Can't find proper power supply for Arduino and 60 LED Strip

I had purchased a 60 led strip from the link above. I've bought a couple power supplies from retailers thinking it would work fine to power it. Without specifying what I bought that didn't work, I figured I would try to ask what will power my project properly. It is simply the 60 led strip and the Arduino Uno and a very simple IR sensor.

Here are some more specs for the LED strip just from the link above for easy reference.

Model: WS2812 strip 5050rgb chips
Input voltage: DC5V
Led Qty: 60pcs RGB SMD 5050 per meter
Wave length(NM):R,650nm ; G,520nm ; B,460nm
Power:18W/M
Signal:WS2812B WS2811 chip built-in LED
View angle:120
Life span: more than 50000hrs
FPCB Width:10mm
Product Dimensions:L1000mmxW12mmxH3mm
Waterproof
Black PCB

Any 5V 4A+ will be enough.
What power supplies have you purchased? Maybe your wiring is what's wrong.

Everything works great on 6AA Batteries. Just a couple power supplies I tried will freeze on a certain color etc.

I tried the following so far.
12V 2A

9V 1.5A

joelmc:
I tried the following so far.
12V 2A

9V 1.5A

Input voltage: DC5V

So can you elaborate on what that means? Anything I use needs to be exactly 5V?

Power:18W/M

18 W / 5 V= ?

joelmc:
So can you elaborate on what that means? Anything I use needs to be exactly 5V?

Specs say 5V, should be pretty unambiguous.

Wow. On many levels.

My guess is you are using 9v or 12v power supplies to power the Arduino, then running the LEDs straight FROM the Arduino for power.

BAD. STOP IT.

The Arduino cannot supply the 3600mA your LEDs call for. 500mA is already pushing it.

If you haven't already killed your Arduino or LEDs, you need a power supply of about 4A. More amps doesn't hurt. And 5V means 5V. More voltage DOES hurt. LEDs should be powered directly from the power supply, NOT from the Arduino.

Well my 6AAs work absolutely fine? So I'm confused as to how the Arduino can't? The USB power to my laptop also works absolutely fine.

joelmc:
Well my 6AAs work absolutely fine? So I'm confused as to how the Arduino can't?

Confused?
Why?

What is there to be confused about?

Something either works. Or it doesn't.

ieee488:
Confused?
Why?

What is there to be confused about?

Something either works. Or it doesn't.

Because my 6AA batteries runs it just fine, and so does my USB power to my laptop. What is the difference between either of those and a power supply??? He stated my Arduino can't do it, but it clearly can? So would a 5V 4A power supply work?

You can get by with less if you know your lighting program to be simple and not demanding. A twinkle program of only a few LEDs on at a time won't need as much power as turning all LEDs on full brightness white.
So when you say it runs 'fine' on AAs, depending on your program, you may just be unaware of the LED showing signs of being underpowered.

I think you should start reading up on the very basics of voltage, current and power, and how those are related.

Your strip may work on your batteries, but you'll drain them really fast. Also the internal resistance of those batteries is probably enough to keep it from blowing up. I'm assuming you're using disposables, where 6xAA is 9V without load, but under load it drops fast. It's hard to believe that even alkaline AA batteries can deliver the full 3600 mA this strip requires.

If you used rechargeables the total voltage would be only 7.2V but their internal resistance is much lower so actually more risk of doing damage, they can supply a lot more current.

The other power supplies you said you tried also simply can't supply the current needed. Connecting your strip to any of those may simply cause it to not work (overload protection kicking in), or you may blow up either the power supply or the LED strip, whichever fails first.

Connecting such a strip to the USB port (which indeed is 5V) is also risky: you may destroy your USB port. 3600 mA is too much for most USB ports, especially if you want to power it for a longer time.

Get a 5V, 4A (or more) power supply. You can use the same to power your Arduino and the LED strip, but not by connecting the LED strip directly to the Arduino or you may destroy the device (depending on how you connect it, and how well the overcurrent protection works).

If you want to use your Arduino to do colour changes or brightness changes of your chip chances are you're going to need some external parts such as MOSFETs to actually switch the power.

If you want to use your Arduino to do colour changes or brightness changes of your chip chances are you're going to need some external parts such as MOSFETs

The colour changes will be handled by the WS2812s

wvmarle:
snip
If you want to use your Arduino to do colour changes or brightness changes of your chip chances are you're going to need some external parts such as MOSFETs to actually switch the power.

All good info, but don't worry about this last bit. You've got addressable LEDs so no MOSFET shenanigans necessary.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH INTP AND wvmarie. It does drain my batteries pretty fast, which is why I wanted to add the option of a power supply. My program has 16 different settings from fades to solid colors.

Aside from the few condescending posts from the people chiming in without real answers, I believe I'm on the right track and extremely thankful. All karma goes to you guys.

I like the way I have the option of using batteries though, so I want to be able to run strip through the Arduino. It seems to work fine with my program, so I don't think I'm going to run it separately unless you guys tell me for sure it's a fire hazard or something.

I'm going with a 5V 5A power supply that's switching.

joelmc:
I want to be able to run strip through the Arduino. It seems to work fine with my program, so I don't think I'm going to run it separately unless you guys tell me for sure it's a fire hazard or something.

I'm going with a 5V 5A power supply that's switching.

Depends on what you mean there. You can CONTROL it from your Arduino, no doubt, but the POWER SUPPLY must be wired directly to the strip, not via the Arduino. The Arduino simply can't supply the power that strip needs, nor is it supposed to.

Straining batteries IS a hazard. Alkalines leak, lithiums explode, I think NiMhs just die a quiet death so maybe not a hazard per se.

I like the way I have the option of using batteries though, so I want to be able to run strip through the Arduino.

Sorry but you don't really, not without a bit of analysis first. Things might seem to appeare to function but unless you do things right you will strain the components to an early death.
With no schematic of how you wired things up then we can not do analysis for you. This forum is full of puzzled people who say, it was working fine yesterday but now it has just stopped working.

If you draw too much power out of a supply the voltage drops and the signal from the Arduino is bigger than the power supply voltage, that is a good way to kill those devices.

Those LEDs will work on a voltage lower than 5V, but will blow up immediately if you give them a true 12V. Anything between 5V and 12V will do various degrees of damage and life shorting.