They are cut in 2 and wound in 6 spirals around a cylinder I made out of springy aluminum sheet. The cylinder has the same area as the strings 2.75 in dia x 10 in high and is inside a old 6" acrylic cylinder with a diffuser sheet between.
They use together about 2.4 amps at 12V at full brightness. Power is from a 12V 3A brick.
The cylinder acts as a heatsink and a chimney, being open at both ends. It can get quite warm.
The driver module is seperated by about 3 feet. It is based on a heatsink. I have lots of heatsinks, savaged from old monitors and TVs. There is little heat since control is PWM. The size of the chosen one is the smallest to have room for the 3 TO-220 driver MOSFETs and the 5V regulator for the electronics.
These are connected by a small board to a barrier strip.
The processor is inside a plastic box sized to match the heatsink and its board. It is pretty empty.
The temperature sensor probe and the receiver are on pigtails.
