Power supply - relating 150 vs 300 LED per strip

Thanks @Grumpy_Mike and @Qdeathstar!

After reading Grumpy_Mike's post, but before reading Qdeathstar's post, I picked up 4 power supplies for the 5 strips.

  • (3) x RSP-75-5 MeanWell power supplies - destined to handle (1) x 5m strip each w/ 150 LEDs. This is a 5V 15A power supply which I plan on fusing at 10A, a single strip's max consumption on these will be 9A.
  • (1) x RSP-100-5 MeanWell power supply - destined to handle (2) x 5m strips w/ 150 LEDs each (300 LEDs in total). This is a 5V 20A power supply which I plan on fusing at 20A for a pair of strips, the pair of strip's max consumption is 18A.

(Purchased from Mouser.)

Keep in mind that strips with 300 LEDs on 5 meters are readily available, I'll basically be doing 300 LEDs on 10 meters for one segment and power supply (2 strips), is the current plan. The vast majority will be 1 strip per 1 power supply. And the reason for this desired setup is pulling power to one particular area would be difficult and I'd prefer to avoid running copper power lines adjacent to one of the strips to power those two destined to be on one power supply individually. I mean, I COULD if I need to. But trying to avoid that which is why I brought up the topic. (And appreciate all the help/advice!) (Please convince me if I really need to run a 5m power copper line segment next to one of the strips for the one area I can't really get a dedicated power supply to after reading this plan.)

That was my initial plan and after reading Grump_Mike's post, I purchased the power supplies.

That said, after reading Qdeathstar's post (and thank you for it!) a few follow up questions?

For the moment, let's assume I'm sticking with ws2813. I'm not opposed to switching to ws2811, but for the sake of this discussion anyways.

Also, if you use one power supply, you will have to "inject" power along the strip. My suggestion is to insert power every 5m.

Roger that! Do you think that for the one segment I'd be OK to power (2) x 5m segments considering I'm using 150LED/strip lights vs. the 300LED/strip lights? I know I'm introducing distance here... But thoughts? I never plan on blasting these things, BTW. I'm guessing 50-60% is as high as I'd ever run them. But gotta plan for the worst, ya? :slight_smile:

You'll need to tie all the grounds together if you use different power supplies.

Interesting. Thank you for mentioning that, I was unaware. I'll do some more research on it too.

Another thing to consider is that 25 meters is a long run and depending on how you plan to have everything wired up, apa102s or ws2811s might be more reliable because they have a dedicated clock line an arnt so dependent on tight timing, like ws2812/13.

Interesting. I had avoided the ws2811's for that exact reason thinking an external clock would be better! I had read that the maximum addressable quantity of ws2813's per segment was something well over 1000. (I can't seem to find the article at the moment, but I want to say like over 1,800. I just remember seeing that and knowing I'd be nowhere near that limit.) I'll be around 750 LEDs along that 25 meters. (Probably a bit less as the last segment will be trimmed.) Is this a distance thing vs. a quantity thing?

If you are going to be running jumpers in between the strips i would use twisted pairs with a ground in each of the pairs (one for clock, one for data).

No jumpers of significance, just enough pigtails/vampires to connect two adjacent strips together. The goal is to present them all as one long segment. (At least at first, I have a feeling this could get addicting and I will have some discontinuous strips which I'd take your advice on, thank you!)

I am using 45 meters of 12v 2811 strip for my project. (eve lighting) I am running it in a meanwell 100amp power supply. I fused the power supply at 60 amps, then each branch is fused at 5 amps.

So 9 x 5m strips, or ? If this isn't too much to ask, would you consider drawing the layout out on a napkin and attaching it? :smiley: I started typing questions based upon a few different layout assumptions and it was getting long. LOL

Thanks!!