LED strips
WLED supports two types of LED strips: the so-called digital addressable LED strips and the so-called analog non-addressable LED strips.
Addressable LED Strips
Addressable LED Strips allows to control individual LEDs separately. This enables you to use many effects. The supported types are listed below. There are sometimes new types coming onto the market that have a compatible control protocol.
Sorting: 5v data only, 5v Data + Clock, 12v data only
| Type | Voltage | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| SK6812 | 5v/12v | RGBW |
| WS2811 | 5v | usually found in IP68 sealed 12mm pixel strings |
| WS2812B | 5v | |
| WS2813 | 5v | has a backup data line |
| APA102 | 5v | using 2 data pins, Clock and Data |
| LPD8806 | 5v | using 2 data pins, Clock and Data |
| WS2801 | 5v | using 2 data pins, Clock and Data |
| SK9822 | 5v | using 2 data pins, Clock and Data |
| UCS8903 | 5v | |
| GS8208 | 12v | |
| TM1814 | 12v | RGBW |
| WS2811 | 12v | usually 3-LED segments, has data-line resistor |
| WS2814 | 12v/24v | RGBW, 3-LED groups (12V) / 6-LED groups (24V) as one logical LED. Must be controlled as SK6812 type, color order: BRG, swap W and G (this option is available since WLED 0.14.0-b1) |
| WS2815 | 12v | has a backup data line |
| LPD6803 | 12v | |
| P9813 | 5-24 v | |
| TM1829 | 5-24 v | |
| UCS8904 | 5-24 v | RGBW |
Non-Addressable LED Strips
WLED supports non-addressable LED strips as well. Unlike addressable strips, non-addressable strips require a pin for each "color" channel and all LEDs are controlled the same way. To drive these strips, additional circuits (MOSFETs) are required. A basic circuit diagram is shown here. You need one MOSFET and one GPIO per color. It should be noted that the MOSFETs are destroyed very quickly in the event of an overload. To reduce the risk of fire and prevent personal injury, additional circuit elements should be implemented to protect MOSFETs from overtemperature and overload. Depending on the type, fuses are too slow for this! You might consider using self-protected MOSFETs too.
As of v0.13.1, WLED supports single color, CCT, RGB, RGBW and RGBCCT strips. These strips are commonly found at 12 or 24 volts.
The default PWM frequency for dimming is 880 Hz on ESP8266 and 19531 Hz for ESP32.