Mega Tree - Power Supply Sanity Check

C

Chrisekert

New elf
Joined
Dec 27, 2020
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43
Hi Team- Just finished pushing pixels for new tree - 24 Strings of 50 12 V Pixels ( 2 strings per port on falcon). Currently building Falcon box with Meanwell RSP 500W Power supply. Curious if anyone else has similar size tree on 1 power supply? I have run the numbers on Mega Tree Calculator and says it makes the numbers. Thanks

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tree details.JPG
 
Seems to add up to me. You may find 30% to be bright enough at night due to how dense pixels are in a mega tree, too bright and it gets hard to look at.
I don't know if the Falcon controllers have dual power inputs to split up the load across 2 banks, an option could be to run 2 500W units in the event that it runs at 100% due to bad data or a faulty pixel etc.
 
Hi - Thanks for reply - Yep we were considering 30% and its only few meters to the road. Was trying to avoid running 2 500W's but if we have to we will.
 
Chrisekert said:
Hi - Thanks for reply - Yep we were considering 30% and its only few meters to the road. Was trying to avoid running 2 500W's but if we have to we will.
Click to expand...
You will get away without two, it was for a worst case scenario get out of jail free card, in the event a pixel failed and data corrupted (has happened to me, 1/3 of the tree went full brightness). The worst that will happen is the power supply will shut down on over-power and possibly power cycle until the load is removed, or the pixels drop in brightness.
 
24 strings of 50 is 1200 pixels. 1200 pixels at 55mA each is 66A. 66A at 12V is 792W. At 40% brightness you will have a maximum load of about 320W.
Regardless of whether you plan on running at 100% or 25% the power supply/s and cabling should be rated to a 100% load.
I personally would run it off 2 500W supplies or at least 2 400W power supplies knowing that you wouldn't be running at 100% white in all likelihood.
As far as running 1200 pixels off 1 power supply it's actually very comfortable to do with a 5V 400W 80A power supply. You can go out to 1400 5V pixels off 1 of them easily. I have 1200 on my current tree off 1.
 
Thanks All - have ordered another power supply, at least if I have a PS fail this year can always drop back to 1 to get out of trouble.
 
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