I still could not figure this out:

Archive FastLED Archive
1

I still could not figure this out: Could someone tell me what sort of a project would require; or at least work better with, Neopixels or Apa102 or any other newer kind of strips rather than the good old LPD8806?

2

APA102 are just cheaper. Less chips to place equals lower cost. Speedwise, I think they are fairly equivalent. Although recent talks make me question the length limitations of APA102.

3

APA102 would be good for a persistence of vision project They have a very fast refresh rate. APA102 (and good old LPD8806) are 4 wire strips so you could more easily use interrupts with a project without running into conflicts with the timing and sending of LED data.

More specifics about a project would help determine with might or might not be a good LED choice.

4

@Justin_Eastman
I’m curious, what recent news has bought APA102’s length limitations to light?

5

@Luminous_Elements In my experience WS2801 had a limitation of about 1000 LEDs. I knew people that tried to exceed that limit and it would just not work and the crappy chinese data sheets somewhat indicated this. The APA102’s I have read in recent posts here in the group have a limitation of 512 leds.

6

@Justin_Eastman , interesting. My current project has a scope of 1800 pixels running from a Teensy. I’m planning to run them in five groups of 360 pixels already, so I’m hoping I won’t run into any length problems.