Power from controller and injection. Which way is right?

Dez

Fueled by Christmas - Inspired by You!
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Dec 16, 2014
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Hi gang,
In my controll box I will have some 200 watt power supplies that will power my falcon f16 v3. From here I plan on running a data and ground cable ONLY from here to my pixels.

I will then use a seperate power supply to power inject my pixels. My question is, the data and ground cable at my pixels will be taken up by the cable from the controller. For power injection I will only have the V+ wire available. What do I do with the ground or V- wire from my power injection cable? Am I missing something?
 

happenstance

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Aug 31, 2020
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Leura
Hi Dez. I've been trying to get my head sorted on the issue of power injection too. I'm only a novice, so verify anything you think you've learned from me, but I understand that you need to connect the V- wire from your power injection run to the V- wire from your controller. May I recommend this excellent video on the topic:
View: https://youtu.be/Jgjdz0Nbswk
.
 

Dez

Fueled by Christmas - Inspired by You!
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Dec 16, 2014
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Yes you are 100% correct. I think I had a blonde moment. Can anyone else advise if you would do this differently?
 

JohnsRdChristmas

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Dec 12, 2016
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why not just use a expansion board and receivers,

I have a f16 which i use the 16 ports locally, (for running things on the house, eg rooflines, windows, etc)
And i have 1 expansion which gives me an additional 16 ports (4 smart receivers, 4 ports each)

(f16 supports upto 2 expansions, allowing upto 48 ports (more if you daisy chain smart receivers, but your not adding you will be splitting)

This allows me to create sub boxes to place around closer to props,
The smart receivers are also a benifit, as it isolates props into a group, which means i dont have to worry about crossing over power etc, you can run different voltages if you wish, and the smart receivers have a test function which will light up everything connected without main f16 connected, which is handy to test the group of props on setup day)

Makes the setup alot more modular,

(but with everything there is a trade off)
 

lithgowlights

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May 6, 2010
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I agree with Cathelest, and use both dumb and smart receivers for just this reason. While you can power inject with a remote PSU, I'd really tell people that you should not do this unless you have a bit of experience with both electricity and lights in general. Understanding how power flows in a strip of lights would be a good start and there are excellent youtube videos put out by the lighting community members that will help you with this, as will 10 minutes in Zoom
 

JohnsRdChristmas

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Dec 12, 2016
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Really depends on your particular setup, and what you want to run

The idea for me is to seperate things into groups,

I still power inject where needbe,
My f16 box has 16 ports, and i have 8 power injection outputs aswell,
The receiver boxes, have the outputs plus some injection outputs aswell,


Basically, i use the rule of thumb that 100 12v nodes at 100% brightness is 6amps, and build my boxes to have enough overhead in case you accidently do run at 100% due to a bad config etc)

I only run at 30% like i beleive most do, its plenty bright, and that is 1.8amps 30%,

If i run 130< nodes off a port, i wouldnt power inject,
If i run 200 nodes off a port, i would power inject at the 200 mark (end)
I am about to do a 370 node sleigh, and will use 1 port, and will inject at start, middle (200) and end (370)
 
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