Hi All, I’m a total newbie electronics guy. Please excuse this silly and hopefully simple question.
I have an Arduino Uno, 5v power supply, and a strip of WS2812B individually addressable LEDS. It says in the tutorial (https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/how-to-control-ws2812b-individually-addressable-leds-using-arduino/) : “…it is recommended to use a resistor of around 330 Ohms between the Arduino and the LED strip data pin in order to reduce the noise on that line, as well as a capacitor of around 100uF across the 5V and Ground to smooth out the power supply.”
Resistors come in Ohms and Watts. So I need a 330 ohm resistor, but which Wattage?
Capacitors come in uF and Voltage. So I need >100uF, but which Voltage?
The resistor in this case is only in the data line to protect the output port of the microprocessor. The current passed will be very small so any power resistor from 1/4 W or even lower will suffice.
The capacitor across the power line is a typical precaution used to smooth out any power spikes caused by loads rapidly turning on and off (i.e. LEDs). The voltage rating of the capacitor should exceed the maximum voltage it might encounter but there’s no advantage in vastly exceeding it. In this case a capacitor rated anywhere between 6.3 volts and 25 volts will be ideal. 16 volts is common value (good for 12v circuit use as well).