Hello, I have some analog led-strips and want to control them using arduino. I found multiple tutorials explaining this topic very well, including Adafruits thread and a few youtube videos.
I have strips with 30 leds/meter, which according to adafruit, draw arround 0.6 Amps per meter. I want to power at least 8-10 meters of led strips. Before ordering parts, I want to make sure that I got the parts that fit this project. I will need to measure the leds I have, but I guess I need a power supply capable of 5-6 Amps.
I never used breadboards and am not very familiar with this topic, so its pretty hard for me to understand most of those diagrams.
Adafruit mentions this: "For longer strips requiring more than 1 Amp, wire the power directly to the strip, then run power and ground wires back to the Arduino." Could someone explain this further? Is it meant to be like this?
"For longer strips requiring more than 1 Amp, wire the power directly to the strip, then run power and ground wires back to the Arduino."
It is telling you something about the layout of the construction of the circuit. Take the power supply output and wire it to the strip. Then run a wire from the strip to the power input socket of the Arduino. Don't forget you will also need to connect the ground of the Arduino to the ground of the 12V power supply.
Grumpy_Mike:
You can not use solderless bread board with anything over a few hundred mA, so this amount of current is right out. You need to solder everything up.
The TIP31 is a poor choice for switching such large currents you will need to use a logic level FET. Something like this:- N-channel power MOSFET [30V / 60A] : ID 355 : $2.25 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
It is telling you something about the layout of the construction of the circuit. Take the power supply output and wire it to the strip. Then run a wire from the strip to the power input socket of the Arduino. Don't forget you will also need to connect the ground of the Arduino to the ground of the 12V power supply.
Thanks alot for your answer.
I wasnt planning on using a breadboard with the whole circuit. So a 6amp power supply is enough for 10meters, but I would rather start experimenting with this stuff with a 1 meter strip. I suppose id only have to use another power supply but i could leave the rest of the circuit the way it is? this
"For longer strips requiring more than 1 Amp, wire the power directly to the strip, then run power and ground wires back to the Arduino."
should be working with a small strip aswell am I right?
Delsey:
of the circuit the way it is? this should be working with a small strip aswell am I right?
For a short length, less than 1A current, you can pass the power through the Uno. i.e. 12V PSU --> barrel connector on Uno, then Vin pin on Uno --> breadboard. You should be OK with <1A on the breadboard, so you can test your circuit. Then solder it up for use with a longer strip needing >1A current (but at that stage, you will have to stop feeding the power through the Uno, as mentioned above).
An alternative MOSFET would be stp16nf06l (or anything similar ending ...16nf06l)
I think pulling 1A from the 12V regulator is a bit much. My calculations suggest that 300mA is pushing it with power dissipation. See the second half of this page Power Examples
I normally use just a strip of 6 LEDs for experiments with power direct from the Arduino anything else I use an external power supply. For exact calculations for 1m you need to know the LED density l that is the number of LEDs per meter..
Mike, the 1A is not coming from the regulator, is just the 12V supply passing from the barrel connector to the Vin pin, then to the breadboard/transistor/strip. I think the only component it passes through on the board is a diode. Not sure what part number that diode is, though.
