Hand-wiring with LEDs and effects

Hi, I’m David - I’m new here but it looks like a friendly space. Hope this is posted in the correct place… I’ve a question about hand-wiring…

So I’ve made a little macro-pad with a teensy and QMK - no PCB, just hand-wired switches. For my next project I’d like to hand-wire a custom 30%, but this time I want to add back-lighting. I’ve read around but I don’t get the basic ideas.

Can QMK control on/off and brightness with switches, diodes and teensy/pro-micro alone, or do I need an LED controller as well?

I’m looking at these switches - could I just pop in LEDs and wire everything up?

If I wanted to go 110% with rgb and those ripple effects, would that need an additional controller?

Thanks for any help.

Those switches support the through holes for LEDs but seems like it could get hairy quick for hand-wired?

I haven’t looked deeply - but depending on the effects you might want - I think you’d need to wire in a mosfet chip for current control? (Newb myself, so hopefully you get a more definitive response as well) - regardless - Welcome!

Thanks @dwrowe, I guess at this point people use PCBs but I’ve got zero experience making those, so that’s a project for the future. You mention mosfet chips and I remember VInnyCordeiro talked about those in this thread on in-switch LEDs, so you’ve confirmed that’s the direction for me to go, thanks a lot.

In case it helps anyone else I’ve just found this article on using LED strips for back-lighting.

Thanks a lot for your help, it’s much appreciated.