
I have no specs though sorry. Actually this is misleading. EDIT: They are equivalent to 36W light output.
My only question is what type of power supply is required here? Voltage input says 180V - 250V, but here in the US everything is 110V, so I assume I’d need an external power supply of some sort?
No I’m afraid it just won’t work in 110V countries. You’d need a step up transformer which if added to the cost of this device would probably make it cost prohibitive. It has a lot to do with the DC voltage coming out of the unit to run the LEDS. At peak it’s around 140 VDC. They would have needed to design quite a power supply to take in an input voltage of 110 - 240 and then output 90 - 140 VDC. It would need to be both a BUCK and BOOST circuit which is of course possible but I doubt they could sell that for $20USD.
No problems. BTW if you do happen to find wider aluminum strip, please post it here. i’m in Aus and cannot find any wide stuff. Most only really support standard 10mm led strips.
@KmanOz I see itead have changed the specs, now using different led strips. Also a different control box in terms of shape, whether the internals will be different remains to be seen. I ordered recently, and presume mine will be the old ones. Shame because the shorter ones would have suited me better.
Just checked their website. It actually says that the driver will remain the same. I will email them after XMAS and confirm. I like the look of the new LEDS. BTW I love the light. Need to order more.
Does anyone know where to buy the connectors that plug into the ends of the LED strips? I’d like to make them real short to be able to have the strips end to end.
