2 min readBy Artcolor
White on paper, pink on the façade. RGB, RGBW or RGB+CCT?
An RGB strip can mix something close to white, but rarely the white you specified. When to choose RGB, RGBW or RGB+CCT, and why channel count changes the whole system.
A boutique wants colour scenes for events and a clean white for every other night. The façade outline goes in as RGB, so "white" is red, green and blue mixed together. Up close it looks lavender or slightly green, and next to the warm white of the shop windows the difference is hard to miss.
Why RGB white looks wrong
An RGB strip makes white by running its red, green and blue channels together. To the eye that can read as white from a distance, but:
- It is rarely a clean white. The mix often leans pink, lavender or green, depending on the LEDs and the settings.
- It is hard to match. Getting a mixed white to sit next to a dedicated warm white, in the windows or the interior, is difficult.
- Colour rendering suffers. Three narrow colours mixed together don't render materials the way a white LED does. Stone, fabric and skin can look flat or odd.
RGB is excellent for colour. It's simply not built to be the main white light.
RGB, RGBW or RGB+CCT
As our technology page puts it: use RGB for colour effects, a dedicated white channel for white light, or two white channels for CCT adjustment.
| Configuration | Channels | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| RGB | 3 | Colour effects only |
| RGBW | 4 | Colour effects plus one fixed white |
| RGB+CCT | 5 | Colour effects plus an adjustable white (warm to cool) |
- RGB suits façades, signs and features that only ever show colour.
- RGBW adds a real white LED, so the everyday white is a proper white with its own CCT.
- RGB+CCT adds two whites, so the white can move between warm and cool as well.
Channel count changes the system
More channels is not only a different strip. Channel count determines the circuit, cable and controller specification. A five-channel RGB+CCT run needs more conductors, a controller with enough channels and the right driver capacity. Decide the configuration early, before cable routes and controllers are fixed.
What helps
- Decide early whether the white is a working white or only an effect. If people will see the space in white most of the time, the white needs its own channel.
- For real white light, specify RGBW, or RGB+CCT if the white needs to change.
- Size the controller, cable and drivers for the channel count, not just for the strip.
- Approve the white next to the other light sources it will be seen with: windows, interiors, signage.
If you're planning a façade or feature that needs both colour and white, tell us the scenes and we'll suggest a configuration and a matching controller.
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