Ceiling lighting with Fibaro RGBW controller & LED strip

[budda 5]

I'm attempting to light 4 individual ceiling installations with Fibaro RGBW controllers.

Where are you all sourcing RGBW strip lighting from?

The Fibaro controller has a limit of 144W for 12V strips which isn't enough for RGBW (14.4W p/m) to go around any of my ceilings i've found.

Using basic RGB strips does work at 2.4W p/m consumption.

If i went up to 24V then the Fibaro controller may cover my ceiling size, but i canfind any UK suppliers of RGBW 24VDC strips.

Supplier suggestions appreciated.

So far www.led-lighthouse.co.uk has been recommended a few times but only has 1 RGBW product consuming 14.4W p/m.

[Dalle1985 16]

I buy mine on ebay, MUCH cheaper, and I can't spot the difference from the ones available in european webshops. Prices are usually around 15£ for a 5 m strip.

The controller is designed for normal 10 M strips at 1.2 A pr meter, you won't find normal 5050 rgbw strips at significantly lower consumption. So if you need more than 10 M, you need to either find a 24V power supply and connect them in series. That way, you can connect 20 M of 12V RGBW to the same controller.

[budda 5]

I'm being told not to connect RGBW in series as the bit at the start of the length will become overloaded and burn out.

Are you using the stuff from the Chinese suppliers then via ebay? I assume you are talking about RGB+White and not just RGB strips too?

I keep hearing scare mongering about them being inferior, not lasting, costing more in needing replacing after a short while.

[Dalle1985 16]

I have had different china leds for several years with no ill effect. Both single color, RGB and RGBWW.

Truth be told, many of the internet suppliers are buying their stuff from the same suppliers. I know one of the reputable resellers here in Denmark and he buys all his stuff in China. The trick is, that if spmething burns out, they replace it with another cheapo strip. Saying their products are better than the China ones is really the only argument for the 500-1000% markup if you ask me.

Having examined the chips, I can vouch for the fact that the chips are the same.

As to connecting in series, I'm not sure how connecting in series would cause the strips to overload, quite the contrary, by connecting them in series, the voltage will be split between them, but the current will be the same as if it was a single 12 V strip. If you connect them in parallel (which people believe is in series because you plug one strip in the end of another, then you risk overloading as the circuit, because the same wire has to facilitate twice the current. Twice the current means quadrubling the energy which is dispersed in the terminals.

But you can't connect RGBW strips in parallel due to the number of wiring. So sorry for the misdirection - but I hadn't thought of the fact that the wiring wouldn't allow for that - I only use it for single color strips.

[budda 5]

I ended up stumping up for

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RGBW strips from 

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in the UK.

Fast service from the supplier, knowledgable and really nice quality product - single LED does all RGB and W.

 

Very very bright too!