For people who want lots of shiny, flashy LEDs on their robotic project, this 1m long strip of 60 Neopixel LEDs is great value.

The strip of LEDs has 3 wires, one for power, one for ground, and the other is a signal wire that allows you to digitally address the LEDs. Using the signal wire, each LED can be controlled individually which allows for some lovely visual effects. You can set the colour of each LED's red, green and blue component with 8-bit PWM precision (so 24-bit colour per pixel). The LEDs are controlled by shift-registers that are chained up and down the strip so you can easily shorten or lengthen the strip just by cutting it or soldering wires to connect it to another strip. Only 1 digital output pin is required to send data down. The PWM is built into each LED-chip so once you set the color you can stop talking to the strip and it will continue to PWM all the LEDs for you.

The strip is made of flexible PCB material, and comes with a weatherproof sheathing. You can cut this stuff pretty easily with wire cutters, there are cut-lines every 1.7cm (0.65") (1 LED each). Solder to the 2.54mm (0.1") copper pads and you're good to go. Of course, you can also connect strips together to make them longer, just watch how much current you need! As obviously, the more LEDs you have, the more cuurent your power supply must be able to provide. As a rule of thumb, a 5V/2A supply should be able to drive 1 meter (depending on use) and a 5V/10A supply can drive up to 4 meters (depending on use). Note: You must use a 5V DC power supply to power these strips, do not use higher than 6V or you can destroy the entire strip.

Features

• 12.5mm (0.5") wide, 4mm (0.16") thick with casing on, 16.7mm (0.65") long per segment
• 60 LEDs per meter
• Weight of 1 meter (w/ silicone jacket): 39g
• Removable IP65 weatherproof casing
• Maximum 5V @ 60mA draw per 1.7cm (0.65") strip segment (all LEDs on full brightness)
• 5VDC power requirement (do not exceed 6VDC) - no polarity protection
• 1 integrated RGB LEDs per segment, individually controllable
• LED wavelengths: 630nm/530nm/475nm
• Uses the WS2812B 4-pin chip LED

Useful Links

Datasheet for WS2812

Adafruit NeoPixel UberGuide - Everything you need to know to use NeoPixels

NeoPixel Arduino library