Design help for house

So, here is my house roofline


Ultimately, I’d like both runs to act as one continuous line. (I’m only doing the garage for now.) For example, the KITT pattern would “jump” from the garage roofline to the upper roofline. I’m thinking I would have to have the controller at Point A, and run some sort of power and data line between the two rooflines. Is this the best way to do it?

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Yeah that can work. Depending on the density and power draw you might need power injection to avoid voltage drop messing with colors.

@mnielsen has LEDs that can do longer runs that can simplify wiring/install for houses. https://mypixellights.com/

I’m using BTF-LIGHTING WS2812B RGB 5050SMD Individual Addressable 16.4FT 60Pixels/m 300Pixels and an ALITOVE 5V 60A 300W Power Supply. I’ve had the lights up before, strapped to PVC pipe. I’ve bought some aluminum channels to do it right this time.



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You can definitely connect data and ground lines along that short path from the lower roofline to the higher, but you’re going to need to inject power, probably at a couple of places.

I have several indoor runs of those 60 LEDs/meter BTF 5v lights. The good news is that they’ve proved durable and well behaved over a couple of years now. The slightly-less-good news is that they look way better if you power them at both ends of the 5 meter run, because the voltage drops quickly. Color distortion at an unpowered “far” end is very visible.

My current powering strategy to use several smaller power supplies instead of a single large one - basically one 20 amp supply for each 5m strip, connected to the strip at both ends. In your case, that’d mean a power supply near points A and B, plus maybe one hidden in your entryway. If you can position your power supplies out of the elements, you can use inexpensive smart outlets to control the power.

The other big thing is to make sure your Pixelblaze is powered in a way that doesn’t expose it to much voltage drop even if the LEDs are bright. That means it needs to go pretty close to a power supply.

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If I have a power supply between two runs, does the power go both ways, or is it directional? And does the Pixelblaze have to be at one end or the other?

This is where the “electricity in wires == water in pipes” thing that I have in my head breaks down a bit. It isn’t directional. As long as you keep the polarities straight, you can connect power anywhere you need to along a run.

The Pixelblaze can be located pretty much anywhere, although you need to keep the data line from the PB to the first pixel fairly short. I’d put it where it’s protected and convenient, wire as necessary and try it out. If it works great! If not, you can run a much longer data line by using either the Pixelblaze output expander (I’ve run upwards of 35 feet between PB and strip that way) or a buffer chip, as described in this thread

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@Mebejedi,
You definitely want the PB on an end with power source or injection point. You wouldn’t want to power a strip at the output side with the PB hanging off the input side without it’s own power injection.

I thought I had written about something like this before, and I found your post from about a year ago!

If you take a look at the diagram I edited you can see a theoretical scenario where a power supply injects in the middle, and I talk a little about the problems this might cause:

In short, yes you can inject in the middle and it goes both ways, but if you have separate power zones, its best to inject power at the edges.