How to power inject with pigtail connectors

[christish2006]

Hi all,

What's the best way to power inject when using pigtail connectors?,

They are on a set of icicles and Ray said not to send voltage back the other way, so I assume I just cut the pigtail and splice another set of wires on?


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[lithgowlights]

While I dont use Ray's icicles, all my power injection points feed both ways. I dont know why you would not do it that way - who wants the end of a run, and possibly slightly pink (on full brightness white), right next to a freshly injected nice bright white light? You WILL notice it

 

[christish2006]

Thanks I'll try it, that's exactly the effect I have right now


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[lithgowlights]

To be honest 99% of the visitors wont notice it, but you will, and those of us that do lights (and have done the same thing lol) will also see it as well. I have the same issue with my megatree which is injected at pixel 1 and pixel 168, nowhere else. Nobody watching the show has ever commented on the slight pink except for those that do light show themselves... We are more critical lol

 

[Goliath]

I tend not to feed power both ways. Mostly, I cut the positive at the end of a string so only the signal and ground plug through to the next string. I inject positive (and ground) at the start of the new string. This allows for the injected power to come from a different transformer if needed. I also tend to inject more often than needed.

 

[marmalade]

..if you have the cable, go for it It may be considered that pinkish pixels at the end of a run is a sign that you need to inject more frequently along the length if possible.


Injecting at the start and beginning to overcome extreme lengths inevitably sees the pixels at the ends brighter than those in the middle, although most of the time you really have to look to notice it.

 

[christish2006]

Thanks,


I don't think the brightness thing will matter too much, so If I just wire from the power supply to the end of the lights on 12v+ and negative rail on the lights, that should work fine?


It won't sort of backfeed and cause any issues?


Thanks

 

[Fing]

i don't power thru any of my controllers.
From the power supply +ve(fused) and -ve to the strip/strand at multiple points depending on length and access.
From the power supply +ve and -ve to the controller. and ONLY data from the controller to the strip.


this is for a single supply. the -ve is tied to the pixels and controller via the power supply.


for mutliple PSU's same as above but the -ve is tied together as a common and the +ve is separated.


( I tend to use large single PSU's (600W), make Power injection simpler)
Cheers
Fing

 

[i13]

I don't think the brightness thing will matter too much, so If I just wire from the power supply to the end of the lights on 12v+ and negative rail on the lights, that should work fine?


It won't sort of backfeed and cause any issues?

If there are two power supplies then you need to cut the positive line in the pixels half way between them. The negative needs to stay connected either through the pixels or by running a wire directly from the negative output of one power supply to the other. To avoid ground loops it is best to only have one negative connection between the two supplies.

If you're only using one power supply then you don't have to worry about cutting the positive line.

No idea why Ray said not to send voltage back the other way because doing that should work and can reduce the required number of injection points.

 

[Kitman]

Not sure if you need to power inject a set of Ray's pixicles. I have 7 sets of ray's pixicles custom made to my specifications with 120 lights per string running on 12volts and simply powering from one end of a string is enough.


Yes I have some voltage drop at the end I think I measured about 10.5volts at the end of the run however if I have them set to full white I can't notice any difference in the lights.


I do have all 7 sets powered individually, I was originally going to try linking 2 together to save on wiring but running 240 lights meant too much voltage drop and I would then have to run a 10 or so meter power line to the end of the 2 strings to inject from the end which just seemed like more work than running a 5 meter extension to some of the further away sets and placing my box more central to them.


If you just got the standard set of rays pixicles then you won't have any issues as they are 12 volts and I believe only about 60 or so lights, unless you have gotten them custom made in which case a little more info on the strings and how they are wired up would help.

 

[christish2006]

I'm using 4 sets chained together from one power supply, so just the end of the last set is getting that pinkish hue, I think I will power inject about midway and see how that goes


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