Looking for recommendations: Driving Pixels via WiFi and in-wall enclosure

[szaske]

I've got an old grill for a 1950 Chevy Deluxe mounted as an art piece on my wall and I'd like to backlight it with pixels. It would require 3 strips of pixels, two 58 inches long strips and one shorter strip 38 inches long. I'd also like to mount pixels in the Parking lens to light those up too, so that would be I suppose just a string of 2 pixels, but bullet shaped.  I'm assuming I can drive all these LEDs with a Falcon PiCap controller.  Now for my questions for all you good people;

1. Can anyone recommend a good in-wall enclosure box to house all the gear needed to drive this?  I assume I'd use a thin 5v power supply about 350 watts  (I have a few lying around), a Raspberry Pi and This PiCap. I'm thinking of using this enclosure.
2. I want to need to access this via WiFi since I won't have access to an ethernet cable. Can I control the lights on a PiCap using WiFi from xLights?  I saw , but I'm hoping there's an easier way since it's a cap I'd prefer to not have a short Ethernet cable between the PiCap and Pi
3. Can someone suggest how they would wire these 3 strings in series so that I can inject power on both ends of the run? I'm hoping some smart people out there has a nice clean solution. I'm assuming I can power both sides of the run from the same port on the PiCap.

[MikeKrebs]

A PiCap literally sits on top of a Pi and connects via the GPIO pins so no cable.

You can control FPP from xlights or it can be standalone.

You can do it wirelessly.

The "enclosure" link is broken for me but it took me to an url for ESPixelStick controller. This would be an alternate way to control your lights using an ESPixelStick and no Pi would be needed.

Most PiCaps (including the Falcon) are two outputs only (although newer ones can do a lot more) so if you have 3 strings at least two of them will be daisy chained somehow. But with about 4 meters of strip even at 60 pixels per meter (and I don't think you need that for your chosen project), it would only be 240 pixels which you can easily push down one output. You would be daisy chaining all the strips but that could be easily down with a soldering iron and some short pieces of wire.

I think I would try to get away with injecting power at each strip. That should be more than enough if you power front and back of each strip. Since it indoors, use some JST pigtails https://www.amazon.com/BTF-LIGHTING-Connectors-WS2812B-WS2811-WS2812/dp/B01DC0KIT2/ or some connectors like these
https://www.amazon.com/Connector-Solderless-Extension-Adapter-Connectors/dp/B08VRGRYM9/ to join and inject power. There are different versions of these things you could use to make your joins and injections points.

[jnealand]

I run 300 pixels on an indoor christmas tree using PiZeroW with a jboards Cap on the top of it.  I fits inside a CG-500 case and I have an 8w Alitove power supply from Amazon running them.  I then set up some simple sequences for the tree that makes SWMBO happy and used the big buttons app to make it easy for her to control the lights from her phone.  With FPP the lights are scheduled to be on from 7a til 11p.  We switch the power on/off using an Alexa controlled plug.  In the morning we just say "Alexa Christmas Tree on".  The Pi boots up, looks at the schedule and turns on to the last activated sequence.  Very simple and easy.  In reality there is only sequence that ever seems to be played and that is a simple butterfly with a bunch of sparkles, but it is Christmas tree so your mileage may vary.

[CeP]

I've used these in wall enclosures for various projects.
The plastic 8x10 tv box gives plenty of room for your led driver and controller.
If you want something smaller, look at the indoor INBOX. Page 19 of their catalog.
Both of these come with an optional cover which can be painted to match your wall color.
This company makes some great products.

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