Hi!
I need to power a total of 5 meters of 144 LED per meter RGBW strip, which will be divided into 5 separate sections.
I can’t find any information about what power supply I need anywhere obvious, can anyone recommend on? Would I need more than one power supply to light up 5 metres?
Thanks!
This may help you figure it out.
Powering NeoPixels | Adafruit NeoPixel Überguide | Adafruit Learning System
Great work!!! Thanks
Glad to have helped. I’m also a member on their forum, same username I use here. I’ve probably bought as much stuff from them as I have from Pimoroni. I’m scared to add up the totals, ;)
My final conclusion is that I need a 10a 5v DC power supply to power 144 individual LEDs. Right?
My working is:
“Each individual NeoPixel draws up to 60 milliamps at maximum brightness white (red + green + blue)”
144 x 60= 8640 which is 8.6 amps, rounding up, to 10 cause that is what is available on Amazon.
5v DC cause they are all DC.
Just one question: is it different if it’s RGB and RGBW?
That looks about right, after doing some quick math. I got 8.64 A (@ 60ma per LED) not counting what the Pi uses.
I have one of these 5V 10A switching power supplies, 5V 10A switching power supply : ID 658 : $29.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
And a couple of the 4A versions. No complaints, they worked just fine for me. I cut the barrel jack plug off and soldered on my own Micro USB cables. The barrel jack (jacks) that I found were not rated for 10A, or even 4A. Keep that in mind.
My 5V 10 A supply is wired up so it can run up to 4 Pi’s at once.
Nice! I’ll be using a plasma2040 powered via USB, so that is a separate system.
Edit: just checked, RGBW is 80miliamps per led 👍 will adjust calculations as necessary
If your going to use two power supplies, keep them isolated from each other. A common ground connection is needed but don’t connect the two +5V together. One to the RP2040 and the other to the LED’s.
Thanks for the advice!
Luckily I will be working just off USB power on a scaled-down version until I have this checked over by a (semi) professional. I have a lot of learning to do with the programming side of things first.
Out of interest, are micro USBs rated for as high as 10A?
I wouldn’t think so no, not even close. The actual spec is or was I believe 1A max.
I replaced the barrel jack on my 10A supply with this.
T Connector Male-Female Pair – Pimoroni
I just soldered on my wires and heat shirked them. For cables to the Pi(s) I used these.
Mote Module Cables – Pimoroni
I cut them in half and only wire up the power leads to the T connector. I didn’t have to use the T connector but it gives me options to swap cables latter on without having to redo things.