Possible easy LED lighting/edge lighting option

Some of them are actually in a clear(ish) rubbery silicone sleeve. You can cut that off it that’s the only kind you can get. The strip in the sleeve is a flat ribbon/surface mount LED strip without any covering like the other waterproof ones where the strip has that clear molded coating.

Yep those are ones I use as well. More convenient than the ones with the separate credit card sized remote controls. A little less clear on how to change to all the modes & speeds but for a lot of projects you want set & forget and they’re good.

BTW, your pic shows one with a mini plug connector. Those are great for easy hookup into common power supplies. Or for battery power these are great.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NIP0P9U/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

9V batteries are good for longer strips or longer life. On short lengths 5V will be okay but if you notice only one color lighting up it’s usually because you don’t have enough juice for the string.

You wouldn’t know it from their name but this place has good LED stuff and fast shipping (not quite Amazon Prime but way better than AliExpress or eBay).

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For costumes we generally try to use 5v versions so we can hook them to a USB charger, which is really convenient. In my machines I use whatever voltage they’re running. 12v in my k40/3d printer.

I think the plug you are seeing is just angled funny. It’s a regular USB =). Sometimes we use the ones with remotes if we have lighting that’s not easy to get to, but most of the time the little remotey guys work fine

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I used to do the same thing - 5V USB is ubiquitous. And for long life displays (stage work) I could use a 20,000mah pack the size of a couple of card decks. Your picture looked like a round plug, but I see it’s a USB on its edge.

The 9V battery I find is also really easy to find and small so easy to tuck into things so they’re hidden. And you can use wall warts for them too. Or battery packs with the snap connectors like this.

So I shifted over a lot of my LED stuff to these where they’ll be used or maintained by someone else. Otherwise I’ll also wire direct for other switching (on/off) and easy battery placement in the construction and replacement when needed.

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Just something to note if you’re inclined to use those USB LED strips for backlit monitors or connecting to an actual spare computer USB port: the USB spec is rated for 500mA on USB 2.0.

Having a 1 meter / 60 length takes up about 750mA, so you could burn out your USB port.
Either use a higher amperage wall charger or tablet-rated battery pack that’s about 2A discharge.

Learned that the hard way once.

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Oh man. Sorry to hear it! I have a whole separate set of power banks, batteries, and adapters for anything like that. I try to never plug anything into my computer unless I have to.

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Thankfully I’m the same way, and it wasn’t actually my equipment… it was a friend’s who I suggested LED lighting to for their creative den, so I’ve felt guilty about not reminding people every chance it comes up. Heh.

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also while we didn’t have this brand, we recently had to pull it all off some lights we installed over the aquarium because it yellowed (UV?) to the point where i’d say 30% of the light was blocked.

If you have an actinic bulb in your lighting (makes colors pop and seems to benefit plants and zooplankton) then that is likely.

no, i think it was the LEDs themselves (they produce a lot less but i think it’s a nonzero amount). there was an issue with the controller not driving enough power so the LEDs were brightest near the connected end and noticeably dimmer further out - the yellowing proceeded apace. they weren’t very warm, so i don’t think that’s what did it.

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If you cut the LED strips that have the red, green, and whatever the other color is, can your hook them up to get different colors. I realize that the color could not be changeable. :relaxed:

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Definitely need the LED strips without the silicone sheathing. It does cut effectiveness and you don’t want to just pull it off. Very difficult and damaging in some cases to the thin substrate. Learned that the hard way.

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Yes. RGB (b for blue) have 4 wire connections. The 4th is for black. The color changing controllers switch power between the individual RGB wires (but always including the black or common one) to light the various colored LEDs. So if you just attached a wire to the black and R you’d light the red LEDs. BTW, these are 12V+ as common.

Depends on which type of silicone sheathing it has. Both of these are waterproof LED strips. The one on the left has standard LED tape in a silicone sheathing that I’ve cut a part away. The one on the right is embedded in clear molded silicone. The one on the left you can cut away the sheath easily as the tape is just floating in it. The one on the right you’d destroy the tape getting the silicone off.

You can see from the end cross-section how the sheathed version tape is just that - if you lay that on acrylic you’ll get direct contact with the LEDs (the small white squares). The molded kind you can see how the silicone is humped up over the tape and you’ll not get flat contact between it or the embedded LEDs and an acrylic edge.

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Not sure if these are good for edge lighting, but they are on sale right now. It doesn’t say its waterproof.

$11.99 for the next 25mins.

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I just wanted to report I had great success using this USB LED strip. Even with the waterproof jacket and LED power/spacing concerns others voiced, it is still very bright. The built in controls are really handy and I was able to drive a modified servo off the contacts on the end of the strip.

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