How To Wire It! RGB LED Strip

Learn how to wire up an RGB LED strip to your Arduino and see the basic code for how to control it.
The code for this video can be found here: github.com/ItK...
Subscribe for more weekly videos!
Follow me on Twitter @itkindaworksinc
My site with even more tutorials is itkindaworks.com!

[@rdecastrod1]

I've found it!, almost 7 years later, but I've found the tutorial that I needed to understand this. Thank you.

[@matthewcharles7574]

I've been looking for a concise video of exactly this. Clear enough that I can alter my wiring for different transistors, and tweak the code for my own uses. Well done, and thank you.

[@aramagon7011]

dude you rock why did you stop you know i was all over the web looking for this and your the only one that basically explains the wiring and what to use thoroughly. big big thank you

[@CheechRockwizard]

Your last few videos have predicted what project I'm currently working on and have provided exactly the information I have required at that time. Keep up the good work - you're super helpful :)

[@ItKindaWorks]

+Cheech Rockwizard Thats awesome! I'm glad I've been tracking along with what you've been doing! If you have any requests for what you want, let me know. I'm just working on my own list doing things as I feel like it but if someone has a request I am more than happy to see if I can do it! Right now I have buttons, switches, and potentiometers in the pipeline.

[@ScottLahteine]

Good video! One bit of warning to viewers. Not all transistors use the same EBC ordering for the pins. Every brand and device is different, so it's very important to check the datasheet for the transistor to know the correct order. For example, the BC547 npn transistors that I'm using for my project have the pins in CBE order.

[@zoksss5323]

It depends if the transistor NPN type then it use CBE, but if it is PNP then its EBC but this only counts for BJT transistors, mosfets are whole another story

[@brentonsword6688]

2022 update: Such a great video, thank you. There is thankfully a pin kit you can buy on ebay that you can use instead - with the same basic principle! Thanks again

[@thefarmlifeinhd]

Thanks so much. The guides I find are either like how to connect a micro-controller to a single 2 pin LED, or how to control people's brains. Seems like a significant gap. Thanks for this!

[@jasims7742]

Thanks for this video. You actually explained functions in a way I could understand them perfectly. Even after 3 advanced math classes for a drafting degree. So again thanks for this video. and the project was simple and straight forward.

[@Prod_by_Teddy]

This is amazing. I made some changes, but my blue color is destroyed other Teo are amazing. Tnx very much for making this video. It was the only one I found about something like this. Tnx again. Toure amazing. Bye

[@timmyfingaz100]

Wow your videos are great and easy to understand! Hope you make some more soon!

[@flawlessyshark]

Nice, been looking for this explanation for awhile. Can you do one with WLED and an esp32

[@RmkDavid]

Best explanation I could find. Clear and to the point. Thank you very much.

[@kiranshashiny]

Nice video : If I want the color White ( FFFFFF ) then I would just analogWrite(redpin, 255); analogWrite(greenpin,255) ; and analogWrite(bluepin, 255); Thanks for sharing the video - I was able to get far with your video.

[@reneewojciechowski5116]

It WORKS!!! I'm using the Arduino Mega

[@alessandrodejongh7147]

what if I skip 1 pin? I only have 2 transistor and i don’t want to buy like 1 more and pay shipping

[@azimshaikh9465]

THANK YOU SO MUCHH...IVE BEEN STUCK ON THIS FOR SOO LONG AND YOUR TUTORIAL HELPED A LOT....PLEASE TELL ME HOW DO I MAKE A 12V AND 5V SINGLE POWER SUPPLY... SUBSCRIBED!!

[@SeattleDinghyer]

The board has a voltage limiter, so a 9v battery will power it up.

[@sericonti]

Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. Can this be adopted to control multiple strips and control each strip to create a digital clock ? Thanks again.

[@toohardanouar]

thank you so much, this is exactly what i was looking for, and I really appreciate the clear info and explanation :)

[@klab3929]

you could use a LM317 to step down the voltage from the 12v input source

[@ItKindaWorks]

Looks like you should be able to. Just make sure you put a heatsink on it or it could get very very hot!

[@pufosme]

why are the leds fading , the transistor just open and close to 12 V. How can the collector output be lower than 12V (ex 6V ) for a channel to be 50% bright ? I dont get it. Output of the collector - emitter is the same 12V no matter what you supply to the base (it only needs 5mA to open). Thank you

[@obliquetortoise6980]

great video! i have a question thou. what is the purpose of the transistor in the circuit? can the circuit work without it?

[@furkancanoz6325]

Dude the color changes are fine, but I have a problem. BDX56C Using the transistor I managed to run it like in the video. I want to control this led with IR remote. For example, when I press the 1 key, the fading effect works. When I press the 2 key, it will exit the for loop and turn off all leds. How can I do that? I tried many codes, but when the RGB LEDs turn red, they flash very quickly and switch to the other color. I've been dealing with it for about 4 days, I tried every way but I couldn't. Can you help me please ..

[@bogdantgb]

I have a 5v led strip that is non addressable how do I connect them to the board?

[@jordanwilliams819]

Which arduino are you using? I'm trying this myself, but can't figure out which one to get...not trying to spend too much lol

[@rafaelcasero2822]

I was looking through your videos for a wiring a 5v RGB strip like this one straight to the ESP8266 module using WLED if possible. Thanks. Or something similar but using the RGB non addressable with the ESP8266

[@schlumpfi002]

I want to do this myself, but I don't know wich transistors I have to use. Can you give me an advice?

[@ipodmaurits]

Whats the little piece called where you insert your power wires ?

[@teacherazuria9908]

5050 can't be used?

[@juniorshbr13]

thanks great videos

[@Ibrahim-tt3fx]

My room looks so much more better because of this, its just that the lights are a little dim

[@TheEpicShadoeGamers]

Are you connecting the ground of the PSU ro the ground on the Arduino?

[@alanchanno1946]

Thank you for a easily understandable tutorial, just what I need for my Christmas star build! Of all the questions I'm still working out is how to specify the power requirements. Is there a formula? I'll be using 2835 Leds and longest run will be about 6 feed and as pre season gifts, would like to make them run off a re-chargeable battery pack.

[@ItKindaWorks]

The easiest formula would be to take the power consumption of the 2835 LEDs in watts (you should be able to look this up from your LED supplier) and multiply that number by the number of LEDs per strip (a rough count will do). That will give you the wattage for the strip. Then you just need to get a battery that can match that power consumption for the amount of time you want it to run. For example 20 LEDs that draw .2W each gives a total of 4W for the strip (20 * .2). If I want that strip to run for a minimum of 5 hours, I would need a 20Watt/Hour battery (5 hours * 4watts per hour). This should give you a rough idea of the power requirements for your project. Either that or I'm dead wrong and someone will yell at me because y'know - internet.

[@davidcarr2308]

THANK YOU

[@davidcarr2308]

Dang my strip is 24 volt, i just need a propper strip and a power thing for the breadboard

[@zeeshanmehmood2691]

What of i do not have breadboard

[@M.4y]

how can i upload code to the esp-f devkit V4

[@Hackenbaker]

Excellent!!! Thanks

[@tqn_37]

how to make led chaser using 10 led 12volt, its make complicated place in real live

[@thefarmlifeinhd]

Why not hook up to the existing LED receiver board? Couldn't you mimic the IR 44-key remote and tie into the 3 IR component receiver lines?

[@ItKindaWorks]

You probably could do that but often times these strips arent sold with those boards and/or there are often projects that would benefit from direct control rather than allowing a third party controller to manage the LEDs. I imagine those cheap boards wont allow for rapid changes in color commands (on the order of dozens or more per second) which is sometimes desirable.

[@thefarmlifeinhd]

@@ItKindaWorks Gotcha. Thanks!

[@soundcode0246]

What arduino is that?

[@angusmitchell3901]

an arduino nano

[@angusmitchell3901]

which can actually take 12v, so it must be some strange version of the nano

[@johncherry108]

The Arduino IDE used in the video identifies the board as a Teensy 2.0 (at the bottom of the screen). It has a 32-bit ARM Cortex processor, so it's not a Nano. I don't think it's really an arduino, although it can obviously use the Arduino IDE.

[@soundcode0246]

Thanks, so its a Teensy 2.0

[@angusmitchell3901]

oh cheers for that clarification, I assumed because of the small form factor and because of the IDE, that it was a nano.

[@Mintsel]

hi! Can you make or explain to me how I can run a test program on my servo with a arduino pro mini? How to connect the wires and code

[@ItKindaWorks]

kzbin.info?o=U&video_id=soeYWYQ6bbE

[@jayati.design]

can you send me the link to this LED ? Every time I order the LED i get the ones with separate R G B led on the strip... i want the one with all of them together.

[@jalma5678]

When you go on Ebay or some other site, search ''5050 RGB LED'' you should get something. Just remember to have the 5050 in your search.

[@jessenorris1672]

If im powering my uno with 12v can i pass the power through to the breadboard from the Arduino? Also just to clarify you are using 3 pmw pins?

[@brusch1553]

i think that if you power your arduino with 12v it automatically reduces 12v to 5v so you can power things at 5v with ur arduino

[@jessenorris1672]

@@brusch1553 i found that you can use the uin pin and the ground pin to get 12v pass through

[@trindadealex2]

What is the maximum number of leds that the n2222 supports, my doubt is that when putting too many LEDs the transistor will heat up a lot.

[@ItKindaWorks]

Yes you are correct, this will only work with shorter lengths. In general I've been ok with strips up to about 3ft. More than that and you'll need a higher rater transistor or use a MOSFET.

[@trindadealex2]

Which mosfet do you recommend for the size of 15 feet?

[@TaffoVelikoff]

Hey, guys, will "2N3904 TO-92 NPN General Purpose Transistor" work? Collector Emitter Voltage: 40VCollector Base Voltage: 60V Emitter Base Voltage: 6.0VCollector Current Continuous: 200mA Operating and Storage Temperature Range: -55 ~150°CTransition Frequency: 250MHz

[@ItKindaWorks]

Yes however the 3904 provides less current than the 2222 I believe so you'll only be able to drive shorter pieces of LED strip.

[@TaffoVelikoff]

ItKindaWorks Oh a I see, thank you!

[@Inwardcrowd2210]

does this strip version of rgb work for a matrix 8x15 ?? , i mean the 12V-R-G-B version in a matrix because i´ve seen them but with V-DATA-GND versions

[@ItKindaWorks]

This version does not work as a matrix as there is no way to control the individual LEDs. This is simply a set of RGB leds being controlled all at once.

[@Inwardcrowd2210]

ItKindaWorks ty

[@matthewcharles7574]

I've got a troubleshooting question for you. I've got 6 channels of RGB wired up with their own pins to the Arduino. On two of the channels, the blue stays a little hot, making a pure red slightly purple, and the green slightly amber. Any thought on where my likely mistake might lie?

[@ItKindaWorks]

The blue what is a little hot? The LEDs themselves or the transistors? I assume it's the LEDs - in which case I would check and make sure that you are giving the correct voltage and that your power supply can handle all of the LEDs that you have. Often times cheap power supplies can be far from accurate.

[@matthewcharles7574]

Sorry, when I say "hot" I don't mean creating heat, perhaps a poor choice of words. I mean that the blue stays on (roughly a 20 out of 255) regardless of what it's supposed to be doing.

[@ItKindaWorks]

Ahh ok that makes more sense. Hmm... I'd check that you dont have any bad connections around the transistor. What happens if you connect the base of the transistor directly to gnd? That should totally kill the blue channel. If it doesnt then you might try swapping out the transistor because maybe it fried. Also how many feet of LEDs are you trying to run? a 2222a (or similar npn) should be good for up to a few feet but for something like 5+ ft you probably would want to use MOSFETs which are pretty similar to regular BJT transistors but have slightly different wiring (I'll should probably do another video with MOSFET drivers...). Let me know!

[@matthewcharles7574]

I'll check that. Thank you. I will be running just under 10' of RGB tape using a TIP41A transistor (recommended by the owner of our local electronics store). Though for the test rig, I've thus far only run a 2" section. Having just googled "MOFSET", the TIP41A does look to be that. It's an NPN (and I sorta know what that means). The collector, base, & emitter are in a different order from the 2222, which I accounted for. As both transistors are NPN does that mean that each leg is doing the same job (allowing for the fact that they are in a different order (BCE)?

[@hoboman303]

How would you do this with a normal fixed color led strip? I assume there would be no transistors?

[@ItKindaWorks]

If you want to control it via an Arduino (or other microcontroller) you will always need a transistor. The transistor acts like a switch so that the arduino can turn the 12V on and off while only being able to control 5V by itself. If you just have one (fixed) color then you would just have 1 transistor rather than 3

[@hoboman303]

If this were done, where could i add a piezo switch to act as the trigger to turn it on or off?

[@ItKindaWorks]

You would add the piezo as an analog input to the arduino and then in code have it check to see when the piezo passes a specified threshold which could in turn control the LED strip.

[@hoboman303]

so the piezo would plug into a second analog input from where?

[@ozgurgurcan9559]

what Will happen if i wouldnt use resistance?

[@ItKindaWorks]

On the transistors? Since the resistors are being used to limit the current from the pin, removing them would mean the transistor may draw more current than the pin can handle and possibly blow out the pin.

[@Dharmendrasavaliya012]

Hello sir Can we drive more than 25m RGB strip using Arduino controller ?

[@ItKindaWorks]

You can but you'll want to swap out the 2n2222 transistors for N Channel MOSFETs.

[@hristoatanasov1765]

@@ItKindaWorks Can you specify some N channel MOSFETS models that can handle such amount of current, needed for long strips? Like for 5m you need this, 10m you need that, for 20m you need that other. Or maybe a way to calculate what we need and then looking for appropriate mosfet. Thank you in advance! :)

[@M.4y]

Where buy 2n two two npn transistors?

[@ItKindaWorks]

Just about any electronic parts supplier will have them. You can also use ebay, aliexpress, etc. Just look for "2n2222"

[@JaviepalFordring1]

Can I control individual leds?

[@simranjeettoor3891]

can i use 3528 rgb led strip

[@ItKindaWorks]

+Simranjeet Toor those should work fine, yeah!

[@simranjeettoor3891]

Thanks

[@alexander.g7992]

What kind of Arduino is that

[@ItKindaWorks]

It's called the Teensy 2.0. You can find more info for it here www.pjrc.com/teensy/

[@klab3929]

should add some capacitors to get a stable output and input

[@ItKindaWorks]

Good suggestion!

[@alanchanno1946]

As a newbie Lukas, how would I do this?

[@taylorstanley7905]

I second @alanchanno1946 on this question. I am completely new to microcontrollers/arduino/etc. Advice on the best concise informational resources would be great!

[@M.4y]

not working :/

[@ItKindaWorks]

How is it not working?

[@M.4y]

Now is the strip light up, but now in a color

[@ItKindaWorks]

Can you send a clear picture of your layout? Have you changed the circuit/code at all from what is demonstrated in this video? My guess would be either your transistors are not wired properly or just poor connectors going from the strip to the transistors. One way to test your circuit would be to use single discrete LEDs and try to control those with the transistors first (using 5v instead of 12v for the v+ on the LEDs).

[@RozArialind]

how do I like uh.... give my thanks

[@ItKindaWorks]

Just give the video a thumbs up/like

[@ahmedvalera4566]

Hello?

[@ItKindaWorks]

Is it me you're looking for?

[@kevin6685]

Why does he sound like Bob from bob's burgers?

[@ItKindaWorks]

This is the highest compliment I could ever imagine receiving! Thank you good sir

[@kevin6685]

@@ItKindaWorks :)