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ejryan14

ejryan14

New elf
Joined
Oct 2, 2020
Messages
7
Hello Everyone,

I am starting my adventure into this strange new world. I have 250 pixels, a F4V3, and a 12v power supply. I am looking to permanently install the pixels on my house after watching one of DrZzzs videos. I do have a question about power injection. What is the max length of wire most people limit themselves to on run from the 12v power supply to injection points? I plan to have the controller and power supply in my garage so I will be running power injection from there and the max run is about 75 feet. would this work for 14 guage wire?
 
Honestly, if you power inject somewhere between 150 and 200, you should be fine. That way, you don't have a run longer than 100 without power, so even at 100%, you're probably okay. 14AWG should be fine, assuming it's decent copper wire.
 
Welcome to the fray! I too joined this hobby and my pixels from AliExpress should be here at the end of the month.

Im doing a mix of what Dr zzz and the hook up provided guidance on. WS2812B led strips in aluminum channels for permanent installation. My other props will be ws2811 pixels but I won’t do that this season. Debating whether to use a F16 or F48
 
CargoLights said:
Honestly, if you power inject somewhere between 150 and 200, you should be fine. That way, you don't have a run longer than 100 without power, so even at 100%, you're probably okay. 14AWG should be fine, assuming it's decent copper wire.
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Good to know. I am planning to use 14AWG Landscape wire. Also, I think my post was not as clear as planned. I do plan to inject power every 200 LEDs but my last power injection point is about 75 feet from the power supply. I am a bit concerned since all of the voltage drop calculators have it at a 10% to 15% voltage drop before I get to the LEDs if I assume I will draw 3 amps from that wire. I will have some parts here this weekend so i will have to test to find out for sure.
 
Thebruhhh said:
Welcome to the fray! I too joined this hobby and my pixels from AliExpress should be here at the end of the month.

Im doing a mix of what Dr zzz and the hook up provided guidance on. WS2812B led strips in aluminum channels for permanent installation. My other props will be ws2811 pixels but I won’t do that this season. Debating whether to use a F16 or F48
Click to expand...

My wife really wants me to attempt to add in some props this year so we ended going a bit overboard. oh well, i guess i have the next 2 months to figure it out.
 
75 feet is a long way to run power, but if it's just the one strand, you're probably okay. You'll need an F-Amp or null pixel, though. 15% voltage drop is only an issue if the data signal doesn't match up. There's a really good video by Keith Westley that goes over why your lights might flicker that explains it better than I can, but basically on 12V lights, the ground creeps up and the difference between ground and signal gets to be too little. With a 75 ft run, you'll likely need to use an F-Amp to compensate, run a second ground wire, or maybe both.
 
ejryan14 said:
Hello Everyone,

I am starting my adventure into this strange new world. I have 250 pixels, a F4V3, and a 12v power supply. I am looking to permanently install the pixels on my house after watching one of DrZzzs videos. I do have a question about power injection. What is the max length of wire most people limit themselves to on run from the 12v power supply to injection points? I plan to have the controller and power supply in my garage so I will be running power injection from there and the max run is about 75 feet. would this work for 14 guage wire?
Click to expand...

Every individual's display is rather unique; asking what would be a limiting length of string or power injection comes down to what an individual is comfortable with and the physical hardware that individual is using for their display.

For 250 pixels (assuming WS2811 or similar) I would suggest injecting at 3 points, beginning, middle, and end assuming you have all 250 pixels in a single string. But how well the display works is also going to depend upon if you are using resistor or regulated pixels and how hard are you driving them. Regulated pixels are exceedingly resistant to voltage drop, resistor pixels, not so much.
A power injection run of 75 feet is a bit of a stretch but is certainly possible. I've no opinion on the 14 AWG landscape wire you mentioned as I do not know its specs. To help with voltage drop you could install multiple runs of the power injection. That is, separate cables to the points in the pixel string where you decide to inject power.

The Falcon F4 will in my opinion work nicely (I have one) and it can be expanded if the need arises.

I checked the DrZZZ website; have not watched any of those. I would suggest if not already downloading ACL's 101 Manual. Also Canispater Christmas on YouTube. That's Jeff and he videos 'hands-on' RBG Pixel Christmas lighting from the hardware aspect mostly. There is also the forum on Falcon's website and xLights.org including all the information here (ACL).
 
TerryK said:
But how well the display works is also going to depend upon if you are using resistor or regulated pixels and how hard are you driving them. Regulated pixels are exceedingly resistant to voltage drop, resistor pixels, not so much.
Click to expand...

I don’t want to take the OP topic off track, but I only have strips right now. Eventually I will get WS2811 pixels. And when I do, should I get the regulated ones only then? Any pro/con?
 
Thebruhhh said:
I don’t want to take the OP topic off track, but I only have strips right now. Eventually I will get WS2811 pixels. And when I do, should I get the regulated ones only then? Any pro/con?
Click to expand...
I thought about going to the regulated pixels but I already purchased over half of the resistor pixels that I needed and will be using 5v in the yard next year so I figured I would stick with what I have. if the resistor type have trouble then I might switch since it is only about 350 pixels.
 
String or strip; I would say it depends upon the prop. Quite a number of individuals say that maintenance of strips is more difficult. I'm kindof on the fence there but will say that swapping out a bad pixel is more complex (soldering individual wires rather than a linear flexible PC board). It's a matter of opinion but I like the WS2815 strips, won't use any other.

The 5 volt pixels seem to be falling away. They are the lowest cost which keeps them fairly popular and because of their design they also run cooler. 12 volt resistor pixels have added components to allow them to be run on 12 volt. The internal IC (and LED too I think) still works on 5 volts which means the 7 volt drop from 12 gets dissipated as heat. 12 volt regulated pixels have different additional components but the 7 volt drop again is dissipated as heat. The advantage that most individuals appreciate is that the 12 volt regulated pixels are very resistant to voltage drop unlike the 5 volt or 12 volt resistor pixels.

My impression is those that have 5 volt pixels are slowly upgrading their display as the 5 volt pixels age out. As previously mentioned, quite a number of individuals still use 5 volt pixels. It's simply a matter of strategically supplying and injecting power.
 
For someone just beginning I likely would suggest where strings are used to standardize on 12 regulated pixel strings. Mentioned in a previous post was your plan of using WS2812B strips. WS2812Bs are 5 volt devices. This is where a display can become confusing, that is devices in the display, some are 5 volt, others are 12 volt. As some individuals have discovered, applying 12 volts to a 5 volt device can lead to interesting consequences.
 
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