DIY BUILD HELP

[DeadMusik]

Booth FUSE BLOCKS have 20 amp fuses inline each input to the main terminal which leads to the psu, so 6 to 1 each having a fuse inline thats booth live and return have fuses

ALSO i have ran this in real world testing with my DMM so my math is of real world expierence, these are visual lights so not full white, also i program them to 200 out of 255.

The last picture denotes my area of concern, what happnes to my math at these posts while configured like I have, also why do my lights are powered on one side so a parallel circuit (right?)

Specs:

Wire AWG INFO : don't laugh grossly overestimated power consumption first round

PSU to TERMINAL BLOCK = 10 solid // can handle anything my project throws at it, the same for below
TERMINAL BLOCK to BUS BLOCK = 12 stranded BUS BLOCK to LED STRIPS = 12 stranded superflex yes I know this is too much I'm new here

DATA is ran with= 22 awg throughout from IC

LEDs:

ws2812b

120 LEDs per strip

2 strips per aluminum extrusion

4 alum extrusion strips

Power:

PSU = 300 watts // project takes approx. 288 watts so 96 percent power comp, little over the 10% mark

TERMINAL BLOCKS = 50 amp capacity using 20 amp fuses on both LIVE and RETURN // safety net???

LEDs = power consumption per 120 LEDs (pixels) per strip = approx. 6.25 watts // not alot yus

5 volt system DC DIRECT

Consumption per strip in amps = 1.25 amps // at full brightness roughly it changes with colors

2 strips combined is approx. 12.5 watts // 2 LED strips in an extrusion power consumption

Now in my first picture supplied not V2, my lights lit up efficiently and safely, ran them for 24 hours and my wires never got hot, yes I did overkill way overkill on purpose as my solder skills are above average so no shorts.

Will my V2 work efficiently as the first one when I switch over with the "CONSOLIDATION" of wires with the added second BUS BLOCK, thus bringing the spare LEDs to a BUS BLOCK and freeing up other terminal posts? Now with this alteration, I have connected (2) sources to (1) terminal block that once had only (1) source.

My strips do not have a closed loop // the LIVE and RETURN are only fed at (1) end.
I'm basically confused about what I'm doing to my circuit and will it perform properly. I am not interested in changing up my circuit completely, as I have made a bunch of custom wiring for it, but if I am completely lost please let me know.

Once again the final question is will my (V2) drawing work for my 4 LED fixtures (8 strips @ 120 LEDs) @ 300 available PSU watts.

My math shows I'm at 96 percent at (V1) drawings, but when I make this alteration to the wiring and having two sources on on post, what does that do to my math?

Thank you for reading this and please let me know any material you have vested interests in, as I am always willing to buy a book and learn.

[colorado_kid]

You don't need fuses on your negative (you're calling it return). Just hook all the black wires together and connect that to the negative of your power supply.

You can't interchange watts and amps. Watts = Volts times Amps (Watts Law)

Some of your math is off. WS2812B pulls about 52ma per pixel when at full power. That means each of your strips needs to have about 6.2A (0.52ma * 120LED's = 6.24A)
For sanity sake Watts = Amps * Volts, so (6.24*5=31.2Watts) per LED strip.
Lets stick with Amps
Your Power supply has a rating of how many amps come out of the 5V output. Don't go over 80% of that (50% if it is a cheap Chinese thing from amazon or ebay)
So you want your strips to stay <80% of the fuse rating, so (6.24A / 0.80 = 7.8) so go for a 8ish amps per strip.

I don't know what the things on the bottom are, so I can't advise you on that.

You ask about running 8 strips. 6.24A * 8 = 6.24 about 50A which is 250 watts.

Don't think that you won't turn on all the LED's at the same time...Trust me, you'll want to...while you are wearing sunglasses.

Pro tip, If you need a good cheap high current power supply use one from an old dead PC. Google "PC as a bench supply" for how to do that. Do not open the box for the Power Supply, it's not necessary. I use an old ANTEC power supply on my bench. It's good for about 20A at 5V (not enough for this project, but good for most)

When you want to do lots of strips you could run WS2811 (12V versions) it cuts the current in less than half. 2.66A per strip, instead of 6.24. See, it's the same watts, but at higher voltage, you need less amps to get the same power. At 2.6A per strip, a Antec 850W power supply can swing 21 LED strips without going over 80%, and still have a 5V rail to run your arduino etc.

[DeadMusik]

First off I want to say thank you for the lengthy response which doesn't include my question.
but non the less thank you,

soo....
"I don't know what the things on the bottom are, so I can't advise you on that."
im taking a shot in the dark, what you referring to is a BUS BLOCK.

what i needed advice on is my areas on concern of adding two sources to a termial in my currently configured circuit, which i have ran and tested for over 24 hours..

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me state i have gathered my own data from what my own needs are.

1. I dont need to program them to 255 to max the current out on my strips, 200 does nicley in my code.
   (no sunglasses required)

2. These are for visual arts so, once again its not FULL WHITE AT 255 BRIGHTNESS , my leds will and never be ran like this as they are VISUAL EFFECTS, i have rested many different styles of my performance and left them on a setting of white for over 2 hrs at periods and took calculations.

3. My Math is REAL WORLD DMM CALULATIONS concurrent with my setup, so i am going to stick to my 1.25 current draw per stip (1 of the 2 in the extrusion)

thank you for your suggestions for materials but i will stick with my plan.

also show me where i am interchanging WATTS AND CURRENT wrong please, in my math supplied,
once again thank you for replying.

-Drel

[DeadMusik]

Oh and the reasoning for my fuse block on booth sides is just he ease of wiring rather simple wiring than 8 wires to one huge bolt for my negative and the symmetry with the fuses looks cool tbh.