Drive apparatus for at least one triad of first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70), comprising: a controller for supplying power to the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) over a pair of conductors (16a,16b), said controller including a power supply, a processor responsive to inputs (22, 24) indicative of desired hue and intensity, and a switching circuit activated by the processor to encode data corresponding to the desired hue and intensity on a voltage output VPOS, VNEG) of the power supply; and decoding circuitry co-packaged with each triad of first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) and coupled to the data-encoded voltage output (VPOS, VNEG) of the switching circuit for decoding the data encoded by the processor and the switching circuit, and producing separate drive signals for the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) to produce light of the desired hue and intensity; wherein the switching circuit is a switching circuit that encodes the data corresponding to the desired hue and intensity as a periodic sequence of voltage pulses (60, 62, 64); the periodic sequence of voltage pulses include first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62, 64) corresponding to desired activation intervals of the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70), respectively; one of the first, second and third voltage pulses has a polarity that is negative with respect to the other of the first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62); two of the first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62) are of the same polarity and occur in succession with an intervening dead time; and the decoding circuitry includes a bistable switch for distinguishing between said two voltage pulses (60, 62) and producing drive signals for the respective LEDs (66, 68). a controller for supplying power to the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) over a pair of conductors (16a,16b), said controller including a power supply, a processor responsive to inputs (22, 24) indicative of desired hue and intensity, and a switching circuit activated by the processor to encode data corresponding to the desired hue and intensity on a voltage output VPOS, VNEG) of the power supply; and decoding circuitry co-packaged with each triad of first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) and coupled to the data-encoded voltage output (VPOS, VNEG) of the switching circuit for decoding the data encoded by the processor and the switching circuit, and producing separate drive signals for the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70) to produce light of the desired hue and intensity; wherein the switching circuit is a switching circuit that encodes the data corresponding to the desired hue and intensity as a periodic sequence of voltage pulses (60, 62, 64); the periodic sequence of voltage pulses include first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62, 64) corresponding to desired activation intervals of the first, second and third LEDs (66, 68, 70), respectively; one of the first, second and third voltage pulses has a polarity that is negative with respect to the other of the first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62); two of the first, second and third voltage pulses (60, 62) are of the same polarity and occur in succession with an intervening dead time; and the decoding circuitry includes a bistable switch for distinguishing between said two voltage pulses (60, 62) and producing drive signals for the respective LEDs (66, 68).