Terminal Block for Power Supply

lightingelf

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Dec 8, 2021
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Hello,

This is my first year attempting a light display. I am using mostly WS2812B's and my longest run consists of 5 strips. I have a total of 8 elements that I will be powering from a single PSU. I understand power injection and ran the calculations on the total bulbs being used at 40% draw and I am under the 300W for the power supply with overhead (265w with 20% overhead). Since I am running everything from one PSU which only has 3 +/- terminals, I was thinking of using a terminal block, however the only terminal blocks I can find that have jumpers appear to only be 30A whereas my power supply is 60A. I wanted to use a terminal block with a jumper so I could have a common POS and common ground block so that I would wire each element including power injection with inline fuses. I believe that the terminal block will be inadequate because of the low amperage. Is there any other way to get around this? I am not using a controller that supports power outputs as most controllers are out of stock (Falcon, QuinLED) otherwise I would go that route. Thanks!
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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If you are planning on using inline fuses then you can connect directly to the terminals of your power supply. The individual outputs each have a maximum rating of 30A which is part of the reason that power supplies have multiple V+ and V- terminals. As long as the inline fuses are of a sufficient size to protect the wire that you are using and the total of the fuses on each of the 3 outputs doesn't exceed 30A then you are good to go. For instance you could put 4 7.5A fused outputs on each of 2 terminals. Or 6 5A fuses etc.
Some people will actually just use a domestic earth or neutral bar as a distribution point. If the entire 60A is to be distributed from a pair of bars then you would use 3 30A rated wires from each of the V+ and V- to a bar.
 

lightingelf

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Dec 8, 2021
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Thanks AAH!

I think I have a gameplan now. I will get 30A terminal blocks which should work. I will be running a 10 AWG wire from one of the terminals of the PSU to the main positive terminal block. From there each one of the 8 outputs will go to 8 different props with an inline fuse. Using QuinLED's chart assuming 43mA per LED and using 40% brightness, I calculated the Amps needed per output. For Prop#1, I calculated around 12 Amps needed for the full run. I will use a 5A fuse at the start of that run (22 AWG Wire) connected to the terminal block, and then inject power in the middle and end of that run using 5A Fuses on each injection point. Prop#2 requires around 9A, so I will inject at the start on the terminal block with a 5A fuse and then another 5A fuse injecting at the end. All of the other props shouldn't need injection as they are only requiring < 4A and the distances are very short. The terminal block should only be using 22A which is below the rated 30A rating. I attached a crude diagram which hopefully makes sense at what I am trying to do. Please let me know if this makes sense and if there are any mistakes which corrections I need to make.Diagram.png
 
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