Need the opinion of an electronics whiz – to confirm shared/common grounds.
If I’m running one 12-volt line to three buck converters to drop the voltage to 5-volts, and then running…
buck converter 1 to the beginning of LED strip A
buck converter 2 to the end of LED strip A
and buck converter 3 to the start of strip B
…do I need to connect the ground from buck converter 1 or 2 to the ground of buck converter 3? Or are they already sharing a common ground by virtue of being connected to the same (12-volt) source?
(I should clarify, by “ground” I mean the “negative”. Sorry if I’m getting the terminology wrong)
From my experience, the outputs of buck-converters should not be tied together. The important thing to note is your supply voltage is from the same source.
You can tie the outputs of buck converters together, best practice is to use a diode in series with the vcc line to provide isolation should one converter fail. As to ground … all grounds should terminate at 1 point. Avoid “loops” at all costs. In this instance I assume you want to dual feed strip one because of anticipated current through the strip conductors. To avoid a loop … cut the ground conductor mid strip. If you cut the vcc you won’t need isolation diodes. And your terminology is correct …
You are correct in your assumption … it is a bad idea to tie two “driven” or current sourcing output together … if one fails, it could cause the failure of the other. Placing diodes in series minimizes that risk …
Thank you VERY much! I don’t understand the diode in series, but you’ve pointed me in the right direction and I’m more than happy to do my own research from this point. Thanks again!