Is there a way to have just 1 power supply?

J

jimcllc

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In trying to figure out all that I need to get for my RGB. Right now I am trying to figure out what I need for power supplies. Will I need to buy multiple supplies, or is there a way to just have one?


I will be using the D4 and the P12R.



For example, say I have 4 mini trees spanning 15 feet, each tree using 50 pixels. Then I have 3- 5050 strips running up 3- 8' poles. These poles are 20 feet behind the mini trees. Now say I have 176 pixels around a garage roof another 20 feet behind the 3- 8' poles. Would I need a power supply at each place? Or is there a way to power it all from one supply?
 
You need to work out the current draw of all your lights and see if the power supply you are purchasing is big enough. Most of us tend to buy 350watt power supplies. You also need to get an additional power supply if you are running 5v strings and 12v strips. You can however use 1 psu to inject power at certain intervals throughout your display.


In my case I have used 6 universes out of 12 on my p12r and have 3 * 12v power supplies and 1 * 5v power supply. Also as an extra tip, try to budget for 80% of your power supply's available current.
 
you dont necessarily need to put an additional psu near the other lights. You can run injection cables to it from your other psu. (obviously you will lose voltage dependant on the length of the cable.)

What voltage pixels are you using?

burner's right, you want to inject every 50 pixels or so.

  • The 4 mini tree's will need injection at each one. (The trees can still be linked together on one universe)
  • The poles. im guessing equate to about 30 pixels each (maybe a little less) would require injection also. Save time by injecting into each pole. (you can still link the poles together off the same universe however)
  • As for the garage , you will need to inject power twice throughout the run. Roughly every 50 pixels again.
So in saying that, Can you get away with 1 psu? Well, we still need to work out the draw on full white. But my gut says, Yes. As for placement of your PSU, I would suggest placing the enclosure with the psu and the controllers at the midway point (at your 3 x poles) that way you get 2 elements worth of medium cables, as opposed to 1 x medium and 1 x large run)


Im sure someone else can tell you the amp draw equation for 5050 RGB
 
From memory, I looked up the current draw on the Ray Wu site for each item I purchased. If it's not listed, you could always get Ray to email you the specs of the items you purchased. As for injecting power, in my case I injected power in a few places, then if I spotted a dull white anywhere when everything was up, I injected an extra power cable in that location.
If you put plugs on all your elements, injection is really easy. All I did was splice in a 2 wire plug into the existing 3 or 4 wire plug, then ran a figure 8 cable back to the controller.
When you have all your items connected, you may also want to get a multimeter and measure the current draw from the PSU to see how much it's being used. Make sure you use a high rated multimeter, because the cheaper ones can only handle about 20 amp, and the probe wires can melt if you are drawing a lot more. Also, make sure you are testing this power draw when everything is on full white (worst case scenario).
 
Good to know, thanks for the information. Adding this to the list of "Learn how to". The mid way point will be at the 3 poles. Roughly it will be 20' each way. I am working on getting a layout so we can see it.


Bird, thanks for the link. For some reason I forgot current was amps, got it!
 
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