Review on ALITOVE WS2811 12mm IP68 Waterproof Digital RGB LED Pixel 💡 Light: 50pcs/Set, Individually Addressable Round LED Pixels Module, DC 5V, Diffused by Heather Wood

This review is for a set of 50 ALITOVE WS2811 12mm Diffused Digital RGB LEDs. I bought them with the idea that I would use them for Christmas lights or just to play with. I plan to control them with an Arduino or ESP8266 device. I decided to delve into an old Aduino Uno. I couldn't find an example sketch or schematic from the supplier, but there are plenty of examples online. Google WS2811 and you will get many hits. This is a three-wire circuit, the wires are marked in red: +5 V; White: DATA; Blue: GND on the Amazon website and the LED closest to the connector. I hate to admit that I've tried every possible wrong wiring combination before stumbling upon the right setup. The good news is I didn't blow out the headlights which is a miracle and a testament to the headlights durability. After they work, they're pretty impressive. Instructions that worked for me: 1) Quadruple check your wiring. The key is to connect data, power and ground to the outlet. The female end (I know some of you are confused by this) is the end where you need to insert the wire into the hole to make the connection. It doesn't make sense to me why I had to use a jack, but I didn't have a light until I routed my connections to this end. 2) There is information on the web that says it's a good idea to install a built in 470 ohm resistor. to a data connection. i did this 3) Give him lots of energy. I couldn't run this from an Arduino 5V pin or 1/2A wall wart. I was able to use something that provided 5 volts for more than 2 amps. ALITOVE sells a power supply that I want to buy at the same time. 4) There is information on the web that says it's a good idea to put a 1000uF capacitor between the power supply and the LEDs to smooth out the performance. i did this 5) Use the FastLED library in your Arduino IDE library. From the Sketch->Include Library->Library Manager menu, select and then locate and install the FastLED library. I've tried the Adafruit Neopixel library but haven't been able to get it to work to date. 6) In the Arduino IDE, go to Menu->File->Examples->FastLED-> and select the FirstLight example. These sketches are well documented. You need to change the definition statement to match the data pin used and the number of LEDs. Also make sure that "FastLED.addLeds<WS2811, DATA_PIN, RGB>(leds, NUM_LEDS);" under the setting in the sketch is uncommented. Some examples are already installed, others are not. All other similar lines should be commented out. 7) Compile, upload and your lights should be blinking. There are more examples of sketches for the FastLED library, as well as information on the web. I'm sure there are other or better circuits that could be developed, or ways to get the Adafruit library to work. Just wanted to post a review and describe what worked for me in hopes someone finds it useful.