diagram for 5050 RGB LED setup

[Steven]

digdeepfundraising wrote:

Can you point me in the right direction of what power supply's I will need to run my controller that I'm planning to run 5x 5050 300 led 5m strips

Last year I used a single 350W power supply to run 2 CMB-16D controllers and 8x 5m strips. No problems.

However, earlier you said:

will this be ok to power 3 CMB16D-QC

So, do you mean 5 strips for each controller for a total of 15 strips? In that case, I would go with separate power supplies.

[digdeepfundraising]

hi steven i have 3 CMB16D-QC but only planning to use 2 at first so a 350w sounds like a plan

and ill just buy 1 more CMB16D-QC and another 350 to run the other 2 ..ill just have to talk the wife around

steven what strips did you use 150 or 300 led strips ???

[Steven]

digdeepfundraising wrote:

steven what strips did you use 150 or 300 led strips ???

I used the Ray Wu 30LEDs/m (5m = 150 LED) strips. They were excessively bright for a spiral mega tree.

[digdeepfundraising]

cool thanks for the info

[edvas69]

Steven wrote:

digdeepfundraising wrote:

Can you point me in the right direction of what power supply's I will need to run my controller that I'm planning to run 5x 5050 300 led 5m strips

Last year I used a single 350W power supply to run 2 CMB-16D controllers and 8x 5m strips. No problems.

If that was for 300 LED per strip that would equate to 48 amps and would require 2 power supplies, but you used 150 LEDs per strip which is 24amps so you had your power supply running at about 85% which is the most efficient use of your power supply, i wouldnt do any more than 8 150 LED strips or 4 300 LED strips per 350 watt power supply



I agree with you that the 150 LEDs is more than bright enough, using the 300 LED strip just seems a waste of money as you need a lot more power to drive it and this will overpower anything else in your display.

[edvas69]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

This is along the same topic. But I understand how to hook up to the LOR DC board. BUT, How many of these can I use per channel?

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/423204013-promotion-5050-SMD-RGB-LED-module-DC12V-input-waterproof-20pcs-a-string-wholesalers.html

I wanted to cut them up into groups of 4. But when I put them back together, How many can I max out on a channel?

Here is a picture:

Lets do the maths

Current = Power(watts) / Volts

0.72 watts / 12 volts

Current per module = 0.06 amps

60 milliamps per module or 20 milliamps per colour.

So the modules are exactly like the strip as they are the same LEDs

So you could have 100 of these connected together which is equal to the same number of sections of a 300 LED strip. This equals 6 amps for 100 modules or 2 amps per colour for 100 modules.

[rgardner518]

What is the ting in the red box? I don't own a dc controller yet. And I was just wondering.


Attached files

[edvas69]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

What is the ting in the red box? I don't own a dc controller yet. And I was just wondering.

I would say its for an input but cant confirm this as LOR havent got the manual online for this

[Steven]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

What is the ting in the red box?

That's for 12v to power the board if you are using it for low-voltage (e.g. 5-volt) devices. If you are using the board for 12v devices, like most of us do, then you don't hook anything up to that.

[rstately]

That is a DC barrel connector, it is for when you are using the board for something less than 12V. Than the board needs to be powered from there.

http://www.lightorama.com/PDF/CMB16D_Man_Web.pdf

[rgardner518]

Thanks for all of your help.

I heard from Mary today. That there are a lot of people who disliked the spade connections on the board. As a result, they are considering bringing back the screw terminals! She said they get flooded with calls requesting they bring them back.

What do everyone else feel on this matter?

I hope they do! I think screw terminals work better with small gauge low voltage wires, like we use.

[cenote]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

I heard from Mary today. That there are a lot of people who disliked the spade connections on the board. As a result, they are considering bringing back the screw terminals! She said they get flooded with calls requesting they bring them back.

What do everyone else feel on this matter?

Depends on the App..I like both, I keep spare boards in my "cave" for playing with new products and while making new props, I can test. On them, I prefer the screw terminals. But the ones I have outside permanently mounted that are running landscape lighting or permanently mounted to a prop, I wouldn't care either way.

[Don]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

Thanks for all of your help.

I heard from Mary today. That there are a lot of people who disliked the spade connections on the board. As a result, they are considering bringing back the screw terminals! She said they get flooded with calls requesting they bring them back.

What do everyone else feel on this matter?

I hope they do! I think screw terminals work better with small gauge low voltage wires, like we use.

Granted, I'm a bit biased here, but the spade terminals have been doing quite well for me. I'd like to see them stick around...

[imacericg]

Just got my strips last night. They are tiny! I was expecting them to be 3-4x the size.

I am going to install them under my soffit for wall washing. I plan to take tons of pictures to show people what I did.

[rstately]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

Thanks for all of your help.

I heard from Mary today. That there are a lot of people who disliked the spade connections on the board. As a result, they are considering bringing back the screw terminals! She said they get flooded with calls requesting they bring them back.

What do everyone else feel on this matter?

I hope they do! I think screw terminals work better with small gauge low voltage wires, like we use.

The screw terminal boards are about 20.00 more each, I like the terminals better, but it wold be nice if they sold both types.

[beeiilll]

I too like the screw terminals over spade connectors but then again I have all CTK16D boards for my controllers rather than saving some money and using the PC line of controllers.
But that is just me. Guess my old military days and building test equipment and systems spoiled me for that "little extra" things that are so cool to use.

Well that and it is only money after all !! LOL

[bob_moody]

I am totally thrown on the power requirement figures that are being presented.

I have a single SMB5050 RGB strip connected to a spade lug LOR DC controller. I have an amp meter between the power supply (a converted PC supply for bench testing) and the LOR board.

110VAc-> PS --> 12VDc --> AmpMeter --> LOR Board -->SMB5050

All three channels on (white) is only drawing 1432mA (1.432 amps) including powering the DC controller.

Even giving some head room (say 2A per strip) thats only 10Amps @12VDc to power a loaded board.

Can someone please show me the error(s) in my ways?

Thanks,

Bob

[CLD Kevin]

I believe the best way to measure the load is using a multi-meter in series. I did this for every type of light I used, wrote down the reading and track it all on a spreadsheet so I wouldn’t overload my controllers/power supply. As many others have stated...its best to stick with the 80-85% rule. Meaning if you have a 30A power supply, 25.5A is the total max load you want on use on it.

For my test, a 12V 5M 150 RGB LED strip is 1.75A DC all-on (21-watts). The specs for the strips stated it was 36-watts and I’m guessing it meant the minimum power requirement is 36-watts...I’ll go with that. Someone else smarter can chime in why it states 36-watts and the actual is 21-watts. Also, I don’t have and never tested a 300 led strip so I can not provide any examples for this.

Each of my LOR DC board had one 30A power supply. I went with this because whether I used 5A or 25A...it didn’t matter. The power was there. I didn’t want to build my controller based on what I was going to do this year. I built it based on what I can do with it any year. This year may only be 5A, but next may be 10A. Do I really want to buy another power supply to upgrade or just know the power is there and ready to go? It may cost a little more upfront, but worth it in the end.

Some say not to double up, back to back, end to end...whatever you want to call it, more than one 5m strip. That each strip should have its own power supply. I’m not stating it wrong at all...fact is, its probably the best and sure way to ensure your strip is getting the proper power. But I’ve personally used two 5m strips end to end in my shows with no problems. I used 18AWG wire and my run was only 20ft, so I’m betting the large gauge wire played a role.

Based off my power test, my 30A controller can handle (14) 12V 5M 150 RGB LED strips which would be 24.5A DC. Also you need to take into account each channel can handle up to 4A DC or 8A DC with heat-sinks. My controllers are built as 5 separate RGB channels so I would only be able to control the 5 RGB channels and not all 14 individually. For this example, I could use 3 strips per RGB channel except one would only use 2 strips. I would NOT end to end all 3 strips...I would end-to-end 2 of them and split the power for the 3rd or split the power for all 3 strips.

So again, the best and sure way to determine proper power requirements is do your own testing. Do not rely on anyone else calculations or testing. Every manufacture, supplier, vendor may be different.


A word of caution...by me stating my personal experience doesn’t guarantee that it will work for you. You MUST do your own testing.


Kevin



PS...Picture of my LOR DC Board with 30A Power Supply inside enclosure. Each black output plug is a RGB channel (4-wire: 1 power, R, G, .

Attached files

[CLD Kevin]

Oh, one more thing...heat inside the enclosure. A few of my controllers was pushing the 25A marker and all the fans running sounded like a jet engine. Leave the door open during the show if possible. I drilled holes in my enclosure and it was still hot. Fortunately for me, mine were in the garage so I removed the doors. But if you’re using a smaller power supply like 10A...you shouldn’t have that problem.

[bob_moody]

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply. It appears I didnt really miss the boat on my measurements. I will update and say that after testing several times, i did finally hit about the same draw you are seeing on single 5050 strip. Mine actually maxed at 1683mA. Funny thing is my shop is cold, but as it warms up, the numbers change.

I do understand the login of the larger supply. If I was fixed on 1 LOR card + 5 strips + 1PS then my statements were probably accurate. I agree with your (and others) logic of providing enough overhead for expansion or reconfiguration.

======

My final (yeah right) question is concerning the "types" of power supplies. I have read people discussing not using converted PC supplies and I fail to see the reasoning. For example, the one on my bench is rated for 15A on the +12VDc output. I do have the ability to utilize the other outputs (-12, +5, -5, and +3.3) but I'm not in this case.

The discussion always turned to "switching" supplies however all the supplies I see being recommended are switching supplies.

I have built fixed voltage transformer supplies from transformers and 4 diodes to form a full wave bridge for DC (or IC packages depending on the circuit.) and depending on the use other components for filtering if needed.

My old Lincoln 225 Arc welder has a full wave bridge in it for DC welding (built long before they offered it as an option), PS's for Ham radio etc.

Am I missing something in "switching" supplies or is it the need for some DIY work to convert an ATX PC supply to run as a bench supply (aka.. no motherboard supplying the signals to turn on).

Are there different types of switching supplies that I'm not aware of?

BTW, I really like your LOR box build. Can you elaborate more on the pigtails and matching connectors?

Bob