Grab your male JST connector and insert it into the leftmost 3 slots on the Sparkle Motion's screw terminal: -, 19, and +.
For more detailed help with this part check out the Sparkle Motion guide here.
Put a piece of clear heat shrink over the beginning of the LED strip.Â
Take your female connector and solder it to the first LED in your strip. Be sure you're soldering to the IN end (the arrows on the strip are pointing away from your connector, not toward). Match the connector wires so + goes to +5v, DI goes to 19, and - goes to G.
If you've got your software loaded and configured, plug the strip in to the controller and your lights should come on. Always test before you seal up the light strip to be sure you've got it right.
Once you've confirmed that the lights work, squirt a little hot glue into the connection and shrink the heat shink, waterproofing the strip and making sure the wires will never pull off.
If you need help with soldering LEDs check out this guide: How to Solder NeoPixels
With my LED layout design, I have two LED strips that are connected to the same pin on the controller, so they act as though they are one strip. I made myself a splitter by soldering two male connectors to a single female connector and plugging it in to the controller.
You could also just shove the wires from the two connectors into the Sparkle Motion's screw terminal, but I felt that might not be quite as reliable with all the traveling this bench does. I took a few minutes to do the extra soldering work and found myself glad I did.
I used the snap-fit case for the Sparkle Motion to secure everything. I didn't cut my LED strips to length just yet. Once the acrylic is cut and fitted, we'll wrap the LED strips around and cut them to the perfect length at that point.Â
In case you need help estimating length: mine ended up with 68 pixels on each strip at 30 pixels per meter.
Page last edited May 13, 2025
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