Basics

Pixel-controlled LED can take every light project to a whole new level. Through this tour, you will learn the basics of pixel-controlled LED lighting. This technology allows for much more dynamic and expressive lighting applications than static or color-changing LED lighting.

Note: some parts of the tour use audio.

Colored 

Color-changing LED lighting can only change the color of the whole LED product.

These are the traditional LED strips available on the consumer market. They have limited creative applications and often come with little variety in options.

 Addressable

Addressable LED lighting allows control of every single LED (also known as a pixel).

Together with some creativity, addressable LED lighting creates endless possibilities to make smooth animating or moving effects. Lighting designers are increasingly discovering these new ways to control light that brings their designs alive.

vs


"Pixel-controlled LED opens up a new world in lighting solutions"



Select an effect below and see the differences.

Turkish Airlines Lounges



Project name

Turkish Airlines Lounges

Client


Turkish
Airlines

Location


Istanbul Airport, Turkey

Art-Net software

1x Madrix Maximum2x Madrix Professional

DiGidot partners

LEDFlex Limited

Lighting designer

Cinimod Studio / Softroom

Engineering


LEDFlex Limited

Hardware used

23x DiGidot PxlNode
200x PxlNet Transceiver
35x DiGidot C4 Live 4

MSC cruises



Project name

MSC Cruises

Client


The department

Location


Bahamas

Art-Net software

Resolume

DiGidot partners

InventDesign

Lighting designer

The department UK

Engineering


InventDesign

Hardware used

39x DiGidot Live 8

What hardware is required for pixel-controlled lighting?

To start with your pixel-controlled LED project you need special hardware that fits your project best.
We will walk through all of the hardware that is required for pixel-controlled solutions.

Choosing a pixel-controlled LED product

Nowadays you can find a huge variety of pixel-controlled LED products on the market. Every type of pixel-controlled LED product has its own purpose. We have selected the most common products.

Hover over the products to find out more about them.

A Pixel controller

The next thing you need is a pixel controller that can send or convert data to control your pixel products. The DiGidot C4 is an advanced pixel controller suitable for almost any application.

In the next few steps, we will show you what a pixel-controlled setup looks like.

Note: This next part contains audio so please make sure you have your sound on.

DiGidot C4 Live Controller

DiGidot C4 Extended

PxLNet products (optional)

Power supply

Selecting the right LED product for your project

It is important to choose your LED product wisely and we recommend checking a few requirements for your project upfront.

An important part of a LED product is the IC (Integrated Circuit). An IC is a chip on the LED strips that reads the SPI signals and controls the LEDs. We will walk you through some options that can help you to select the right IC/SPI protocol and therefore the most suited LED product for your project.

RGB or RGBW

RGB is short for Red, Green, Blue. RGB LEDs are the most common LEDs with which you can create a huge variety of colors such as orange, yellow, purple, or cyan. Combining all RGB colors together will generate white light.

If you want to have a more perfect white and also control the color temperature (cold or warm), a separate white LED can be added to the RGB LEDs. These types of LEDs are called RGBW.

Pros of RGBW

  • There are various RGBW LEDs available such as cool, natural, or warm white. This makes them suitable for many applications.
  • Because a dedicated white LED is available it is much easier to create true white light compared to RGB.
  • Softer pastel colors can be generated which cannot be made with RGB products.

Cons of RGBW

  • RGBW uses four control channels instead of three per LED. Therefore, more controls are required.
  • Costs of RGBW systems are generally higher.

Warm White

Move the slider to see the differences in white color temperatures


LED segments

An LED segment contains one or multiple LEDs together with an IC. Having more LEDs per segment can be efficient because you need fewer control channels to control your setup.

Here are a few standard examples of various segment sizes:

1 segment

  • 1 pixel = 1 LED
  • 5 volts
  • Voltage drop requires very frequent power re-injection
  • Detailed effects and smoother effects because of higher resolution

3 segments

  • 1 pixel = 3 LEDs
  • 12 volts
  • Less voltage drop than 5 volt

6 segments

  • 1 pixel = 6 LEDs
  • 24 volts
  • Less voltage drop than 12 volts
  • Suitable for larger-scale projects

The perfect dimming curve

To create smoother transitions on your LED product, you can use dimming.

There are two major dimming resolutions:

8 bit dimming

  • 256 steps dimming
  • Supported by most pixel control software
  • More cost-effective
  • Suitable for most projects

16 bit dimming

  • 65536 steps dimming
  • Not supported by most pixel control software.
  • Requires twice as many control channels and therefore hardware. Every pixel uses two control channels instead of one.
  • Smoother and more accurate dimming, especially at low light levels.
  • Higher system costs.

The infrastructure of the LED products

If you know where to place your LED product, you have to check the ideal way of connecting it. Do you need long lengths or multiple short lengths?

Data types

There are two major types of IC/SPI protocols; Data only or Data/Clock.

Data only IC

  • Uses one output port which means you can connect 4 runs of up to 500 LEDs on a DiGidot C4

Data/clock IC

  • Uses two output ports which means you can connect 2 runs of up to 1000 LEDs on a DiGidot C4

Fast or slow effects

Do you need to display very fast-moving content? Faster content requires higher system performance.

Here are some tips to optimize the performance:

  • To get high-performance output it’s best to spread your channel load equally among your output ports.
  • We recommend connecting up to 510 RGB pixels per line for Data only IC’s
  • We recommend connecting up to 1530 RGB pixels per line for Data/Clock IC’s
  • Increase the FPS (Frames per second) of the pixel control software to 60fps.

Slow content

If no particular speed or frame rates are required then you can compare other features such as a backup line. A backup line will be used if an LED or IC is broken. This way not the whole part after the broken LED/IC turns off, but only the broken LED will be off.

Below you will find a list of IC's that fit your specifications.

The list has been filled and sorted based on your choices.

Name LED type No. segments Voltage Bit Data type FPS Backup line


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We have walked through the most important steps needed to start your own pixel project.

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