Most individually addressable RGB and RGBW LED strips operate on 5V DC electrical power. However, there'are products that work at 12V or 24V DC.Higher voltage power supplies are required when there's a need to drive higher voltage LEDs (e.g. the 12V ws2815 RGB or RGBW LEDs), to operate strips with LED strip light having multiple LEDs connected in series, or to ensure consistent brightness and color on long run lengths.

There is a huge range of options out there for the integrated addresable LED include WS2812B, WS2813, WS2815, SK6812, SK5812, SK6813, SK9822, APA102, APA102C, GS8208, GS8512,HD107s,etc. Among these options WS2812B, SK6812, APA102C and SK9822 are the most widely used for the individually addressable LED strips. Other than the standard RGB version, the SK6812 addressable LEDs also have a RGBW version from 30 - 144 pixels density. From the individually addressable RGB/RGBW led tapes, you can see the surface is simple.

SK6812, WS2812B are a programmable constant current RGB controller that is integrated in an SMD 5050 package. This IC uses an NZR data transfer protocol via a specialized one-wire control interface and thus requires very precise timing of data signals. WS2813 , WS2815 and GS8208 embrace a dual signal wire design that allows signal break-point continuous transmission.

In contrast to the WS2812B and SK6812 control ICs that use a one-wire protocol, the APA102C uses a standard SPI for control with separate data and CLOCK signals. Operating over a generic 2-wire SPI bus allows the color and brightness of each LED channel to be controlled independently. With CLOCK LEDs also have much higher PWM refresh rates than the WS2812B and SK6812 LEDs, which make them less prone to flickering when recorded with an HD video camera and lend them to applications like POV displays.

Except the smart integrated RGB or RGBW leds to make the individually addressable led strips, external IC is another design. Normally is one pcs IC chip to control one LED. You just need to be sure that every channel of IC chip to control each color of LED.

Surely, it's OK.

This kind of led strips is very flexible and can be cut to any length you want. As you can see, the strip is divided into 1led per segment. You can adjust its size by cutting the strip with scissors in the right place (the proper places to cut the strip are marked).

5050 led only refers to the dimension of the LED. We can't know whether it's individually addressable or not by it.

For the 5050 SMD LEDs built-in WS2812B IC for the individually addressable, low power consumption, better heat dissipation, and better light efficiency. With the one LED one-circuit design, every LED can be cut and re-connectable. The mini-cutting length is 1.6cm.

For standard 5050 led with rgb or single white color, without built-in IC, they are not addressable.

1. Addressable strips typically have a three-wire cable, while non-addressable RGB LED strip is 4 wire cable

2. Chen whether the led strip is 1led per cut

3. Check whether there is 1 external IC per group; if not, then check whether there is built-in IC inside the LED.

4. Finally, check the controller to see if it has any programming options. Most addressable controllers will allow you to change the color or pattern of the lights, while non-addressable controllers will not.

One important factor you'll want to consider when choosing addressable LED strips is the type of LED IC that is used. The most common type is the WS2812B, which features 5050 SMD LEDs that are addressable. This means that each individual LED can be controlled, making it easy to create sophisticated lighting effects.

Compared to RGB strip lights, the RGBIC strip lights have an added color chasing mode, and with a unique built-in IC chip, the RGBIC strip lights are able to display multi-colors at one time like a rainbow or aurora. But RGBIC lights cannot be cut.

1. Control rgbic led strips through phone

If you choose a wifi controller like SP108E, then you can simply control the rgbic led strip through the phone. 

2. Control rgbic led strips through remote

For home DIY applications, it’s more cost-effective to choose a sample controller, and control the rgbic led strip light through a remote. Though the controller is simple and small in size, it’s powerful and you can get always get the light effect you need through this cheap device. 

3. Control rgbic led strips through SD card

For a project, the customers are more likely to choose a controller with an sd card, like K-1000C or K-8000C.The mode of rgbic led strip light is in the sd card, you can just change the mode by pressing the button.What’s more, this type of controller is more stable and allow you to connect more led strip compared to those wifi controllers or simple controllers. 

4.  Control rgbic led strips through computer

For high-end projects, customers hope to control all the rgbic led strip in their system. In this way, we need a more complicated controller system to reach this requirement. Please check the connection as below:

1. clear the place where you want to install the led strip

2. Peel off the 3M tape on the back of the rgbic led strip

3. Stock the led strip in the place you need

4. If it’s IP66 or IP68 waterproof version, then add clips and fix it with screws