pixel/string Amps and controller maximums

daunce

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I'm planning a mega tree for this year and doing the sums.

I'm playing with https://www.lightshowhub.com/tools/mega-tree-calculator, it shows for 50 pixels of 12V is around 2.5 Amps.

But the F16v3 has a maximum of 30A per bank, which means, theoretically I'd get 12x 50 pixel strings per bank, so a maximum of 1200 pixels per F16v3.

Is that right? It doesn't seem right when the F16v3 can do 1024 pixels per output, or 16k pixels per board.

Where have I gone wrong?
 

daunce

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ahh.. Thanks @darylc. Now I get it.

The F16v3 could power that much on it's own power, but after that the strings needs power injection. I was expecting to inject power, but didn't know how to do the sums including it.
 

daunce

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Just another question around power..

If the controller supports up to 30A per bank, how does that relate (if at all) to labels on a 240V power board saying 10A max? Would 30A on the controller be too much for a house hold socket?
 

David_AVD

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The 30A is for 5V or 12V. That equates to 150W for 5V or 360W for 12V. Allowing for PSU losses that's around 200W or 450W on the 240V mains side. The 10A rating of the 240V mains is 2400W so the 150W - 450W is well within that limit.
 

Kitman

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But the F16v3 has a maximum of 30A per bank, which means, theoretically I'd get 12x 50 pixel strings per bank, so a maximum of 1200 pixels per F16v3.

Is that right? It doesn't seem right when the F16v3 can do 1024 pixels per output, or 16k pixels per board.
Most people don't power from the board, instead run power to the lights directly from the power supply. I am not even sure why the power connectors are included to be honest, anyone using the falcon controller will no doubt require a lot more power than can be pulled from the board.
 

darylc

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Most people don't power from the board, instead run power to the lights directly from the power supply. I am not even sure why the power connectors are included to be honest, anyone using the falcon controller will no doubt require a lot more power than can be pulled from the board.

I like doing power via the board personally, using expansion boards I can get 180 amps of power through a single controller. Makes the wiring easier.

Each to their own of course.
 

Derf

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If you are making a megatree its probably not going to look good if you use the pixels at 100% brightness. A lot of people go down to 30-40% brightness which reduces the current required. I run 200 12v Pixels at 30% brightness with 28 Strings on one f16v3 and all power going through the controller and it works fine at that brightness if I wanted to go higher I would Power inject @ the last pixel going reverse back to the controller.

Saves cabling if you just want to go from the controller to each string.
 
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