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Asked — Edited

How To Light An Led Strip

Hi all. I have LED strip with Positive and Negative wiring. how do i connect it to EZ so that i can turn of the LED as and when i like through EZ B controller?


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#1  
What voltage does the LED strip use?

If it's 5V, you would connect the Positive to one of the PWM pins and the Negative to the corresponding Ground. Add a SET DIGITAL control in ARC and you're good to go.

If it needs more than 5V, I'd use a separate power supply and switching transistor to turn it on and off.
#2  
Automotive led strips operate 10 v to 13 v. However buying LEDs in packs of 100 is way cheaper. Blue white green LEDs operate from 3v to 3.7v and red are 2 to 2.5v. So color changes voltage. I prefer blue green or white and at 6v power supply you wire two LEDs in series to get 3v to each led. Strips are great for large areas but if its a small bot just get some perfect board and line up LEDs. Most importantly doing it this way is repairable , I've had many of my customers have 4 leds at s time go out (because there are internally wired for 12v) and the whole strip must be replaced. So if your using blue, white , green , pink or purple LEDs wire two in series for 6v and 4 in series for 12v
#3  
You could use an hbridge motor driver to control 12v led strips. Use the pm logic input to turn on/off and control brightness.
PRO
Synthiam
#4  
That’s an interesting idea. I guess an hbridge can be used for powering many things like that. Never thought of it before - nice work!
#5  
Since hbridge motor drIverson are so cheap you could also use it to control things like 12 relays.
PRO
Canada
#6  
Motor drivers are definitely getting cheap these days but really that's likely because transistors are getting cheaper as well. Re-purposing a motor driver to control other things is definitely an cool and novel idea, it really simplifies things!

That being said, might I humbly recommend a classic NPN transistor like a 2N3904 or PN2222? These days the transistor prices have come down to around $0.15 in 100 lot quantities.

Transistors are great for controlling LEDs strips, relays, and more! Personally, I would much rather see motor drivers being put to good use on robot gear motors rather than replacing a simple NPN transistor:)

For higher current applications (like a long LED strip) check out the TIP series, I know Will is using a TIP120 to control LEDs in his latest robot project (Gar). MOSFETs would work too but they are a bit more involved than transistors.
#7  
The advantage I see is that most of these motor drivers have jumper pins for logic and separate power inputs/outputs. Which gives a ready made module for one to work with. Makes it very easy to install in projects.
PRO
Canada
#8  
Good point @rb550f

I wonder if there is such a transistor module exists out there in the wild that has terminal blocks and jumpers on it? If not, it could be a good side project for someone to create..........:) .........someone
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