WS2811 5V 18 STRAND MEGA TREE

roy g

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Jan 20, 2013
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Hi, guys first post on your forum and not totally sure where to put this post because it deals with pixels, controllers, and power supplies but here goes. I have a P12S controller with a 5volt power supply and ws2811 5v pixels. I would like to do this, make a 18 strand mega tree using 6 universes so each universe would have 3- 50 node ws2811 5v pixel strands connected together which would go up the tree back down and then back up again. I believe each 50 pixels would need to have power injected to it so does this mean I have to go to the top of the tree with a long run of cable to inject power between strings 1 and 2 or is there something I'm missing ?
 

Habbosrus

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Firstly, G'day Roy and welcome to ACL. There are other members who are much better informed than me, but I would suggest injecting power between strings 2 & 3. You'll be feeding power to string 3 and also back feeding string 2.
 

roy g

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First, Thanks for your welcome Habbosrus. I thought that someone would say to inject power between string 2 and 3 best place for a short run but if I did that it would mean approximately 75 pixels would be powered from the start of the string and 75 pixels from the middle. I was thinking that only about 50 was the max before you had to inject power again but that's what I would like to find out from the wise forum guys out there how often and where.
 

fasteddy

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Hello Roy and welcome

When we inject then we can inject at the end of the string, so if you are making a zig zag then you can just inject at the bottom of every run. But a few important tips

1: Always seperate the +V between different power supplies, so if using the same power supply for the whole tree then this is not an issue.
2: Make sure that the injection power cable has a large enough guage to carry the current for both the 2nd and 3rd string as you will be back injecting string 2 and forward injecting string 3
 

mararunr

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I did all my injection this just past Christmas at the beginning of every 50. I used 14 gauge speaker cable to run power up the 17 foot strand to the top at the beginning of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc strings. (trying to understand how injecting power goes backwards and forwards is one of my goals to learn this year - obviously if I learn/understand it I will have less work this year for sure). You can see the video of my tree in other posts. Hope this helps.
 

zoobmarine

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Fasteddy said:
Hello Roy and welcome

When we inject then we can inject at the end of the string, so if you are making a zig zag then you can just inject at the bottom of every run. But a few important tips

1: Always seperate the +V between different power supplies, so if using the same power supply for the whole tree then this is not an issue.
2: Make sure that the injection power cable has a large enough guage to carry the current for both the 2nd and 3rd string as you will be back injecting string 2 and forward injecting string 3


I really didn't know that I can inject power at the end, this will had save me some head aches.!
When you say "always separate the +V between power supplies" you are reffering as don't bridge them? or use different PSU for this?


Thanks FastEddy
 

fasteddy

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zoobmarine said:
Fasteddy said:
Hello Roy and welcome

When we inject then we can inject at the end of the string, so if you are making a zig zag then you can just inject at the bottom of every run. But a few important tips

1: Always seperate the +V between different power supplies, so if using the same power supply for the whole tree then this is not an issue.
2: Make sure that the injection power cable has a large enough guage to carry the current for both the 2nd and 3rd string as you will be back injecting string 2 and forward injecting string 3


I really didn't know that I can inject power at the end, this will had save me some head aches.!
When you say "always separate the +V between power supplies" you are reffering as don't bridge them? or use different PSU for this?


Thanks FastEddy

Yes dont bridge the +V between power supplies or between strings/strips if using 2 different power supplies, always keep the +V circuit seperate from other +V circuits from other power supplies
 

Habbosrus

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roy g said:
First, Thanks for your welcome Habbosrus. I thought that someone would say to inject power between string 2 and 3 best place for a short run but if I did that it would mean approximately 75 pixels would be powered from the start of the string and 75 pixels from the middle. I was thinking that only about 50 was the max before you had to inject power again but that's what I would like to find out from the wise forum guys out there how often and where.
Hi Roy, don't forget you are powering from the start of the string as well. You are feeding power to your string at the start, then power injection can be done between 100-101 as this will also feed power to your string. If I understand power injection in layman's terms, we are simply giving the string a boost of power (to get it to the end). I did initial tests in 2013 with 3 x 5 metre strips and injected power between strip 2 & 3 and tested with all white and it worked well. Again, I am still very new to this and there are many in ACL with much, much (much x 100) more knowledge and understanding than I. Are you in a position to conduct your own tests? Do you have the strings or are you currently working out what is required? I was going through something similar to this with a fellow ACL member yesterday, while we were trying to work out his plans for 2015.
 

roy g

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Jan 20, 2013
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THANKS ALL! for your help and input. Habbosrus, I do have everything to test. I wrote the post to see if there was different ways/options,and materials that others were using. Always looking for the next best trick.
 
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