I purchased this LED Strip (Black, 500m) and I need to know what I need to power this.
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08Y8QXTCL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
Should I be using a certain brightness level?
It’s a 5m X 60 leds / m strip of WS2812B
So you have 300 leds to power
At full white each led can consume 60mA
300 leds x 0.060 A/led = 18A
Libraries such as fastLED allow to set the max brightness lower - and may be not all leds will be at full white so your actual need may be lower.
Depends what you want to do or be ready for.
How can I get this? And do I really need full brightness? This is just for my bedroom.
I want to light uo a room with this.
Meanwell sells quality 5V power supplies
Find a 5V one with at least 18amps. Be careful on the wiring you are talking lots of Watts.
There are other brands
Adafruit has a guide on Neopixels worth reading to really understand how those leds work and how to wire them
But do I need full brightness to light up a room?
Who besides you can answer this?
Where would I find some in Australia?
Ive seen someone power a 5m strip using a samsung charger block (5v 2a)
Post the link to this information.
You can do this too. But 300 diodes will lights like 30.
Why then buy 300...
5v * 2A = 10 W
Do you think 10 watts is enough to light up the whole room?
The leds will take what they can. if you have only 2A and they need 18A then you'll get 1/9th of the actual full power...
also if you want a white lighting, why did you buy an RGB strip ?
on Amazon, like your LEDs, eg https://www.amazon.com.au/LRS-100-5-Power-Supply-Block-Closed/dp/B01HRS7Y10/ref=sr_1_3
@omger
Also take into account that with such currents you need to power the strip in several places, otherwise the leds will glow unevenly.
I would recommend buying several smaller power supplies instead of one powerful one.
For example, 6pcs 5v 3a blocks instead of one 18A.
By the way, perhaps such blocks will be easier to find.
Good question... I dont want it to be white lmao
That is going to be hard because I want to have it taped along the wall
However, it is better to do this. The power traces on the strip are not designed for a current of 18A; the strip must be divided into parts and powered separately
Those "pixels" actually embark 3 small LEDs each, a Red, a Green and a Blue (RGB). each LED at full brightness will consume ~20mA so a full blue pixel for example would consume R=0mA, G=0mA, and B=20mA ➜ only 20mA, three times less.
But I cant do that if it is taped in a high place, can I?
That is a subjective question that I cannot answer. You can determine the minimum voltage you need, then using a voltage drop calculator you can determine what wire size you will need to power the LEDs. If you use about 10' of #14 AWG wire you will be just over 8% loss or for 12V at 18A, that is about 1 volt. I also suggest oversizing the power supply to about 20A, 240W, I believe a standard size.
What you have available I do not know, you will have to determine that yourself.
it's a matter of running wires to the right place and soldering there