Need recommendation for lighting project....

[FatalXception]

I have an ancient house that has three floors. I am looking to put movie theater style lights down the stairs and am planning to have a centrally located pi to turn them on and off. Can anyone recommend some sort of LED strips that can survive things like being stepped on or spilled on that would work in this scenario? I’m just beginning to look so I don’t yet know what is available or if there is a better approach.

[wh7qq]

There is a ton of LED strips out there on the market, of all colors and multi-colors. Even Walmart.com has lots of inexpensive strips and some are waterproof. As for "step-proof', that is a vague term. I would be inclined to try to keep the strips out of harms way but the devices themselves are rugged. As you know. LEDs consume current so you need an appropriate power supply and at the relatively low voltages that LEDs use, wires need to be thick to avoid IR drop that dims the brightness. Consideration has to be given to distance from the power source to the LED strip and the number of LEDs per strip. Adafruit.com has some interesting tutorials on using these but their stuff tends to be pricey.

You will just have to do your research on the LED strip you choose, how you intend to break it into segments and power it. There are threads on this forum and lots of other tutorials online. Study up on the strip you want to use, how you intend to power it and how you intend to lay it out...location, etc. The variables are many and only you know the layout you ultimately will need.

While the RPi can provide the control element, you will have to use interfacing power electronics as the current available from a single gpio pin is very limited to +/-16 ma...enough to drive a single LED but not a strip.