RGB strip controller repair. How to properly connect an RGB LED strip to the controller. Correct diagrams with description Do-it-yourself color and music controller for LED strip

Some time ago, a friend asked me to write a review about his product. Yes, don’t be surprised, this happens too :)
And now I finally got my hands on this product. Unfortunately, links to some products are no longer active, but I think that the review will still help to understand “who is who.”

In general, this whole story with controllers and tape began in the summer. It happened by chance that a friend thought that one of the controllers was working via WiFi. At least (as far as I understand) this is what the seller stated. Well, along the way, he gave me various other controllers to make a comparative review, which is what I finally decided to do.

It happened by chance that one of the controllers was not included in the photo, but it will be in the review.

I will return to the “smart” controller towards the end of the review, but for now I’ll talk about the tape.

I ordered RGB tape. This means that it contains three colors of LEDs, red, green and blue.

Well, to be more precise, it has three-color LEDs of size 5050 installed. Each LED contains three crystals of the corresponding glow color.
It was not for nothing that I made a reservation above about LEDs of three colors, since there are also such strips, there are usually fewer LEDs, but their number is 3-4 times greater.

In general, there are a lot of varieties of tapes, I’ll try to divide them into groups;
1. Number of LEDs per meter - 30 - 60 - 120 - 240
2. Supply voltage - 5 - 12 - 24 - 220
3. Color - Red - green - blue - white (warm, cool, neutral) - RGB- RGBWW.
4. Protection - regular- sealed (coated with silicone).
5. Execution - single-row- two-row
6. LED placement - frontal- end.
7. Type of LEDs - output - SMD
8. SMD LED housing - 3014 - 3528 - 3825 - 5630 - 5730 - 5050 .

Or rather, this is not even a division into types, but variations of the components used and execution; the tape under review is highlighted in bold.

In addition, there are now strips with “smart” LEDs, in which you can control each LED, but you need an appropriate controller. Also, the use of such tapes is also limited by low power supply, so the current consumption is very high.

White tape is often used for local lighting. By the way, a little advice about this: if you plan to do backlighting, then choose a tape with a high density, for example 120pcs/m, and use a diffuser. The fact is that, for example, roof rails are popular in the kitchen, and if you use a tape with low density and without a diffuser, then you will see the reflection of the LEDs in the form of bright spots, which will be very unpleasant for the eyes.
For example, there are single-row strips with the number of LEDs 240 pcs/meter.

In addition, the use of silicone-coated tapes is also not always useful, since silicone tends to darken over time and is not very convenient to wash.
Therefore, I would advise using aluminum radiators with a diffuser; it turns out to be more expensive, but more convenient and beautiful.

The tape consists of small sections containing three LEDs and three resistors. LEDs of the same color are connected in series and the current through them is limited by a resistor.
In this case, it is a 330 Ohm resistor and two 150 Ohm resistors. The difference in ratings is due to the fact that different LEDs have different voltage drops.

Let's check the power first, here I decided to show along the way that LED strips have a nonlinear characteristic of current consumption depending on voltage.
For example, I once came across questions like - will the tape work on 9 Volts?
It will, but the power will drop very much.

And so, we test the tape in two modes, at a voltage of 12 and 10 Volts and see how the power consumption changes.
Moreover, you can notice that the power changes differently for LEDs of different colors.
1. Green, 13.8 and 6.75 Watts, the difference is 2 times.
2. Red, 15.3 and almost 9 Watts, the difference is about 1.7 times

1. Blue, 12.2 and 5 Watts. The difference is almost 2.5 times.
2. All three colors together, 35.8 and 18.6 Watts, the difference is about 2 times.

The experiment showed that blue LEDs are more sensitive to voltage drop, since the forward voltage on them is the highest, and on red LEDs, on the contrary, and with them the difference is the least. In the case of red LEDs, the current-limiting resistor drops more and there is a small voltage reserve.

What does such a fall entail?
1. If you are trying to use such a tape as a source of white light (which is fundamentally wrong), then towards the end of the tape the spectrum of the glow will change, since the voltage there drops and red will shine stronger and blue will shine weaker.
2. By the end of the tape, the overall brightness will simply drop.

I don’t see any point in checking the first point, but I’ll show you the second. Actually, I already did this once in my review, but there was an ordinary white tape.
It’s not very clear in the photo, but even so it’s noticeable that the LEDs at the bottom shine brighter than the LEDs at the top. I think it’s not difficult to guess that at the top are the LEDs from the end of the strip.

Second version of the photo. The tape shines very brightly and interferes with photography.

If you want to get a guaranteed uniform brightness of the glow of the tape along its entire length, then this can be solved very simply; the tape is connected diagonally.
The overall brightness of the tape in this connection option will remain approximately unchanged, but there will be no unevenness.

Perhaps someone will say, how much does it fall on the tape? And quite a lot falls.
I applied 12 volts to one side of the tape and measured the voltage at the other end.
1. Green, drop 3.1 Volts
2. Red - 2.5 Volts
3. Blue - 2.5 Volts
4. All four colors connected in parallel at the second end, the tape in white light mode is 2.7 Volts.
As you can see, even my experiment with reducing the voltage to 10 Volts does not reflect the whole picture, there the drop in power was approximately 1.7-2.5 times, but here the voltage is even lower, so you can focus on a value of 2-3 times.

In some pictures you can see that the total power consumption of the tape sometimes differs, although the power supply voltage is stabilized. This is the effect of warming up the LEDs. The higher their temperature, the lower the voltage drop across them and the greater the current consumption of the tape.
During the tests, I did not turn on the tape for a long time, since I tested it in a reel, and in this mode it heats up very noticeably.
The thermogram shows an increase in temperature over one minute.

By the way, they often write on the Internet that a cable wound on a reel heats up due to inductance. Below is a clear example that heating occurs only because a large amount of released energy is placed very compactly. The same thing happens with an electric cable in an extension cord if it is not unwound at a high load current.

But in fact, powerful tapes can overheat even when unwound, which is why special radiators are used for them.
In addition, such radiators can usually be equipped with light diffusers, fasteners, and end caps. Therefore, if you want the tape to serve for a long time, then buy a radiator for it or at least glue it to a metal surface. After gluing, I recommend ringing the contacts of the tape and the radiator to ensure there is no short circuit.

Let's move on to controllers now. As practice has shown, even among the four tested controllers, only two work the same, which is why I decided to test them a little.

For starters, the simplest controller.
The manufacturer declares a power supply of 12-24 Volts and a current of 18 Amps, but since there are 3 channels, it turns out to be 6 Amps per channel.
In most cases, this current is more than enough, since even with a 12 Volt power supply it is more than 200 Watts.

The controller is three-channel, packed in a neat box.

The kit includes:
1. Controller
2. Control panel
3. Double-sided tape
4. Instructions.

The instructions are in English, but by and large they are not really needed. It follows from this that the controller has 20 operating modes.

I showed this page of instructions only because of the connection diagram.
Everything is simple here, four contacts of the tape are connected to four contacts of the controller.

My first opinion when I saw the controller was that it was a toy :)
It looks really very small.

I do not provide links to the controllers shown in the review, since the links have already been burned out, and I think the controllers themselves are no different from others of the same kind.

The wires are connected using screw terminal blocks, and power can be supplied either through the terminal block or using a power supply with a standard plug.
True, I am tormented by strong doubts that the terminal block used, not to mention the connector, will withstand 18 Amps. I really think that the maximum is 6-8 when using a terminal block and 4-5 when using a connector.

Since there was nothing interesting outside, I further climbed inside. This is the first LED strip controller that came into my hands; I had never encountered them before, but there is always a first time for everything.

The printed circuit board looks very neat, the terminal blocks are quite high quality, so perhaps up to 10 Amps there will be no problems.
True, the electrolytic capacitor installed on the board evokes sadness. I even remembered my first experience with low-voltage PWM power regulators, where I learned that capacitors can get very hot.

On the reverse side of the board you can see tinned sections of the tracks to increase the cross-section.
You can also see many transitions between the sides of the board, although they are of little use, since they mostly remove heat not from the transistor body, but from its two terminals.

The power part is implemented using three field-effect transistors.
These transistors have an open channel resistance of 9.6 mOhm. Which, with a current of 6 Amps and an almost static operating mode, will approximately equal approximately 0.35 Watt of power dissipation. But the fact is that I didn’t check what their gate voltage is (and most likely it’s 4.5-5 Volts), so I’ll also calculate for the worst mode, when the power supply is 5 Volts. In this version, the datasheet says a resistance of 16 mOhm or almost 0.6 Watt with a continuous current of 6 Amperes.

For such a case and such a board, this is with a large margin, I think it was possible to easily increase the current to 8 Amps, although this does not make much sense, but the transistors have a margin.
The CD4050BM chip is used as a driver, and at the bottom right there is an EEPROM 24C02.

This entire structure is controlled by a microprocessor with erased markings.
Another microcircuit is responsible for the remote control, again with erased markings, although the meaning of such “encryption” is generally unclear to me.

The remote control operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, powered by two AA elements. Looks like a bar of soap :)
The remote control is completely touch-sensitive, i.e. There are no mechanical buttons as a class, which in my opinion is very inconvenient.
The fact is that no matter how you hold it, you can still accidentally hook another sensor and switch some mode. It might take practice, but I didn't really like it.
On top is a colored circular sensor, by moving your finger over it, you can relatively smoothly change the light of the tape.
There are six control sensors at the bottom - Brightness, switching speed, effect selection.

I checked all controllers for ripples. Or rather, not even that. All controllers have ripples, since they use PWM for regulation, so two things were checked:
1. Operating frequency and, accordingly, pulsations.
2. No ripple in 100% brightness mode.

The first point is a failure, the operating frequency of the PWM adjustment is only 125 Hz, which is small, very small. Fluorescent lamps with electromagnetic ballast flicker at almost this frequency. But lamas have a concept - phosphor afterglow, but there is no such thing here, so I would recommend such a controller only for occasional use.

A short video about this controller. If you look carefully, you can see that the adjustment of transitions between colors is not very smooth, i.e. There are not many color mixing options.

The second controller is very similar to the first. a similar box, only in a brighter design.
But here it is stated that there are four channels and a total current of 24 Amperes.

The kit is exactly the same as the previous controller: Controller, remote control, instructions and double-sided tape.

The instructions are also almost identical, but the effects are slightly different.

And the device itself is almost identical. The difference is the presence of a fourth channel for tape control with a separate white channel and a modified program.
The fact is that in the first case, when you turn on the lighting mode (white color), all three channels are turned on, but here the three color channels are turned off and only white LEDs are turned on.

The connection and design are identical to the previous controller.

There are more changes to the board than just one extra transistor though.
For example, the input capacitor is already installed with a claim to low impedance.

But the tracks below are not amplified, although the current is stated to be greater than that of the previous version.

In general, the board is assembled quite neatly.

Four transistors are used, according to the found datasheet they have a maximum voltage of 25 Volts (therefore I do not recommend powering such a controller from 24 Volts as stated), and a resistance of 9 or 12 mOhm depending on the control voltage.
In terms of heat dissipation, the picture is approximately identical to the previous controller, maybe a little better, but not significant. Therefore, 6 Amps per output is quite realistic.
The same microcircuit is used as a “driver”.

Well, like last time, a microcontroller with erased markings, an EEPROM chip and a radio receiver microcircuit.

The remote control is almost 100% identical, but the remote controls are not interchangeable, since presumably they have different coding and do not interfere with each other.

On the oscillogram we see the same ripples with a frequency of 125 Hz and the same absence of ripples in 100% brightness mode. Which gives reason to assume that the controllers are identical, of course, with the exception of a slight change in the program for controlling the white light channel.

In this video you can see that when you switch to the lighting mode, the tape goes out, this is normal, since the tape is RGB, and the controller is RGBW.

This controller was not included in the group photo, and in general, at first I somehow even forgot about him.
It is clearly different from previous options, at least externally.

The case is metal, the declared characteristics are the same as those of the first option, 18 Amperes total current or up to 6 Amps per channel, three channels.

This version of the design, in my opinion, is a little better, the case can be screwed to anything, and more convenient and high-quality terminal blocks are used, but there is also a regular power connector.
/The terminal block contains contacts for connecting the tape and power supply.

As you can see in the photo, the terminal block consists of two parts, wires are connected to one part, then this part is already connected to the controller, this is more convenient to connect, especially in narrow niches.
If you think that a metal case is needed for cooling, then I’ll be upset, the transistors not only do not have thermal contact with it, but are actually located on the other side of the board. Although judging by the previous options, they do not need cooling.

The fee is neat. Since the case is metal, and radio waves do not want to penetrate metal, the antenna is placed near the connector. Practice has shown that this does not particularly affect the range. Or rather, it has an effect, but the range of work at home is sufficient even in this design.

As always, the connectors were soldered after assembling the board itself, so traces of flux are visible, the tracks are not reinforced.

The key transistors are identical to the first version of the controller. Also visible on the board is an unknown microcontroller, EEPROM and a radio receiving chip, but this time with markings.
But what is not here is a “driver” for controlling field-effect transistors, although at low operating frequencies this makes almost no difference.

But the remote control is radically different. Moreover, I had to re-photograph all the photos with this remote control, since it is correctly positioned with the buttons facing up, I noticed this only when I realized that the brightness of the tape is adjusted in the opposite way :)
Here the manufacturer managed to do both bad and good at the same time.
1. Good - the buttons are not touch-sensitive, but they are actually more convenient than sensors, since they are tactilely felt BEFORE pressing/touching.
2. Bad - the color adjustment circle is located at the bottom and when you press the buttons you can easily grab it with your hand, while the controller usually turns off the last selected mode and goes into color adjustment mode. But this does not always work; apparently it depends on the selected operating mode.

The remote control is powered by 3 AAA batteries, perhaps because the range is comparable to controllers in a plastic case. The operating frequency is unknown, judging by the antenna, I will assume that it is not 2.4 GHz, as in the previous ones, but about 433.

In terms of flickering, this controller is the worst of all, since it not only has a low ripple frequency, but also cannot supply power continuously in 100% brightness mode, therefore small dips are visible on the right oscillogram (the oscillogram is inverted).

Comparative photo of the remote controls of three controllers.

It was not for nothing that I showed the remote controls in the previous photo, although there was one more controller left in stock.
The fact is that the next option does not come with a remote control.

It was with the purchase of this controller that a problem arose. A friend, looking at the operating frequency of 2.4 GHz and the stated control from a smartphone, decided that there was WiFi here. By and large, such an error is quite possible, although I think that if it supported WiFi, it would be written in large letters in the most visible place.
But the characteristics indicate the presence of a microphone, programmable switching on and all sorts of other useful things.

The kit is simple, the controller itself and the antenna, but the dimensions of the controller are noticeably larger than the previous ones.

During the investigation, it was almost immediately clear that the controller works via Bluetooth, since the first thing the software asked was that you have Bluetooth turned off, you should turn it on :)
The operating range is surprisingly large, at least within my apartment everything worked.

Connection to the tape and power is realized using the same detachable terminal blocks as in the previous version.
On the other side there is a power and antenna connector, as well as an LED (blinks when there is no connection and lights up continuously when a connection is established).

Assembled.

But I’m more interested in what’s inside, which is why I decided to write a review.
The board is placed in the case so that it can only be removed in one direction.

As you can see, the board is single-sided, with a microphone and several capacitors on top. The input capacitor is even smaller than that of the first controller option. The board material is getinax.

The power tracks are quite generously covered with solder to increase the cross-section.
The overall workmanship is a C grade.

Let's take a closer look at the insides.
1. Transistors, if I understand correctly, then these are ISL9N306AD3ST, which have the following parameters - 30V, 50A, 6mOhm. It would be very nice if it were but. The current on the top of the case is 30A*3, i.e. Formally, it turns out that there are three channels of 30 Amperes each. It is clear that this is complete nonsense and should be written 30A/3, i.e. three channels of 10 Amps. But even a total current of 30 Amps simply cannot be withstood by the installed terminal blocks, not to mention the power connector.
The transistors themselves will withstand a current of 10 Amps without problems without additional cooling, and they will dissipate up to 0.6 Watts.
The quality of assembly and soldering is sad, the transistors are soldered in any way, and everything else doesn’t look very nice.

2. The ULN2003 microcircuit “drives” the transistors, but this microcircuit is poorly suited for this application; it provides full voltage at the gate, but slow opening.

3. Microphone amplifier. I checked it, it works, but the sensitivity is not very high, although if the controller is close to the sound source, it will work. Low frequencies are highlighted from the sound signal and it turns out that the LEDs switch in time with the music. In general, in my opinion, so-so.

4. Bluetooth module. At first, I didn’t even notice that this controller does not actually have a microcontroller that controls the operating modes. Already when I was preparing the review, I realized that not only the control itself is carried out from the smartphone, but all the work in general. Essentially, they took a Bluetooth chip, attached three channels of LEDs and a signal from a microphone to the free input/output ports, and then the program did everything. Not very convenient.

Along the way, I noticed that at the output of the device there is quite a lot of resonant interference from switching transistors, this is partly due to the fact that there are no diodes at the output that dampen these emissions, again saving money.
For all its disadvantages, there are also advantages:
1. The pulsation frequency here is 1000 times higher, about 125 kHz.
2. In full brightness mode there is no ripple.
3. You can set the brightness to a very low level; other controllers can’t do that.

A high frequency is also a disadvantage; it is much more difficult to switch transistors at such a frequency, dynamic losses increase and the level of interference increases. A frequency of 1-10 kHz would be more optimal.

The software is very simple, at first I tried to download it from the market, but it didn’t even install. As a result, I went to the manufacturer’s website and downloaded the software there, after which everything worked without any problems.
The main menu allows you to go to the menu for lighting settings, music selection (just turn on music on your smartphone, nothing is transferred to the controller), timer settings and the connection menu.

When the controller is turned on, a connection to it will be available.
I didn’t understand the timer at all; if you need to keep your smartphone constantly connected for this, the idea looks very crooked.

The lighting control menu gives you the option to turn on white (all three channels are on), and also emulates the color wheel of regular controllers.
There is also an adjustment of the brightness and switching frequency of the LEDs in effects mode.
The effects modes are not very impressive, so to speak, formally there are only four of them, some depend on the sound, but I didn’t like them.

But I didn’t quite figure out the Lighting setting; when adjusted to half, it changes the brightness of the tape from 0 to 100%, then dims the light.

What can we say about all these controllers?
Personally, I didn’t really like the rough adjustment of color transitions, and this is noticeable in the video.
Simple controllers have a low operating frequency, but they are completely autonomous, unlike the Bluetooth version, which requires a smartphone to operate.
All four controllers can withstand the declared current, but there are serious doubts that such a current will pull the power connectors.

In general, in my personal opinion, such things are more suitable for decorative lighting in stores, signs, etc. Although my neighbors installed such lighting at home, the meaning of this action somewhat eludes me. As an option, a festive lighting option for the home, cheap and beautiful.

The tape under review is absolutely not suitable for lighting, since the white color is essentially formed by three single-color LEDs, but coupled with a low pulsation frequency and their 100% coefficient (in less than 100% brightness mode), it’s generally a mess.

Some tips:
1. If you plan not only to decorate the room, but also to illuminate it, then choose RGBWW tape.
2. For local illumination, choose a tape with high density.
3. If the tape has a high power (approximately more than 8-9W/m), then use a radiator, especially since now radiators come in very different shapes...
4. With a diffuser, the light turns out smoother and individual LEDs are less noticeable.
5. For uniform brightness, you can use a diagonal connection.
6. Not all controllers are useful; it is better to choose those that have a higher PWM operating frequency. The easiest way to check is the “pencil test”, hold the pencil between two fingers and move it quickly, if you see clear contours of the pencil, then it’s bad.
7. As practice has shown, for all controllers I tested, the output power is limited by the input connector, and not by transistors or their heating. The power can be easily increased by soldering the wires from the power supply directly to the board.
8. If the tapes are long, it is better to look for 24 Volt tapes; you will have less to deal with voltage drop.
9. The inscription 2.4 GHz does not always mean WiFi or Bluetooth, sometimes it is just the frequency of the radio channel, be careful.

That's all I have.

Happy New Year.
I wish everyone this year to have as many good and useful purchases as possible, and to have as few requests for help or returns as possible. I also wish that you only knew the word “customs” from the film “White Sun of the Desert” and never communicated with it.
And of course, authors need more readers, readers need more authors, and administrations need more of both :)