Can someone please check to see if I have set this up correctly.

wce06

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The main question is do I have enough power injection, I figured the 15m length in strip can be power injected from both ends, resulting in 7.5m of length until it gets a power boost.


Also can I use the bottom PS to feed two rows?


So far this website has been brilliant, especially for someone new into the game.


Thanks in advance,


WCE06
 

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Fing

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hi Wc
no that won't work. each power supply +ve can only connect to it's own lights.


disconnect the +ve and -ve from the controller out put and move them to the power supply. leave the data connected.


the -ve of each power supply has to be "tied" to each other. this can be at the power supplies or at the strip but generally not both.


can you give me some more detail please, ie volyage, size of PSU, number and length of strip.


Alos if you redraw your diagram with some labels on your PSU's and strip it will be easier for me to explain.


Cheers
Fing
 

wce06

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Thanks for the reply Fing,


I have included a new layout with the PSU's connected by the GND ( i think that is what you meant).


I have left off the other red and black wires because I am not 100% sure what you mean. Do I need a red wire going to each of the 5m lengths? If I connect the 5m Strips so they make 15m can I not just have a Red wire at each end?


Just when I thought I had my head around it....LOL


Thanks again for the help.
 

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i13

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The biggest problem in the first picture that you posted is that the positive outputs of the power supplies are connected together through the strips. You need to cut the positive line half way between each power supply and unfortunately that means cutting it in the middle of a length of strip.

Your negative power supply outputs are already connected through the strips so you don't need to connect them at the power supplies as in your second image.

I also agree that it would be better to power the first strip directly from the power supply instead of through the controller but it may still work as you have it.
 

wce06

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So I have added the extra wiring except not sure where the Negative goes from the 2nd and 3rd PSU's.

What have I done? this is so much harder than putting up a static display, at least I have 12 mths to get it right...lol

I am hoping to get this network sorted so I can modify it for the roof edges and house outline, the strips will vary in length along the different parts of the roof/house.


But if i get the basic plan done hopefully it will make more sense in my head....
 

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Kitman

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You have again connected the Possitive supply from all of the power supplies together through the strips.
This would work if you spent a lot of money on load sharing power supplies, but if you were to wire this up the same way as your last image you would blow up either the lights or power supplies or controller or all of the above.


I will rework your image and upload it to show how I would do this.
 

Kitman

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This would work much better.
Notice how none of the positive leads from any of the power supplies are linked to any other power supply.
You use the same power supply to inject at the end of each run, however you may notice that in the middle of the 15m run the lights are not the same colour as the ones surrounding as you may have too much voltage drop in the middle but this would be a trial and error process.
 

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wce06

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Thank you,


OK so I have redrawn my image with your changes, does it matter that the positives are looped?


So 7.5m is to far for the power supply?
 

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Fing

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hi,
this is getting there!
no it doesn't matter that the +ve is looped as it's only from the one supply.


now you need to add the neg wire alongside the +ve one and keep the existing -ve connections


now this may work or you may have problems with the middle strip. you could build it and see what happens or you could also inject between one or both sides of the middle strip.


to be clear, you are injecting power at the start of strip 1 and at the end of strip 3 (just looking at one strand) so the question is what will the voltage be like in the middle of strip 2. A solution may be to inject at the start of 1 and the start of 2 and the start of 3. depending on the physical layout or you could go start 1 start 2 end 3. perhaps. you will need one injection for each strip but it doesn't matter at which end.
clear?
now to really twist it up you could possibly inject twice. once at the start of strip 1 and once at the start of strip 3 which is also the end of strip 2. so strips 2 and 3 are being feed from the same injection point. ( I do this)


and of course your mileage may vary...
cheers fing
 

wce06

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Thank you very much for all the pointers, I am now going to use this design and put it onto a layout of my house. This is all for next year but I have some spare time now so it can't hurt starting now.


Plus this forum will probably die of a little during the year I would imagine.


Regards,


wce06
 

wce06

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Sorry,


But I think Fing just confused me again...LOL...So he says I need to run black wires (GND) along all the red ones I have put down.


I thought the GND running through all the strips was doing this?


Confused...
 

wce06

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OK So I have tried to incorporate the previous designs into the attached design.


It looks different to the previous design, but I am guessing (probably wrong) but I don't need to loop it with this type of setup.


Also I am still a little confused on how to ground all the PSU's.


Once I have this sorted I hope it will help my future designs and I won't have to hassle you guys...lol

Excuse the messy static display...lol

Advice please...
 

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i13

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There is a mistake in Kitman's diagram because he has only injected the positives.

This is how I would do it and it's slightly different to how Fing would do it but it'll still work. I have cut into the three middle strips and made sure the positive is disconnected there. I also disconnected the negative in one of them because otherwise there would be a ground loop (circular negative wire through the strips). In reality you may get away with having a ground loop but if the lights misbehave then you can rule it out as a possible reason if there's no ground loop there. The negatives of all three power supplies are connected through the strips so you don't need to run a separate wire from supply to supply.
 

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i13

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I just realised that you have exceeded the maximum number of pixels supported on a single controller output unless you have the PixLite MKII.
 
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