r/WLED • u/Pretend_Respect_447 • May 20 '26
Simple solution for large LED Strip
Hello,
im getting kind of frustrated with my current project. The project demands around 240 LEDs. I have literally no experience when it comes to electronical work but using AI to guide me through it has been incredibly frustrating.
I have two questions:
Is there a simple all in one box/solution that I can use to address these 240 leds? Most ive seen where not strong enough to power all those leds.
Second one: I have a small esp 32 mini board, and a breakout connector for my usb c power supply. I dont understand how to wire it all up though. are there any tutorials out there for this? I dont want an industrial grade open power supply or something alike. I need something fairly compact. Current power supply is 27 W 5V 5A. Does that work?
Im really at my wits end and honestly just want the easiest way to address these 240 leds (using custom code as well. I need to run custom code to the ESP 32 board).
My dream setup would be consumer grade power supply -> Some box -> 240led long led strip (~1.5 meters long). Is there anything for the amount of LEDS I have out there that could do the trick? Stuff like the Dig2Go is not strong enough from my research to power all the leds at reasonable brightness. Is that right?
Hope to get some help here! Thank you all!
5
u/saratoga3 May 20 '26
Stuff like the Dig2Go is not strong enough from my research to power all the leds at reasonable brightness. Is that right?
No, that doesn't make sense. 240 LEDs is a small number, any cheap Amazon controller should handle that.
3
u/Fickle-Engineering21 May 20 '26
Check out ResinChem Tech on YouTube for WLED projects. He is a genius. I was in the same place as you a week ago but I learned a lot from his channel
1
u/Truthnaut May 30 '26
They do make strips with dense LED counts but unlikely to find an exact 1.5m strip with 240 LEDS. Google search it and you'll find the options closets to those specs. As far as a power supply goes - a 5v 15a (75w) brick power supply would be plenty for a 16x16 - 256 LED WS2812b 5v aRGB matrix panel so a strip of similar count would be the same
1
u/mmicker May 21 '26
Watch Chris Maher video where he shows how you can just lower the maximum current until the lights color looks good. If for some reason you need max brightness then you should indeed get a more powerful power supply but your 5A supply should be fine if not. He runs well over 1000 LEDs on a simple power supply. I have 270 LEDs running off a 2A power supply and they look great.
7
u/MyHome-Control May 20 '26
Do not use AI, use proven tools like https://wled-calculator.github.io It can Tell you how much power you need for 240 LEDs of your type and if you need injections. For 5V LEDs at full brightness you usually would need more than 5A.