Powering big LED installations - what’s the best way to do it?
I am planning a big installation with 4x 4m of 60/m led strips (a total of 960 LEDs, drawing a maximum of ~288W => 57.6A @5V)
My plan is to power 2 and 2 strips with a 150W power supply each, connecting only the ground and data line between both sections.
Will this setup work?
Do any of you guys have other ideas / experiences with such a setup?
Thanks for your feedback.
Down fall I see of bigger power supplies is bigger footprint… but if that is not a problem… I have connected 60 separate strips plus their arduinos with 7 different 300w power supplies. Tying together the grounds is the key.
I’m having success using tinned copper braid as a power bus. If it’s a fixed installation (like my panel https://plus.google.com/112974620627169436992/posts/Hu73or5E9Ew) I’d run power and ground straps up one side connected to a single 300W PSU, and connect each strip to the bus individually. Don’t skimp on the gauge of the 5V wire from the PSU to the bus.
As 300W PSUs are reasonably easily available, I wouldn’t use two 150W supplies, it doesn’t give you any redundancy—if one of them fails, the other will have to instantaneously take up the slack and it’ll almost certainly blow too. If you need/want redundancy, put a bus up each side on its own 300W PSU and connect each strip to both. Don’t forget to tie the grounds together as @Justin_Eastman says.