Wiring Guide

The next paragraphs outline the connection of the Neopixel Booster. We also provide your with step-by-step guide and assembly tips in the next chapter.

Neopixel Booster have the following pinout:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Basically, to make them work, cut your LED strips into pieces and join them via the the booster like this:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

And then connect the booster with a sufficiently thick wire (we recommend at least 0.3 mm² for 5 meter strips, ideally choose 0.5 mm²) to distribute the power to the modules. Be careful to not short the 5V pads of the strips on the module. They need to be disconnected for proper module operation.

Note that you can use the square pads on the modules to power your MCU (e.g., Arduino or ESP32). You can also connect the data pin here.

How long should be the strips? It depends on you. There are a few factors to consider: - Noepixel Booster can deliver up to 4 A, thus we do not recommend to connect more than 60 LEDs to it in case you plan to use the full brightness. - Most of the strips are made out of 50cm segment that you can easily desolder - there is no need for cutting. - With longer segments, the voltage drop on the 5V line can become visible again.

Thus, in most of our installations, we put a booster for each 50cm segment of the original strip.

A few tips:

Step-by-step Guide

In this guide we will walk you through the rebuild of the “IP66 60 LED/m LED strip” - it is the LED strip with a silicone tubing. Our goal is to change its appearance as least as possible.

First, note that the strip consists out of 50cm segments which are soldered together.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

This is the place where we will cut the tubing, desolder the strips and join them with a booster module.

Let’s start with the beginning of the strip where is the power in and data connector. It is a bunch of wires sealed by hot glue:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

We will solder the booster like this to the strip:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Start by carefully pulling the end cap. With enough force, the hot glue will become loose:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Then put the silicone tubing aside:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Next, we will move to the end of the first segment. Locate the solder joint and cut the silicone tubing:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

So you expose the solder joint:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Then, take your soldering iron and desolder the segments:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step

You should have a segment like this:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now, desolder the original supply wires from the beginning of the connector:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Turn the strip to the back side - there will be exposed pads:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Put solder on them so they are covered in solder from both sides (this helps the heat transfer in the following soldering process):

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now, solder the module to the strip. The best way to do so is to first put solder on the pads on the module, apply a little flux on the bottom of the strip, put it in place and heat it from above. Also, solder the original supply wires to the square pads on the module:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

The next step is to add power wire along the segment. We will put it inside the tubing. This could look impossible at the beginning, but there are two ways which makes the procedure easy.

The first one is to put a solid rod inside the tubing, so it can’t bend. Then you push thin wire though it. Remove the rod, solder the think wire to the end of the thick wire and then just pull the thin wire out:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step

The second method is to use 1mm thick steel wire that is long at least as the segment. Bend a small hook on one end. Then connect use the hook to pierce the insulation of the supply wire. And now just run the steel wire through the tubing.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now, solder the power wires to the modules. Be aware of the polarity.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now, solder power wires on the other side of the modules - this will be the new leads via which you power your strip.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Finally, you can put the cap back on. If you aim for waterproofness, use hot glue to attach it in place.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now put a 2cm piece of ⌀12 mm heat-shrink tube. We will use it to cover the cut in the silicone tubing.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Then solder another Neopixel Booster to the end of the segment:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

And also solder the power wires:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Next, solder the next segment to the module. Do not forget to run power wire thought the silicone tubing first.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Then you can slide the silicone tubing back in:

Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Lastly, put the heat shrink tube on the joint and seal it.

Assembly Step
Assembly Step

Now, just continue with rest of the segments and you are done. The whole 5m strip took roughly an hour to upgrade completely.

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