I need i little help with power injecting in my project. My project consists of 20 bars of 1m (60 LEDs, WS2812b) connected to each other (planning to use XLR connectors) and i’ll use 4 5v 20a power supplies, each one will power 5 bars. So after the first 5 bars it’ll need power inject. Is a XLR splitter (T connector) the best way to add power(i need a more plug and play solution)? Can this type of connector take the amount of current? And i see a lot of projects using very thin wires, am I exagerating on thinking about using 12 AWG wire to make the connections between each bar?
P.S I’m not using arduino in this project anymore. It’s a Artnet pixel controller, i know this is a FastLED community but i need help and you guys have much more experience in this than me.
Sorry for my english
Thanks
I’ve successfully used XLR for clockless leds (WS2812b/Neopixel) but I was definitely careful to use cable gauges and panel mounts that were appropriate for the amount of power they would handle. Neutrix has some high-current XLR jacks like this one (16A per contact): http://www.neutrik.com/en/xlr/dlx-series/nc3fd-lx.
You may also want to consider impedance matching the data lines with a thicker gauge cable like that? I never did… but I never noticed any flickering with the 10ft cables I was using at the time.
You could also consider using speakon cable for power and separate cat6 cable for data…?
For a project of mine that used ~2000 ws2812b leds I just made my own cables that fit my needs. It was kind of like a cat6 cable but with two high gauge wires for power and high-current connectors (plus high-current panel mounts for the computer box). My local electronics store had tons of different wires on reels. If it’s within your budget I’d highly recommend just making your own!
@Drew_Andre1 Thanks!
But even this connector wont work because 5 bars would need 18A right?
In this image You can see that these guys use, something like the standart wire that comes in the strip, and these rolls are 5m.
And in theory the thin wire that comes in the roll should be enough to power it, or am i wrong?
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@Murilo_Donin_de_Souz I think your cable requirements will also largely depend on how bright you’re planning to run your installation. The calculation of 60ma/led = 18A/5m is really only for MAX on full bright white. Anything less and you’ll use significantly less power. Running your LED’s at a brightness setting of 128 instead of 255 uses half the amount of power but still appears about 80% as bright. Also, if you’re showing colors instead of white, you’ll use significantly less power.
Long story short: I’ve never had a problem with 22 (or even 24) AWG to power 300 pixels. I usually use JST connectors because they are cheap and easy and thats what the strips usually come with anyway. And even for a 1200 pixel project like yours, I’ve used no thicker than 18AWG for my main connection to power supplies and thats been fine, but I also almost never run my LEDs at full brightness.
Yeah, Chad is definitely correct in thinking about the brightness requirements of the project. I mean to answer your question, you should be able to use XLR just fine as long as the connectors and XLR cable gauge are relatively appropriate.
I once made a little XLR male connector-to-JST connector so that my little arduino could output to the leds through XLR. Power was of course not supplied from the arduino. XLR is super convenient so I understand why you’d want to use that.
You do have to be careful with mixing XLR cables/brands because some of them have different wirings on the cable connectors… If you look inside an XLR jack you’ll see a 1, 2, and 3 labeled. Some cables will have the pin left of the bottom pin (if looking straight into the cable connector) labeled as 1, while others will label it as 3. I’d just recommend you use the same brand cable across your whole setup.
Can anyone else speak to this? I’m no experience but I’m speaking from experience and XLR adventures that have worked well in the past for me.