LED Strip Types

One data wire, timing-critical · RGB

The default. Every controller, library and tutorial assumes it, so anything you read about addressable strips applies without translation.

Watch out: The data signal passes through each LED to reach the next, so one dead LED blanks everything after it. At 5V it also needs feeding more often than any other strip here.

One data wire, WS2812B-compatible timing · RGB

A drop-in alternative when WS2812B is out of stock. It answers to the same timing, so the controller does not know the difference.

Watch out: Same single data path as the WS2812B, so the same one-LED-fails-the-rest behaviour.

One data wire, four channels per LED · RGB plus a dedicated white die

Anywhere the strip has to produce usable white as well as colour. Mixing white from red, green and blue gives a tinted, inefficient white; a real white die does not.

Watch out: Four channels per LED means a third more data, and some controllers need telling the strip is RGBW before the colours land in the right order.

SK6812 RGBW power reference — draw by length and density, feed reach and gauge

Two data wires, one of them a backup · RGB

Runs you cannot easily reach again: behind a wall, under a floor, along a ceiling cove. A single failed LED is bridged instead of blanking the rest.

Watch out: The backup line only survives one break at a time, and the strip costs more per metre than the WS2812B it replaces.

Clock and data, no timing deadline · RGB

Fast refresh and anything a camera will see. A separate clock line means the strip updates as fast as the controller can push, and it does not care if an interrupt delays the signal.

Watch out: Two signal wires instead of one, and fewer controllers support it out of the box.

One data wire, timing-critical · RGB

Narrow channels and tight profiles. The 2020 package is a quarter of the footprint of the standard 5050, so the strip itself is much narrower.

Watch out: Smaller die, less light. Compare it on watts per metre rather than on LED count.

Two data wires, one of them a backup · RGB

Long addressable runs. The same LEDs at 12V draw about 32% of the current a 5V strip needs for the same light, so one feed reaches much further.

Watch out: Each LED holds a constant-current driver, so an idle strip still draws a little. Budget for it on installations that are on standby all day.

WS2815 power reference — draw by length and density, feed reach and gauge

One data wire, one driver per group of three LEDs · RGB

Cheap 12V pixel effects over distance, and the pixel strings sold for outdoor and Christmas use.

Watch out: The driver sits outside the LED and controls three at a time, so the smallest thing you can address is a group of three, not one LED.

WS2811 power reference — draw by length and density, feed reach and gauge

One data wire, one driver per LED · RGB

12V runs that still need per-LED control, where the WS2811's groups of three would show as blocks.

Watch out: Less common than the WS2815, so check your controller's chip list before ordering.

One data wire, four channels per LED · RGB plus a dedicated white die

RGBW at 12V, which the SK6812 does not offer. The current per channel is set in the data stream rather than by the resistors on the strip.

Watch out: That current setting has to be sent before the strip behaves, and not every controller does it. It also decides what the strip draws, so the W/m on the listing is only true at the current the seller assumed.

TM1814 power reference — draw by length and density, feed reach and gauge

One data wire, four channels per group of three LEDs · RGB plus a dedicated white die

RGBW on a rail that reaches. It is the one addressable RGBW part sold on both 12V and 24V, and the two draw the same watts, so the rail is a choice about run length rather than about power.

Watch out: One IC drives three LEDs, so the pixel count your controller wants is a third of the LED count on the listing. Entering the LED count is the usual way this strip ends up misconfigured.

WS2814 power reference — draw by length and density, feed reach and gauge

One data wire, driver shared across a group of LEDs · RGB, or RGBW on the WS2814

Effects with no visible dots. A phosphor layer over a dense line of LEDs turns the strip into a continuous glowing line, which is what you want anywhere the strip itself is in view.

Watch out: Hundreds of LEDs per metre is not hundreds of pixels: they are driven in groups, so the addressable resolution is far lower than the LED count suggests.

Two wires, dimmed by a PWM dimmer · One fixed colour temperature

Lighting rather than effects: under cabinets, in coves, along shelves. No dots, no controller, no data to get wrong.

Watch out: The whole strip is one colour at one brightness. If you want zones, that is one dimmer channel per zone.

Two wires, dimmed by a PWM dimmer · One fixed colour temperature

The cheapest way to get a lot of white light out of a strip. A single-die package that has become the standard for plain white work lighting.

Watch out: Individual dots are visible unless the strip sits behind a diffuser, which is why COB has taken over where the strip can be seen.

Two wires, dimmed by a PWM dimmer · One fixed colour temperature

Bright white in the same 5050 package the RGB strips use, so it fits the same channels and diffusers.

Watch out: At 14.4 W/m the 60/m version is one of the hungriest strips here. Size the supply before assuming a 5m reel runs off a small brick.

Four wires, one PWM channel per colour · RGB, one colour at a time across the whole strip

Colour on a budget, and anywhere a whole wall or ceiling changes colour together. No data timing to get wrong and no controller compatibility to check.

Watch out: Every LED shows the same colour at the same moment. Chases, gradients and per-pixel effects are not possible, whatever the listing photo suggests.