Getting down to the Power details

[nintender]

I'm looking at creating (at least) 8 spiral mini-trees with RGB-basic ribbons. So according to the "RBG for Dummies" manual, each 5M strip will need about 36 watts (5W/M)
so, changing around P=IxE, current would be P/E, and for 12V strip, that's 3A per strip.
Am I right so far?
If I am, then I need to look at controller choices. My planned was the centralized approach, so those cheap $6.00 decoders can carry 4A. so I'm good, right?. It looked like most of the multichannel controllers maxed around 2A per channel, so they probably wouldn't be an option for this part of my project. That I'm OK with.

Now for power. I'm assuming I either get 8 of the $14.00 12V supplies since each only handles 45W , or possibly a MeanWell 350W and split the power among the 8.

Cabling aside (i.e. separate lines vs injection into CAT4) am I on the right Math Track?

 

[fasteddy]

Yes you are correct with the 3 amps per strip

Ok so 8 strips = approx 3 amps per 5 metres strip for 30led/m strip

8 x 3 amps = 24 amps for 8 strips @ 12vdc

Watts = current x volts

24amps x 12volts = 288 watts

= 82% load on the power supply when all on and showing white.

So a 350 watt power supply will run 8 of these 30 led/m strips which would be about the max i would load up the power supply.

Now you must remember that the 3 amps per strip is a total figure so that means it will draw 1 amp per channel for the Red, green and blue and return 3 amps back down the shared common wire. So you can use 5 strips per 27 channel controller as you are only drawing 1 amp per channel when white. So the multi channel controllers are also an option for you.

Both approches will work for you, it all depends on what you feel most comfortable with.

 

[nintender]

Now you must remember that the 3 amps per strip is a total figure so that means it will draw 1 amp per channel for the Red, green and blue and return 3 amps back down the shared common wire. So you can use 5 strips per 27 channel controller as you are only drawing 1 amp per channel when white. So the multi channel controllers are also an option for you.

Both approches will work for you, it all depends on what you feel most comfortable with.

Thanks Eddy, I forgot about that.