Panel Current/Wattage - a real test

lithgowlights

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May 6, 2010
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OK today I got keen and did a test on my 5*5 P10 indoor and outdoor panels to measure the real current per p10.

Test equipment: Calibrated wattmeter that is accurate to within a watt or two at about 8 different test points (according my fluke meter). The wattage shown below does not include the idle PSU wattage.

Setup 1:
5*5 indoor P10 panels, 1/8 scan, a single 350W PSU in the back (Idle wattage 9.6W), and the BBB and fans in the case are run from an external supply so are not in the overall measurements.
10% White overall wattage: 10.1W, 2.02A, 0.08A per panel
20% White overall wattage: 23.80W, 4.76A, 0.19A per panel
30% White overall wattage: 40.4W, 8.08A, 0.32A per panel
40% White overall wattage: 65W, 13A, 0.52A per panel
50% White overall wattage: 97.8W, 19.56A, 0.78A per panel
60% White overall wattage: 136.1W, 27.22A, 1.09A per panel
70% White overall wattage: 153.6W, 30.72A, 1.23A per panel
80% White overall wattage: 170.9W, 34.18A, 1.37A per panel
90% White overall wattage: 181.6W, 36.32A, 1.45A per panel
100% White overall wattage: 193.4W, 38.68A, 1.55A per panel


Setup 2:
5*5 outdoor P10 panels, 1/4 scan, a pair of 300W PSU in the back, one running 12 panels, the other 13 panels (Idle wattage 26.5W), and the BBB and fans in the case are run from an external supply so are not in the overall measurements.
10% White overall wattage: 21.4W, 4.28A, 0.17A per panel
20% White overall wattage: 46.1W, 9.22A, 0.37A per panel
30% White overall wattage: 79.1W, 15.82A, 0.63A per panel
40% White overall wattage: 124W, 24.8A, 0.99A per panel
50% White overall wattage: 186.5W, 37.3A, 1.49A per panel
60% White overall wattage: 264.7W, 52.92A, 2.12A per panel
70% White overall wattage: 339.5W, 67.9A, 2.72A per panel
80% White overall wattage: 376.5W, 75.3A, 3.01A per panel

It was at this point I was not game to go higher with white, so the following are calculated based on Red+Green+Blue currents *.95 as the other average white currents equalled about 95% of the sum of Red + Green + Blue

90% White overall wattage: 410W, 82A, 3.28A per panel
100% White overall wattage: 425.5W, 85.1A, 3.4A per panel​
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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Dec 27, 2010
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Do you know if the panels were running at maximum brightness within FPP and were they both at the same brightness. In theory the panels should be fairly close to a 2:1 power ratio (as they are) as 1 is 1/8th scan and 1 is 1/4 scan which is an indication of how much of the panel is actually controlled at a time.
 
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