How I Did My Permanent LED Holiday Lights

I received a lot of questions of how I actually set up my permanent holiday LED lights. Here is a video where I give a high level overview of the installation itself, not so much the selection of everything or extreme detail of anything. If you want more info on anything let me know.
In summary, an outdoor IP65 Meanwell HLG-320h-12a power supply powers a DigQuad and a DigUno. The DigQuad uses 2 of the output channels to run a 17' strip and a 54' strip of LEDs. The DigUno runs one channel of about 36' of LEDs on the upper level.
Each of these controllers are housed in outdoor waterproof electrical boxes from Amazon. I used cable glands to feed in Ray Wu style X-connect pigtails to keep everything waterproofed.
The LED strips are WS2815 which are 12V. I went with 12V because in many cases you don't need to power inject. My opinion is that 5V lights require power injection, and for some reason it carried over to 12V with the logic of "more power is better", but in my opinion it is a waste of time and money if you don't need it. It doesn't hurt but my longest run is 480 LED's and I don't think mine look underpowered.
My WS2815 strips are IP66 which means its the IP30 strip inside a silicone sleeve. This is more waterproof than an IP65 which may not be completely waterproof on the back side and easier to repair than an IP67 which was the IP65 coating inside the silicone sleeve.
The spacing on the strips is 30 LED's per meter - for this application since mostly viewed from the street I don't think they need to be an more dense. If you go more dense you will need more power, thicker wires, etc.
The LED strips are housed in aluminum channels with a plastic diffuser. This makes them nearly invisible when they are off. I went with the 45 degree/v shape channels because I wanted to mount underneath my soffit and face down and out.
The magic happens with the free WLED app. I had trouble connecting mine, and found that if I did the initial setup on my phone to find the AP Access point then got the IP address and went to my computer to finish and save the WIFI settings, that worked best for me.
This is my first LED project, and this video is purely a "how I did it" and not a "how to". There are many ways to do all of these and many of the different ways are all correct.
I didn't go with 5V because I didn't want to have to power inject. I went with strips instead of pixels because I don't like the look of the pixels always visible.
I am not an electrician and recommend any of your wiring be reviewed by a professional if you are unsure of anything, and not to leave your setup unsupervised while powered if you have any concerns.
List of materials:
- Ray Wu WS2815 Strips (Aliexpress)
- Ray Wu Xconnect pigtails (Aliexpress)
- Aluminum channels (Aliexpress)
- Outdoor electrical boxes (Amazon)
- Cable glands (Amazon)
- Southwire landscape wire (Lowes)
- Solder seal connections (Amazon)
- Heat Shrink (Amazon)
- Dig Quad and Dig Uno (Qundor/Quinled worldwide store)
- Meanwell HLG-320h-12A Power supply (Amazon)
- Outdoor plug for power supply (Canadian Tire / Hardware store)
- Outdoor Extension Cord
- 2 sided tape if you are using strips with no adhesive backing
Tool List:
- Hobby saw and miter box to cut aluminum channels (Amazon)
- Heavy duty scissors to cut diffuser channel
- Heat gun for solder seal connections and heat shrink
- Impact driver for installing channel clips
- Drill for cable glands, used a small bit then a step bit to make larger holes, a hole saw bit would work too and maybe even a spade bit (These holes were MESSY!)
- Ladder
- I used a roofing kit with harness and anchors to tie off while doing my upper roofline, safety first!

[@CyberPhox-c3y]

Fellow Canadian on the east coast here - nice to see an install like mine that I am planning that can survive the winters up here!

[@ojasray1]

Would love to get the link to the seller who made the custom lengths - I too also do not know how to cut and put together….

[@MrSadlerd3]

Happen to have a link to the seller that did your custom lengths? I'd love to purchase from them as well.

[@gradmihaialexandru3445]

Vendor for the led strip?

[@IntermitTech]

Just stumbled across your video, awesome work on the install but also the video, shows a lot of stuff and how you solved them! Very happy to see the boards are working out for you too. :)

[@Chase_Anderson]

Thank you, coming from the master himself that means a lot! You helped me figure out many things in the discord chat, I sincerely appreciate it and the community you have built is amazing.

[@hockeyplayaz18]

Thanks for the followup Chase! This is fantastic.

[@timpeterson2738]

Your video is one of the best out there, good job, and yes I'm copying your install best i can with time being the fear factor.

[@Chase_Anderson]

Thanks Tim! Good luck and any questions let me or the discord community know! The discord chat was super helpful with my questions along the way.

[@timpeterson2738]

@@Chase_Anderson cool thanks

[@_tim]

Man every time I think I'm settled on pixel strings I see a video like this in my feed that makes me think twice about strips and aluminium channel instead. Looks great!

[@Chase_Anderson]

Thanks! There are pros and cons to both setups. A lot of advocates for pixel strings seem to needlessly really hate on strips, but they don’t mention how expensive perma track is, how long it takes and tedious it is to make your own product comparable to permatrack, or the pain and suffering of pushing all the pixels into the track lol. I personally like the clean look of the strip install, basically invisible when off. And even it also has the option to look very much like pixels too, you could set a segment to use only every 3rd light and it would have the same spacing but still be invisible when off. Both are good choices, and just to make it harder don’t forget to check out the 30mm pucks! They come wired into tracks already, I would do that over pixels.

[@_tim]

@@Chase_Anderson Oh no don't give me a third option! I think my shunning of strips in the past was because I was only considering 5v varieties and getting put off by the more frequent voltage drop, but your video is the first I've seen that uses WS2815 12V which has totally changed my thoughts. Am I right in thinking the backup data line just gets wired into the same data channel output on the DigQuad?

[@Chase_Anderson]

@@_tim that’s what I had thought too, but Quindor (who makes the boards) directly advised me to wire it to ground - so that’s what I did. Further discussion in the community makes it sound like either will work (can splice the data or wire to ground) but I just followed Quindors advice and have had no issues to date.

[@timneal609]

I want to do strips but how do they do in the extreme Alberta Canada cold winters.

[@Chase_Anderson]

@@timneal609 I’m actually in Alberta, and I just took some footage, I was going to show them working fine in -33C! I’ll make and post that video in the next couple weeks.

[@lucasschrieken]

your video was recommended to me... but to be honest. Good Job! sometimes I still get a small sprinkle of hope for the KZbin algorithm. Nice work, Nice explanation keep up the good job! Happy New Year!

[@nyacoustics8373]

How do you measure your roof lines?;. Do you actually go on on the upper level of the roof ? Is there a program

[@Chase_Anderson]

Yes I went up and measured, being a solo project I taped one end of the measuring tape to the end to hold it lol. For rough measurements you could use an app like measure on iPhone (I’m sure android has something similar) but for the actual measurements for cutting and whatnot I would want a physical measurement. Keep in mind you’ll need to install them, so you’ll need to figure out access at some point.

[@nyacoustics8373]

@@Chase_Anderson gotcha thanks so much !

[@atomicdetailsoc]

i more secure joint would be a heatshrink butt splice connector. you need a crimping tool though...

[@Chase_Anderson]

There is probably always a more secure option… there is no physical loading on this setup and no issues so far.

[@danallen4550]

Thanks so much this is AMAZING information, Did Ray Wu connect the WS2815 strips for you before they sent them?

[@Chase_Anderson]

Correct, all I had to do was mount the strips and connect the x-connect ends

[@manukalias]

Very neat and clean setup 👍👍

[@karthikvenkat4854]

Thanks for the detailed follow up post explaining the install! Great job.

[@dusty717]

Great video! I did the same thing using Dig-Quads and bullet pixels. Are you using xlights and WLED?

[@Chase_Anderson]

I’m using WLED right now, I guess I completely skimmed over that part. I do have xlights downloaded and I’ve played with it a little, will likely dive in more in the future!

[@smattt]

"I'm not gonna climb up on the roof cos I don't wanna die today!" LOL!

[@ronm6585]

Thank you.

[@mitchyv1980]

My ip65 tape came with adhesive backing. Its worthless. I use construction adhesive to glue them in my channel.

[@Chase_Anderson]

That makes me feel better, thanks!

[@MS-rs8le]

Great video Thanks! Sad that the clips are made from chromed steel and WILL rust over time I am sure of that, may take a few years but here comes the rust??? Wish they made them with stainless steel but cheap china crap right? I would suggest to use stainless screws when attaching ANYTHING outside! Also, ANY led strip that is in a protective silicone sleeve is NOT waterproof by any means! What makes it IP65, 67 etc... is the sleeve itself What people do NOT understand is the condensation factor also. Condensation will in time work its way into the sleeve and the strip will go kaput!!!! This all depends on your weather factors in your region! Im sure using the aluminum channel will help from the elements. Heres one for you, Have you ever asked yourself " WHY " a LED strip manufacturer ONLY puts a 1 year warranty on LEDS they produce when they have a 50,000 hour life span which is roughly 6 years of leaving the lights on non stop! Why only 1 year hmmmm! Hope your project holds up and good Luck Thanks for the great video

[@Chase_Anderson]

Thanks. I contacted the supplier and the clips and made of stainless steel.

[@theLEFTY15]

I'm curious how you did corners with the channel and the diffuser sleeve? Great video

[@Chase_Anderson]

Thanks, I bought a little hobby mitre box with saw off Amazon and just cut 45 degree miters. I got the tooth count for aluminum and I cut them with the diffuser plastic installed. I also started at the corner and worked to the ends so all I was doing was taking off like an inch with the mitre and the overall length didn’t matter, and the final cut at the other end was just a straight cut - those I cut the channel to length with the hobby saw and just used heavy scissors for the plastic.

[@brucehanson4147]

An average power miter saw with carbide tooth blade for wood trim work cuts aluminum very well and smooth. Just go a little slower than you normally would to be safe.

[@RSpills]

Pretty thin aluminum, I’d imagine a hacksaw would be just as easy.

[@PeteyPablo408]

Do you have a link to those light switch covers? I could really use a couple of those for my flood light security cameras kids tend to turn off too often .

[@Chase_Anderson]

Here is the link. I don’t have a 3D printer, I found someone on a marketplace type site that printed 3 of them for $10. www.thingiverse.com/thing:4143224

[@PeteyPablo408]

@@Chase_Anderson thanks

[@ericmoreno655]

How did u wire up the led lights to the dig quad cause the led strips have 4 wires coming out ?

[@Chase_Anderson]

I’m not sure which you’re asking, but The ws2815 are 4 pin which are positive, negative, data and backup data. There are 4 x connect wires coming out of the box which are 1) first strip 2) second strip 3) power only to feed dig uno on second level which controls third strip 4) was going to be power injection for the first long strip but it looked good without it so I didn’t waste my time.

[@ericmoreno655]

@@Chase_Anderson thanks I was asking about the 4 pin wires that come out of the led lights them selfs. Since you only need to connect the 12v, negative, and data to the dig quad. But the led strip has 4 pin wires coming out of them.

[@Chase_Anderson]

@@ericmoreno655 ok ya, it’s the backup data… major benefit imo to have a backup data line.

[@RSpills]

Just wondering why you used a dig quad and a dig uno? I was under the impression that the dig quad could run data and enough power for this size of install.

[@Chase_Anderson]

A digquad could definitely handle it, in theory you can do 600 pixels per channel and there’s also a loophole to get 5 channels out of the Digquad instead of 4 so that’s no issue. I did it this way for 2 reasons: 1) lots of people report issues of longer data runs (over 25’) and running my top roofline off the Digquad would required that data line over 30’. Using the diguno up there my longest data line is only a few feet 2) the way I did it also leaves me open for future expansion - the second data out on the diguno up tops leaves the option for me to run another line to the upstairs window and then I have 3 left on the Digquad I could do my front window, door and garage door. The caveat is that I have to make sure they’re synced right now… it would be way easier to control and schedule if it was one controller but then more work to modify later if I want to expand which I likely will.

[@RSpills]

@@Chase_Anderson thanks for the explanation. I have my lower level running right now in a dig quad…and now that I know that the ws2815’s work in the extreme Canadian cold, currently running in -30C. I’m going to start the 2nd floor of my house in the summer and try to run it all off of the dig quad. I’m going to pick up a QUINLED Data booster to help with the longer data run. Hopefully it goes well. Thanks for the vid and the response.

[@DavidJJJ]

@@RSpills We have the opposite issue, 40c + days at Christmas isn't that nice for lights :)

[@JoseHernandez-gl9ef]

What did you spend

[@Chase_Anderson]

I think it was around $1000 usd, but that was also buying some stuff like a $200 Makita heat gun lol