Here at Adafruit, we love discovering new and exotic glowing things. Like moths to the flame, we were intrigued by this 'chip on board' ultra-flexible RGB LED Strip with a whoppin' 630 SMT LEDs per meter (210 x RGB LEDs, with 3 in series per segment), soldered side-by-side and diffused with silicone epoxy! They look a lot like neon or incandescent tubing or maybe really-nice EL wire but without the need for expensive transformers, glass tubing, or inert gasses. And these fancy side light LED strips are good for making slim-and-elegant edge lighting for art, signs, or architectural elements.
This strip is 'side lighting,' which means the light comes out of the thinner edges of the strip. If you want the light coming out the 'front' check out this flexible, slightly chonkier RGB LED strip with 120 LEDs.
Unlike pixel-dot strips, these lights have a continuous, pure light source, and unlike our 'Neon' tubing, they're much thinner and more flexible (but don't have a chunky diffused look)
They are extremely flexible and bendy; this particular strip features an RGB non-addressable LED strip with a solid chunk of translucent silicone rubber as a diffuser on the side of the LEDs and then encased in a sealed silicone tube that can be cut away. They look incredible, and super easy to use, and are a great way to make your projects light up!
The silicone makes for a strong, durable, weather-proof casing. They're not guaranteed for dunking underwater or long-term outdoor exposure, but they're durable enough for projects that have to survive the outdoors, like costumes, bike lighting, or festival decorations. Plus, with the adhesive backing, you can stick it where you please.
You'll get 1 meter long strip with 4 wires: black for +12V and then red, green and blue that you can connect to ground to turn on the corresponding color. Provide 9V (bright) to 12V (very bright!) and the tubing starts to glow.
Note these are not 'NeoPixel' LED strips; you cannot turn on or off individual LEDs. This guide on analog RGB LED strip control will show you how it works - you'll want a microcontroller with a PWM output and an N-MOSFET or a ULN2803 to control the power to the entire LED element. In the demo above we use a Mosfetti to simplify the wiring for use with an Arduino-compatible
