Ordered Pro Expander with 12V - but realized I want 5V .. what do i do to convert?

1

So I ordered pro expander with 12V configuration because the main power supply I use is 12+V but I realized after setting things up that the pro expander only outputs 5V for the board itself and the pixelblaze … but not the power to the LED strips (this might be a good thing to explictly call out! luckily i tested on a throwaway strip first)

In hindsight this makes sense because there’s no obvious hardware on the expander board that could handle converting 12V to 5V at a high amperage.

Sooo. I’m going to handle the 12v->5v right before the expander board power input. but I think I need to take the 5v converter off the board since i’m only measuring 4.5V to the pixelblaze if I feed it 5.1V at the input.

Is that all I need to do? snip off the 5v converter thats connected via three header pins? or is there anything else i need to do?

2

You gotta remove the wee regulator and jumper between the VIN and 5v pins.

If you can get a good blob of solder across the pins, you can use that to remove the regulator. Big chisel tip on the iron will help a lot.

I was gonna put a PC style jumper across the VIN - 5V pins but couldn’t find one. So I just put a solder blob on the back.

3

You can probably leave the converter installed, it won’t do much with 5v input. Jumper/short vin to 5v should do it.

However, I would recommend leaving it as 12v, and putting your 5v converter after the output. The advantage is that the fuses will protect more of the circuit, and the controller will have its own clean 5v power that isn’t impacted by any LED power draw from a shared converter.