I have been asked to light up the struts of a balcony so I

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I have been asked to light up the struts of a balcony so I was looking for some practical advice about wiring up the leds…

What kind of connectors would I be best using? They need to be waterproof obviously. There are 24 x 1m struts so there will be lots of connections.

I was thinking of powering it at both ends but would I also need to power it in the middle?

I was planning on using a teensy and octows2811 adaptor with FastLED.

Thanks for any advice! Rob

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@Rob_Hilken you could solder and shrink-tube it with glue lined tube; however you can’t disassemble so easily. http://www.heatshrink.com/pc_combined_results.asp?pc_id=92F2FE9EE162419280E075B694253B5F
Water proofed connectors can be found in automotive and naval supplies.
You should have a decent crimp tool.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Kits-Car-Auto-4-Pin-Way-Sealed-Waterproof-Electrical-Wire-Connector-Plug-Set-/360887275298
http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=splash_proof&channel=products&chanName=family&pageTitle=Introduction

or this with cables already crimped on:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-sets-4-Pin-Way-Car-Waterproof-Electrical-Connector-Plug-With-Wire-AWG-Marine-C-/252365901256

WRT the power: it is recommended to inject power every 1m, you might span it out to 2m, but that’s about it. Even if you are using very low power animations / brightness you will see after 4m flickering.
Now calculate your power supply:
each LED will draw up to 0.06A
If you are using 60 LEDs/m you have
24 x 60 x 0.06 = 86.4 Amps (!)

If you are going to split it up to multiple power supplies: Connect all grounds and feed the positive to the individual strips.
DO NOT CONNECT POSITIVES TOGETHER.

Have fun and post a video of your balcony :slight_smile:

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I use the car waterproof connectors for my outdoor projects, they’re a bit chunky but I haven’t found any smaller waterproof connectors.

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@Jeremy_Spencer if you are just looking for splash water proved you can use this type
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Japan-Rundstecker-Stecker-Set-fur-wasserdichte-Verbindungen-100-teilig-/251864917203?hash=item3aa451a4d3:g:cpUAAOSwnipWVW13
Then you can arrange them as you like. If you stagger them the wire harness is pretty slim.