I’m trying to power 2 strips, about 600 pixels. Was wondering if anyone had a visual example of the best way to power them. The more I read about power injection, the more confused I get. Any help is very appreciated!
Hi Patrick!
There’s a few existing threads you can search for that cover this from a more precise perspective, but if those threads are feeling a little complicated, I’ll just give you my gut for a situation like this.
I’m going to assume you have 5V neopixels, not the 12V versions. I would inject power (use thicker wire like 16 gauge to reconnect to the black ground and the red 5V power supply) at the beginning, middle, and end. Keep the “limit brightness” setting on the Pixelblaze at 50% or lower. And if you ever find yourself accidentally looking at an all-on, all-bright-white strip of lights - quickly unplug stuff and figure out what happened.
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I recently put this thing below together for 250 pixels. Perhaps that will help.
Hey @jeff, what is up with limiting the brightness to 50%…? I like the effect down there better anyway, but figure there’s a technical/practical reason, like fried LED avoidance.
VoltsDrop250PX-BTF.pdf (103.4 KB)
It’s Fried Power supply the 50% is protecting.
If you (even and especially accidentally) run all of your pixels at all their power, most people don’t have enough amps and their power supply will not like being pushed so hard. Bad things happen. Calculate maxpower and compare to your power supply, and the wires that you are using…
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I have almost exactly that number and I split it up into four sections.
Upsize your PS by 30 to 50% above max… just to be sure. Right?
This is the unit I’m using.
SHNITPWR 5V DC Power Supply AC/DC… Amazon.com: SHNITPWR 5V DC Power Supply AC/DC Converter Adapter Transformer 5 Volt 40 Amp 200W LED Driver 110V / 220V AC Input for WS2812B WS2811 WS2801 WS2813 SK6812 LED Pixel Strip Light CCTV Camera Radio: Electronics
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