Smart Pixels or Full Color LEDs

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Smart Pixels (also called Full Color) LED strips are the
only type of LED strips that allow multiple colors to be displayed at once... each LED being individually controlled.
This is the future of LEDs and the next big thing in architectural lighting.

​Dumb pixels LED strips are only able to apply
a single color to all the LEDs of the strip.

​Understanding the 3 types of
smart pixels RGB LED technologies

Smart RGB LED strips are made of pixels which can be individually addressed by a controller, like the pixels on your computer screen.
However, there are 3 main types of LEDs for permanent installation :
 - 24V DMX LEDs (known as UCS512)
 - 5V SPI+CLK LEDs (known as APA102/SK9822)
 - other SPI LEDs (known as WS2811/WS2812)
All of these LEDs exists in IP20 (indoor) and IP67 (outdoor) versions.
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The 24V DMX LED strip

SD but Long Length...

Pros :
Low number of power supplies needed.
A single LED strip can be 8.5 meters / 9.3 yards long.
The controller can be more than 50 meters / 55 yards away from the LED strips, using standard CAT6a cables with standard RJ45 plugs.
24V power is easy to send, so you can have the power supplies in a room and the LED strips in another one.
All the pixels receive the signal, so the rest of the LED strip still works if there is a dead pixel.
DMX is based on RS485, an industrial and very robust protocol.

Cons :
Low FPS (22 FPS).
"SD", not "HD" strips : each pixel is 10 cm long.
​This also means you can cut the strip every 10 cm only.
Low density of LEDs (60 LED/m) means you get less light.
The LEDs can be hot.
Not usable without a diffuser.

Use case :
This is the LED type you should use when you are installing LED strips behind a stretch ceiling or behind translucent sheets of acrylic as the controller does not need to be near the LEDs. This is also the easiest type of LED strips you can install.

A 24V DMX single row RGB LED strip

The 5V SPI+CLK LED strip

HD but Short Length...

Pros :
High FPS (100+ FPS).
"HD" strips : each pixel is 7 mm long.
You can cut the strip every 7 mm.
High density of LEDs (up to 144 LED/m) means you get more light.
Lower voltage is safer.
Produces less heat than the 24V LEDs.
​Does not require a diffuser to look good.
​Thanks to the clock, the SPI data signal is much more stable than with non-clocked SPI LEDs.

Cons :
High number of power supplies required (one every 2 meters).​
5V is hard to send more than 2 meters away from the power supply (requires big cables).
The controller needs to be near the LED strips (less than 1m).
If a pixel is dead, all the pixels after that one pixel won't work.

Use case :
This is the LED type you should use when you don't have much space (for heat dissipation), and when you need a perfectly continuous light that can be precisely cut (ie: under furniture)... and in any case where you can't use DMX LEDs.

A 5V SPI+CLK single row HD RGB LED strip

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Other SPI LED strips

These LED types, the oldest one and still very popular, are not suited for permanent installation inside buildings as they are more sensitive to Electromagnetic interference (EMI) which leads to short glitches (random behavior). The only advantage over SPI+CLK LEDs is that they exist in different voltage (ie: 5V/12V/24V)... but the drawbacks are too important for us to recommend this type of LEDs for professional results.