As a preface I am installing LEDs strips into drums with special acrylic designed to absorb and reflect LED light. One loop in each drum is 7 meters of LED strip so two would be 14 meters I am trying to decide between the following configuratuons:
1x 60/m ring in the top of the drum (Approx. 26A max)
2x 30/m rings in top and bottom of drum in parallel (Appox. 30A max)
2x 60/m with rings in top and bottom in parallel (Approx. 55A max)
If I am looking for my drums to provide a decent light show at gigs will 2 30 LED per meter strips in each drum be bright and flashy or should I commit to the major AMP upgrade and do 2 60 LED per meter.
I plan to use a 600W power supply from an old computer as I think it should have the amps to handle everything.
Who knows what is bright enough when you put LEDs in some "unknown " drum.
The only thing is to try it and see.
If I were you, I would use as much LEDs and effects as I can. Try to make an impressive decoration.
Have fun with your project.
mongldroid:
I plan to use a 600W power supply from an old computer as I think it should have the amps to handle everything.
Probably not. What kind of strips do you plan to use? 5V or 12V? However, your power supply will have different maximum currents on either rail. More than this, it will even have multiple rails for each voltage. You should check for that carefully.
I would want to look at how bright the rest of the stage is going to be? If it's fairly dark you can probably go with 30, but if it's a full production and a larger audience I would look to go with the 60. If they are too bright, you can always turn them down. However, if they are not bright enough there's no way to gain more. All that being said.... if you run 2 rows of 30, you might have a more versatile system where you use 1 row for small venues and 2 for larger venues.
Maybe post links to the strips that you're looking at.
But more importantly, look at the spec of the power supply and check the max. current at the required voltage. Old ones usually have a sticker on them that states e.g. 5V:10A and 12V:5A (just thumbsuck numbers).
thanks for the input. the shells i am using are called starglow white and can be found around youtube.
i went with the 2x 5V 30/m strips wired in parallel but decided to upgrade to RGBW SK6812 strips so I get an extra 30 LEDS of white per meter.
I checked my power supply and it gives off 30A on the 5V rail so I will need to find a bit more power unfortunately...
I would look into the 12v pixels, in theory you should be able to power it with about 1/2 the amperage.
12v is not a bad idea, I had a hard time finding rgbw, responsive, 30 per meter and 12v all in one package. On the other hand I found another old power supply that says it only has 1 5v rail and gives off 38A. This should do nicely.
Is there any heat consideration needed with the higher amp lower volt choice I made? I am using 18AWG wire with a max length of 4ft and load of 2.5A