A while back, a big box store had a really nice looking neon-style LED strip that was rated for outdoor usage, with a tiny controller and remote control. I didn't like the IR control much, but for the sale price at the time ($15, iirc), it seemed like a great deal to grab two reels and link them into a continuous strip. Here's the link to the strip, if the archive link is still alive.
After fussing with the controller, I decided to tear it down and see how it worked, the build a new smart controller for it.
The original controller was very simple:
[
{"src":"https://u.seanj.dev/ShareX/2023/11/NFbePt0zez.jpg",
"alt":"board top"
},
{"src":"https://u.seanj.dev/ShareX/2023/11/hlgqGx3ZOU.png",
"alt":"board bottom"
}
]
The top side had nothing more than a momentary button and IR transceiver. The bottom was a little busier, but not by much. The primary chip-of-interest, the 8-legged bugger toward the LED (3-pin) side of the chip, was unmarked with no other identifying characteristics, so I was blind in trying to figure out what sort of control scheme was needed for the LED segments.