Most efficient way to power multiple power supplies in an enclosure

mammy

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Hi team! I'm building an enclosure for a 5400 12v pixel mega tree. I have 4 Mean Wells in the enclosure connected to an F16v3 plus 2 expansion boards (I'll run it at 20 or 30%). I'm wondering if I can have a single power line coming into the enclosure that will directly power PS#1 and then have PS#1 power PS#2, PS#2 power PS#3 and PS#3 power PS#4. Is this ok to do in order to avoid having 4 power cords coming out of my enclosure? If not, what's the most efficient way to set up power for multiple power supplies?

Thx in advance.
 

Notenoughlights

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What wattage are the power supplies rated at? 300W each? Assuming American power sockets are 10A rated, you'll be right on 10A at that level. May want to split it between two if that is the case.
 

mammy

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350 watts each. The outlet will be on a 20A breaker with no other load than this.
 

mammy

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After a bit more sleuthing I think I could get 3- 28A rated terminal blocks with 5 circuits per block. Jumper all terminals on one side. Then use each block for pos, neg and ground. If I use a 10 gauge extension coming into the enclosure I think I'll be ok drawing on 4 12v 350 watt Mean Wells.

Does this make sense?
 

Notenoughlights

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10AWG (6mm2) will be more than enough to run those 4 power supplies from one feed. By the sounds of it, you want to link them all together on the incoming side, I would not connect them together on the 12v side, it is not what they are designed for and can/will damage them.
 

MichaelF5

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about the most I'd be doing is seeing if you could do something to enable delayed power on so you don't trip something with inrush
 

mammy

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Notenoughlists, let me see if I understand your concern. I plan on just connecting all 4 PSs to one single line coming into the enclosure via a terminal block. Are you saying this will damage the power supplies?
 

Notenoughlights

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the 240/110 coming in is fine to connect via terminal block. The 12/5 going out of the power supplies to the pixels is not fine to connect together via terminal block. Just making sure we are talking about the same thing.
 

mammy

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Oh, ok... Yeah, no plans to do that. Each controller will have its own dedicated line from the PS. I'm just trying to figure out the most efficient way to get power to the PSs. The terminal blocks will allow me to have a single power line coming into the enclosure to power all 4 PSs. Sounds like you think this will work (and perhaps this is what everyone does...).
 

Notenoughlights

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Yes I believe that it will work fine, what you are doing is no different than plugging multiple things into a circuit in your house, except you are hardwiring these onto one cord. If you are still unsure perhaps an electrician should be consulted who may be better suited to getting the mains voltage side wired up for you.
 

mammy

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Great. Do you know if I can put 2 different power supplies on one F16v3? Is that allowed?
 
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