Digital LED power supply for 6meters

Our weekly LIVE video chat. Every Wednesday at 8pm ET!

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
SurfaceGrooves
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:04 pm

Digital LED power supply for 6meters

Post by SurfaceGrooves »

I am working on a project as part of a wall installation
for a large corporation. I would like to confirm some details before I
purchase the parts. We need to create two sections of 6M digital LED. For the
processing, we will use 1 arduino mega. For the LED strips, we are debating
the 32 LED digital, or the 60 LED Neopixel. The Neopixel looks like more
power, less expensive, and a better product, is that correct?

Upon figuring out the power consumption for the 60 LED Neopixel (3.5A per
meter), I found that it would take almost 21 Amps of power per 6 meter
section. Is it possible to use these like that? I see that Adafruit's
maximum power supply is 10A. Would I be able to wire this with 2 of those power
supplies per section, or is there a 20A power supply that I can use? I've
found some on Amazon that are 5V, 20A, but I need all components to be UL
listed or approved. Do you have a recommendation?

I know that I will also need some connectors. I see some sort of capacitor,
or diode at the connector of the first NEOpixel picture. What is that, and
do I need it? Are there any other components that I need for this project?

Thank you, -Ryan

User avatar
Franklin97355
 
Posts: 23912
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Digital LED power supply for 6meters

Post by Franklin97355 »

Will it be one continous strip of 6 meters or several smaller strips? You can combine power supplies, perhaps one at each end of the strip. The amp draw is for all pixels lit to full white which will not happen often (we hope) The cap is to absorb the inrush current to protect the pixels and is recommended.

SurfaceGrooves
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:04 pm

Re: Digital LED power supply for 6meters

Post by SurfaceGrooves »

Thank you for the info. I plan on doing this with one 6m section, but i could do it in multiple sections if needed. Would you suggest the Neopixel 60, or the digital LED 32? If I use a 6m strip with a power supply at both ends, would it all be connected, or would I cut it into two 3m sections? I understand that max power is at full white, but I need the power supply to handle that just in case.

The cap for inrush current, where would I find that, and what is it called?

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Ask an Engineer! VIDEO CHAT (closed)”