Types and techniques
Botland LED strips are equipped with SMD diodes with APA, SK and WS drivers. Okay, but what exactly is the abbreviation SMD? SMD is another word for Surface Mount Device, which is an element adapted to surface mounting. There are mainly four types of LED diodes - Multicolor, so called RGB LED, which in practice means the possibility of generating three basic colors - R (red), G (green), B (blue). By mixing these colors we can get any color. Warm white - its color temperature is below 3300 K, neutral white - its color temperature is in the range of 3300 K - 5300 K and cold white with color temperature above 5300 K.
Drivers and their types
Currently, the most popular addressable LED strips use WS2812B driver. Mainly because the driver is easily available and does not cost a fortune. Unfortunately, there is also another side of the coin of such a popular driver. It is zero resistance to damage of a single diode in the strip, which results in breaking the data line and the necessity of replacing the damaged fragment. The alternative without it are WS2813 and SK6822 drivers, which have two independent control lines.
Alternative controller and its advantages
In addition to the dual control line, the WS2813 driver in Addressable LED Strips has additional elements directly in the structure of the design. A resistor and capacitor placed next to the diode reduces the risk of damaging the driver itself, which is quite common with the WS2812. Recording people will also appreciate five times higher PWM refresh rate at 2 khz level in comparison to WS2812 and almost twice in comparison to SK 6812-22. Increased refresh rate affects the flickering effect during movie recording.
SMD diodes and their designations
It is also worth defining the four-digit designation placed after this abbreviation. This is nothing more than the size of the LEDs used in the LED strips addressed. In the case of the SMD 3528 designation, it is 3.5 × 2.8 millimeters, and the SMD 5050 designation is 5 × 5 millimeters. The 30, 60, 150 SMD designation informs the buyer of the number of SMD LEDs on 1 meter of LED strip. When buying LED lighting, however, it should be remembered that in this case, not only its size matters. A good diode is a higher price, but also higher properties and longer life.
