Running 5V 2801 Pixels from a 12V powered PSU

talk2coxie

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Joined
Dec 29, 2010
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142
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Heathcote NSW
I'm hoping to change a few things with my layout this year and am still a little confused if my way of thinking is ok to put into action.

Last year I had 1 x PIXAD8 powered at 5V to run 2 x 2801 5V pixel strings.

This year I'm hoping to move the controller much further away from the first pixel on the strings (to run some 12V 2811 strips elsewhere)

Is it possible to run only the data and clock from the PIXAD8 (12V DC powered) outputs to supply only data and clock to the 5V 2801 pixels but yet run the power to the 5V DC pixels via a separate 5V PSU??

A few of you helpful folks said it can be done but I'm still not sure about tying the V- between the 5V and 12V PSU's.

I have drawn two different options, please advise best way to do this if it can be done at all?

Version 1.0 - (V- going back to the PIXAD8 output from the 5V 2801 Pixels strings)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43251051/5%20VOLT%20POWER%20INJECTION.JPG

Version 1.1- (V- tying into the 12V- from the 5V 2801 Pixels strings)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43251051/5%20VOLT%20POWER%20INJECTION%20-%20V1.1.JPG

Signal distance will be an issue but it will be much easier for me to add a null pixel or two to carry the data if I can somehow run as above suggested.
 

ltay13

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Community project designer
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Jan 2, 2012
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Eastern Melbourne
Both of those methods of connection are the same (they will both work), however I would recommend tying the grounds on the 2 PSUs themselves together directly rather than putting the controller in between them.


I.E. Option number 2 that you suggested is definitely how I would go about it.
 

burner

Full time elf
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
315
This will be the way I'm doing it this year too. I've just about filled my P12R with 12v stuff and want to use the last 2 universes for my 5v mini trees. I tied the V- between all the PSU's only and just ran the data line to the mini trees only and it worked fine.
 
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