I’ve got my code working great on a Pololu LED strip (1m).
The project requires multiple separate groups of LEDs chained together.
Does anyone know anything about the data connectors, both male and female? The single data connector
is very convenient, but I can’t find them anywhere!
Is there an easy way to solder wires to LED strips once they’re cut? Just getting rid of all the plastic goop takes forever and then it’s easy to apply too much heat trying to get the flux to the metal pins. Just a thought is the copper easier to solder from the back?
Unfortunately, we do not carry the data leads separately, and we do not know where you might find them. One thing some people here have done is cut off the unused output connector from the end of their LED strip chain to make a connector from their microcontroller to the beginning of their chain. Another solution some people use is connecting to the male pins on the LED strips with our female premium jumper wires. Unfortunately, the male pins of our jumper wires do not fit well with the female ends of the LED strips.
It is not very hard to solder to the back of the LED strips. The thin coating of glue on the back peels off pretty easily, especially with some tweezers. Our experience with cutting the LED strips into smaller segments is:
Be very careful when cutting the strips to evenly cut between the segments.
Pre-tin both the wires and the copper tabs on the back of the LED segment you are trying to attach wires to.
Holding the pre-tinned wire and LED segment together, quickly apply heat to the connection. Once the heat is removed, hold the two pieces together until the joint cools.
Once the connection has been tested and you are sure it works, we recommend adding some sort of strain relief to it. Hot glue has worked for us in the past.
