LED reels- found stores- are these ok?

Kris, I missed the point of Stan's post (obviously), but I'm good to go for adapters.

I wonder if this guy is a buddy of the first guy selling 3 of these for 81 cents, Including shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3Pcs-U...;hash=item259b2f963e

They raised the price to $12.88 from $2.88.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3528-5...;hash=item27f825802d

for $2.88, the LED's are worth the price.  You can get a new power supply cheap enough.  Glad I ordered 5 before the price increase.

Doubtless they noticed they forgot the "1" in the price.  I have a couple of them coming at $2.88, I wonder if they'll actually send them?

Edit:

Looks like they might, here's what I see in my account...

Did anyone get all white lights or did we all get multicolored?

I emailed them about my multicolored verse warm white and below is the responses. For the few bucks involved I gave up.

Dear Customer,

Thanks for contacting with us.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
But the supplier told us that the item is correct.

Please do not hesitate to contact again if need any help.

Best Regards,

I responded with:

How can the supplier tell you it is correct when I have multicolored lights and your eBay auction states warm white?

They responded with:

We are sorry to hear that.
We also think that it is wrong.
For your case, we could issue you $4 refund for compensation.

Would you please kindly leave us positive feedback with 5 scores of detailed seller ratings after refund?
We are looking forward to your reply.

I said:

Refund not necessary. I ordered more. I want white with two leads. Please be sure I get white. I ordered from you other stuff to make the rgb work. I can use these  but I need white.

they said, Dear Customer,

Thanks for contacting with us.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
You couldn't get that.
We had checked the item from the supplier.
Sorry again.

I'd have taken the refund and ordered from another supplier.

moed321, I went through ebay.  The seller offered a $3 refund which I accepted, and retain the two reels they'd sent.  The multi-color will probably see duty at Christmas.

The beauty of the Multi-colors is that you can get white from them.  There is a white button on the controller.

They are interesting to use as layout lighting because you can change to evening colors before going to night.  There is also a fade button on the controller.

As this is a discussion forum, please note that there are (at least) 3 different types of RGB "multi-color" LED strips.  The eBay listings can be confusing since from what I can tell the sellers themselves don't know what they are selling! 

Type 1.  Individual Red, Green, Blue LEDs.  There is a Red (only) LED, next to it a Green (only) LED, next to it a Blue (only) LED, and the pattern repeats.  So if generating Red light, only the Red LEDs are turned on and Green and Blue LEDs are off.  Look carefully at the following listing photo.  You CAN'T generate white or warm white from these multi-color strips.  Well, I suppose, from a far enough distance the color might appear white if you turn on the right blend of Red, Green, and Blue but the distance wouldn't be practical for passenger cars.  Note that you need a 4-wire controller to supply a common, plus individual power for Red, Green, and Blue.

Type 2.  True RGB LEDs.  In other words, each individual LED has the ability to generate Red, Green, and Blue.  This means you can generate white or warm white.  And if you were to generate Red only, all the LEDs would turn on rather than every third LED in the Type 1 multi-color strips above.  Look closely at the following listing photo to see this. Note that again need a 4-wire controller to supply a common, plus individual power for Red, Green, and Blue.

Type 3.  True RGB LEDs with individual addressability.  These are like the Type 2 strips but have the somewhat remarkable ability to individually set the color on each LED on the strip.  Each LED has a built-in digital chip which decodes a command signal that runs down the strip.  So you can make one LED warm-white, the one next to it cool-white, the one next to that turned off, the one next to that purple, etc.  If you look carefully at the listing photo below you'll see there are only 3-wires running down the strip!  2 wires are power + and -.  The 3rd wire carries the complex digital command signal.  If you've made it to this point, Type 2 vs. Type 3 is sort of like conventional vs. command control in our trains.  In conventional, all engines on the track respond together.  In command, you can individually address each engine on the track.

So hopefully you get the "multi-color" LED strips that do what you expect...and a suitable controller that generates the correct signals to drive them.  Life was easier when you only had to choose warm-white or cool-white

THANK YOU, Stan2004!!!

As I earlier posted, I received the RGB instead of the warm-white ordered.  And have since ordered the RGB with the remote, etc.  I'll report back on whatever version I have--it'll be a surprise to see which version I have since the sellers may not know what they're selling. 

Excellent points Stan, thanks for showing the differences.  I didn't know about the fancy ones with individual addressability, those are pretty cool!

True, but the project in question is lights passenger cars and items that only require white.

Are there some key words or notations that can be used to know the difference? I used RGB just because I saw a R G and B letter code on the light strip. I saw different ones form this seller and I bought 2 more, both different, I wanted to see if I could tell the difference.

Individually addressable seems to be the phrase they use for those.

I

got mine in today's mail. Now just have to get started installing them in my Lionel Pullman cars.

Nice catch on the price increase!

China Post has my order for the RGB package deal (reel, remote, controller) @$2.88.

Don't know what type of RGB reels I already have which were shipped instead of the two warm white 3528 reels I ordered.

Carl, FWIW, I got the same RGB reels for my last order, apparently those idiots didn't know what they were selling and that ad shipped everyone the same incorrect reels.

I complained, I'll see what response I get.  Sending them back is really a non-starter, sending 9 reels back to China would cost me more than I'd get back!

John, as I posted earlier I went through Ebay about the wrong items being shipped.  The seller replied he would refund $3 would if I leave + feedback.  I replied I would provided I'd keep the 2 RGB reels he sent me.  Haven't heard back--it's been a couple of days. 

Can you use 9 RGB reels?

I'll bet you got the same thing I got.  These are the "cheap" ones that have three colors of LED's in sequence, each group is 9 LED's and three resistors.  No intelligence, and they can't produce white.

Think how pretty they'll look come Christmas.

Milwrd

Think how bad a review I'm going to give that company.

How many reels did you buy for that $3 refund?  That won't do it for me!  If I get more than $15 back, I'll keep them and see if I find a use for them.  I suspect someone will like them, perhaps to set the mood for a nighttime scene on a layout.

I bought 2 reels; then, I bought the package that included the RGB reel, controller, and module.  Probably can find a use for them at Christmas.  Haven't seen the $3.00 refund, yet.

I'll see what they say, I was just trying to buy plain warm white LED strips, now I'm hustling to buy some from other sources!

Same here I got the two reels of RGB reels instead of warm white. This was the back plan for less than $3.00 each what could possibly go wrong? Whoops! Look honey our new Christmas lights have arrived. Now can someone direct me to the powers source and control for these things. I will just use them for Christmas lights around the bay window.

They just take 12V positive on the white lead, then you connect the negative side to one or all of the three colored leads to energize that color.  If you turn them all on, it requires 2 amps, same as a 300 LED white strip.  There's 100 of each color LED on the strip.

You could be the first with a Disco Train.

Dear Milwrd

Now that a phrase I have not heard in a long time. I might be a little off center and a New Yorker (Brooklyn actually) but I still am a traditionalist when it comes to lighting my passenger cars. Warm White Led for the older passenger cars and for the modern subway and passenger cars Cool White Led.

Just got a reply from the vendor, they offered $4 refund.   I turned them down, what a joke! 

Ridiculous offer, John.  Hope you can get some help from Ebay.

If you need the 3528 warm white strips, maybe these will work for you.

That's an auction, so the end price is unknown.  Besides, I need more.   I just bought 10 rolls for $4.19, not as good as other prices, but not too bad.

That's a different vender, so you are probably OK.

The story is completed.  I don't know what I'm doing with the nine reels of RGB LED's, but I submitted a complaint to eBay and explained that the $4 rebate on a $29 incorrect order was an insult.  I also mentioned that I'd be glad to return them if I could ship them for less than the entire order cost!  China gets a great deal on shipping, however price sending something that weighs over a pound to China and you'll swallow your back teeth!

I got a reply within a few hours, I got a rebate of the entire purchase price.

Great news, John.

Edit:  Since I hadn't heard from the seller since accepting his proposed resolution on 3/4/15, I opened a case with Ebay.

I was a bit surprised, I figured I'd be happy getting around $15 back.

eBay is very buyer-centric, so anytime I feel the seller is giving me the shaft, I refer it to them.  It actually doesn't happen very often, I have pretty good luck with 98-99% of purchases.  Usually, if there's a problem, the seller is eager to solve it, don't know what this guy's problem is.  I can only guess that they had a lot of orders for those and we looking at significant losses if they did a 100% refund for all of them.

He's the same guy that I ordered the $2.88 strips with the full controller from, can't wait to see what I get in that package.

John, I thought I had resolved the problem on March 4th, but then I didn't hear from him and took it up with Ebay.  Like you, I received a full refund on the two reels I had ordered.

As for ordering the RGB's with the controller, etc. for $2.88 which later changed to $12.88, post-order, time will tell.  The items are in the hands of China Post so we'll know in 7-10 days.