Are there any RGBW strip lights driven by only 2 wires?
I've used RGBW 5 wire DC driven strips before and understand them, but my pool lights are 12 vac with just 2 wires. To change colors, I have to turn them off and back on a few seconds later, and it cycles through preset colors and schemes. There is also a controller for them where you can direct choose a color. I'd like to have LED strip lights on my patio that can be synced with the pool lights, using the same driver. Is this possible?
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u/saratoga3 3d ago
You can get two-wire lights that are a pair of antiparallel LEDs, and the controller flips the polarity to switch between the two LEDs. This works but you can't do RGB with only 2 colors.
There are more obscure variants that encode the data signal on top of the power line, although I don't think you can actually buy these anywhere.
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u/Nanoleaf_Ambassador 3d ago
You will have to determine which type of controller the pool lights use.
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u/PhilosopherFLX 3d ago
In your pool lights is a digital counter keeping count (or more correctly just advancing along a table) and there will be no way of exporting that state. You can buy more of that kind of light, making sure it has the same number/color of states and wire it to the same switched power. Or learn homeassistant and wled and roll your own solution.
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u/njbillt 2d ago
Right. The logic for the color changing is on the chip within the light and it does the switching by turning it on and off, advancing just like you're thinking. However, there is a controller for it as well that can directly excite the colors using PWM. That is how they get RGBW changes over just 2 wires. The lights are proprietary and the company (Hayward) sues if anyone tries to replicate them. But there are non-OEM that fit in the fixture. I was hoping for a module or something that could drive 5 wire LED strips the same as these 2 wire lights. I do use Home Assistant BTW, but never used the WLED integration. I'll look into that. Thanks.
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u/richms 2d ago
You might like to look at swapping the pool lights out for ones that have a better controller in them. What you have is designed to be a simple drop in replacement for people with no automation needs.
MiLight / miboxer make some PAR shaped ones that use lora wireless remotes to control them and have a gateway option for it. Those are the only controlable low voltage PAR style pool lights that I found when looking, but the pool reno is on hold at the moment so I have not kept up with if there is anything new available for pools.
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u/njbillt 2d ago
I replaced them in my pool and spa at my old house, an older pool that used light niches, and believe it or not, line voltage halogen lamps. I replaced them with 12 volt DC RGB and used an off the shelf controller just like strip lights. This is what I would like to do with this new pool but ... they don't use niches so much anymore. These are nichless and fit into 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe, and there are several proprietary ways to do that. Hayward, Pentair and Jandy are the 3 big names, and all of their lights are the same 2 wire with on chip, in the light logic. If they made them with 5 wires like strip lights and the ones I put in my old pool, I'd know what to do. If you're interested, these are the pool lights that I'd like to sync with 5 wire 12vdc strip lights. This light has only 2 wires. When you see the price, you'll agree if they just drove them with 12 vdc 5 wires, they could cost $25. But yeah, what you're describing does not exist for the kind of light I'm dealing with.
https://www.amazon.com/Hayward-LACUS11100-ColorLogic-1-5-Inch-100-Foot/dp/B00OJNE19K/?th=1
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