assembly.md
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:



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



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:


watch the arrows on the module and the strip so you don't accidentally solder
your strips in reverse.
bond your power wire to the strip for easy manipulation:


if you have a strip in silicone tubing, you can run the power wires
through the tubing
otherwise, you can use a few rings of heat shrink tube to bond it.

instead of wires, you can use ]]>ribbon power
cables]]>
to make the whole assembly flat.


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.