Hey, I have a small issue with a setup I need to create.
So I have a strip of WS2812B’s mounted on the inside of a hollow metal support beam thing. The strip goes right to the end of the piece, and there is an obstruction preventing me from doing much out the end of it.
The available space may be too small to fit ordinary ribbon cable through, so I wish to bring out the connections through the gap via some form of flat-flex cable to attach to an external PCB. It should be similar to the type of thing you can buy to solder LED strips at right-angles, except I need it coming straight out (no angle).
Can anyone recommend a suitable product, or an alternative way to do this?
I’m not sure if I’m answering what you’re asking, but…
A couple of times I’ve had wires run off at 90 degree angles. I tin the connection pads on the strip with solder, put a small 90-degree bend in the wire, tin that, and then solder it to the pad. I’ve done that to have wires shoot off to the left or right along the same plane as the strip, or straight up perpendicular to the plane. Most often, I use it to drop the wires perpendicular to the plane but towards the bottom of the strip (too run through whatever the strip is fastened to). Then a little epoxy goes a long way reinforcing the connection (AFTER you test it for continuity).
@allanGEE Thanks, that may work, but I don’t know if the gap is large enough to be sure I won’t crush the wires when mounting it. The diagram is a side-on view by the way, and also upside-down (because it’s easier to visualize up that way) so the metal support could easily just fall down onto the obstruction crushing through the insulation on such wires during the mounting process.
Referring to your image, is there any way to move the LED strip down just a bit on the support and either notch out the end of the support? How wide is the support piece compared to the LED strip width?
@marmil Length-wise, the support I have to work with is exactly 1.6 metres, giving exactly 48 LEDs with 30-Led/m strip. Shortening it would require either chopping off the end of the strip before the designated cutting line, or going down to 47 LEDs. That’s not really a nice number to work with.
The support is actually a shelving upright support of the type shown in the attached image, and the LED strip is attached sideways on the inside. missing/deleted image from Google+
If it was me, I’d take a small grinding bit on my Dremel, or a small round file and make three notches just in front of the pads, and then solder on wires with a 90-degree bend at the tip.
Once the wires are in place, if the insulation melted off and there’s contact with with the support, you can slip on some shrink tube (more than one layer if space allows)… or slip some epoxy, silicone, or even nail polish between the wires and support as an insulator. I imagine once it’s in place it won’t be subject to a lot of movement.
@allanGEE That could work, however I don’t really want to do much fiddling with bent wires. The way I would have to solder them requires bending them after soldering (unless I juggle a lot of stuff), and I’ve already broken off a ground pad by doing that with reasonably thick wire. I’ll try with thinner or more flexible wire if the current requirements allow. I also currently don’t have any sort of grinding tools but I’ve been planning to buy a Dremel soon.
I’d say don’t be hung up on cutting a pixel off. Or two pixels if you want to have an even number. How much easier would it suddenly make this installation? And minus one or two pixels should not make a difference in the lighting.
Allan’s suggestion could work too but you will really need to be careful about shorts.
@marmil I’ll try it later today and let you all know how it turns out in terms of how repeatable and reliable it is. If it works well, then it might be a helpful suggestion to others with space constraints as long as their strips have a good section of straight conductors to use (mine happen to have the conductors all completely straight and cuttable for a good 15mm either side of the existing pads)
