RGBW vs Tunable White LED

[sionxct]

I'm looking for tunable white LED lighting. Does RGBW reproduce a quality warm to cool whites, like a tunable white would? If good quality RGBW LED are used, would they work as well (or better) then tunable white LEDs?

 

[LarrylLix]

If you are referring to the 5050 style LED strips (5m) then you have to specify RGBWW or RGBCW.

Trouble is, many controllers cannot turn on the white LEDs and thr RGB LEDs at the same time.

The MILight/LimitlessLED controllers cannot produce pastels.
The square and UFO LEDenet controllers can enable white and RGB simultaneously.

 

[sionxct]

The tunable white LEDs I've seen typically have CW and WW LEDs, the output of which are blended by the controller to create the desired CCT. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm planning to use a DMX decoder that outputs PWM DC voltage to each color LED.
 
At first blush, its seems, at least in theory, that if RGB light is combined it ought to be white and a slight adjustment towards blue or red would give you a cooler or warmer white. Since RGBW, RGBCW and RGBWW exist, then the theory most not be correct. I'm assuming therefore, that the RGB of a RGBW led does not allow the output of a range of white color (i.e. 2500k to 6000k). Further, its seems to me that an RGBW led (that can mix all 4 LEDs) would create more pastel colors that true whites when any RGB color is added. Is this a correct assumption?
 
Since the OP, I found an article that I think explains why RGBW doesn't output a range of whites:
ttp://lightingcontrolsassociation.org/lca/topics/color-control/

the area of the color space defining white light is not linear, so moving from one color temperature to another is not as straight forward as you’d think. The so-called Black Body Locus (BBL) where color temperatures are defined is a curve, and the curve gets steeper toward warmer colors (moving downwards as you move warmer). When on the Black Body Locus, the tint is neutral, and this is the target of mostly all lighting manufacturers right now for their regular static white luminaires. Once you move off the BBL, the tint will be green if above, and pink if below.

 

[LarrylLix]

The tunable white LEDs I've seen typically have CW and WW LEDs, the output of which are blended by the controller to create the desired CCT. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm planning to use a DMX decoder that outputs PWM DC voltage to each color LED.
 
At first blush, its seems, at least in theory, that if RGB light is combined it ought to be white and a slight adjustment towards blue or red would give you a cooler or warmer white. Since RGBW, RGBCW and RGBWW exist, then the theory most not be correct. I'm assuming therefore, that the RGB of a RGBW led does not allow the output of a range of white color (i.e. 2500k to 6000k). Further, its seems to me that an RGBW led (that can mix all 4 LEDs) would create more pastel colors that true whites when any RGB color is added. Is this a correct assumption?
 
Since the OP, I found an article that I think explains why RGBW doesn't output a range of whites:
ttp://lightingcontrolsassociation.org/lca/topics/color-control/

No. Read my post before. The LEDs could do it but many RGBW controllers can't.

Hue bulbs use three LEDs of which none are white and as a result cannot produce any green or a real blue either.
Phillips Blloms solved this by going to four LEDs. I am not sure which colours they chose.