01-12-2020, 09:41 PM
(01-12-2020, 09:25 PM)miamivice Wrote: So, i have most of my lights working now
i have a ethernet pixel controller running 2 led strips (160), 2 seperate Ws2811 50 pixel strings and a ws2811 100 pixel string.
I have a 5v 20a power supply.
(i also have a 5v 60a spare power supply)
all the lights "flash" like i want them to, and I know how to adjust the colours etc.
However as the title says, i think i need to inject some power.
My LED strips should be all white at times, but range from white to red at the furthest point. My pixels perform similar with a lot of red instead of white at times.
i believe this is due to power drop.
So i don't screw it all up now, can someone just clarify how to "inject power"
It is my belief that i add +ve and -ve to the other end of the strings by connecting the red and black (or white on one string) to my spare power supply.
My LED strips are sealed at the ends so cannot add to them, but hoping that by adding power to everything else they sort themselves out!
Am i correct?
Would it be better to connect my 60A supply to the board (it doesn't seem to make much difference) and inject my 20A. I don't know. This is the bit that confuses me.
Or i may be completely wrong and need to do it some other way?
any help appreciated!
What I've done is leave the +ve disconnected at the pixel controller (Just connect -ve and data), and then connect the +ve and -ve either end of the string.
I've got a 230-pixel string (4x50 & 30, and have injected power in 4 places which seems to work just fine (all white pulls most power) .
For this I used 1mm 2-core flex which doesn't suffer from much voltage drop (furthest injection point is about 15m from PSU. Tried with thinner cable and the voltage drop was very apparent.
50-pixel string is powered from controller (again with 1mm flex), and also a 256-pixel matrix and 100-pixel string from the PSU.
Main points I found are 1) Don't connect +ve from different power supplies, 2) Use a thick cable to avoid voltage drop. 3) General rule for 5v strings is inject every 50 pixels
Pixel controller is run off 10a laptop power supply, and all pixels from a 5v 30a psu. I've added in a 3amp fuse for each set i'm injecting too.