Chip Reference
What each chip actually draws, measured rather than taken off a datasheet, and what follows from it: the supply to buy, how far one feed carries it, and the wire that feed wants.
WS2815 and GS8208
What a WS2815 draws per metre and per run, why a solid colour costs more than full white on this chip, how far one 12V feed reaches, and the gauge that feed wants.
- How much power does a WS2815 use?
- What size supply does a 5 m reel need?
- WS2815 or WS2812B?
WS2814 and WS2814 FCOB RGBW
What a WS2814 RGBW draws per metre and per run on both 12V and 24V, why 60 LED/m is 20 pixels rather than 60, how far one feed reaches on each rail, and where the FCOB variant differs.
- How much power does a WS2814 use?
- Is the 12V version different from the 24V?
- SK6812 or WS2814?
- How many pixels is a 60 LED/m reel?
SK6812 RGBW and SK6812 WWA
What the fourth channel actually costs: measured draw per metre and per run, why the manufacturer's W/m and the figure on the box disagree, how far one 5V feed reaches, and the gauge it wants.
- How much power does an SK6812 RGBW use?
- Does the white channel add to the RGB draw or replace it?
- SK6812 or WS2812B?
- Why does the packaging say 30-120W?
WS2811
What a 12V WS2811 reel draws per metre and per run, why the figure quoted for it online is usually a 5V part, how far one feed reaches, and why it groups three LEDs where the WS2815 beside it does not.
- How much power does a WS2811 use?
- WS2811 or WS2812B?
- Why is my WS2811 cut every three LEDs?
TM1814
The one chip here whose draw is a setting rather than a spec: what it pulls at each current level, why every listing understates it, how far one feed reaches on 12V and 24V, and the gauge that feed wants.
- How much power does a TM1814 use?
- Why does it draw more than the listing says?
- Can I make it draw less?
- TM1814 or WS2814?
Chip not listed?
The PSU calculator carries 47 presets — every chip on this page and the ones that have no page of their own yet — and sizes a supply from the same measured figures these pages are built on. Strip types compares the families side by side if you are still choosing.
For the arguments rather than the lookups — which voltage to build at, where power injection goes, why a run goes dim at the far end — see the guides.