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All things Pixels and Power Injecting


caniac

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IMO I should be able to run a strand of 150 pixels (under the 512 limit of DMX) per output on my controller without power injection.  Have run 100 pixels just fine but that additional 50 pixels can make things wonky.  I am in the planning stages for next year and would like to clear this up.  I am using an AlphaPix16 controller from HolidayCoro.

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General rule is 12v can do 100 pixels and 5v can do 50 pixels before you need to power inject, some more some less. However you must also keep in mind that most of the time you need to power inject because most controllers have a 4-5 amp limit per port and three strings of 50 (150) will definitely exceed that limit if you are trying to pull all the power through the port.

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On my first pixel project with 125 pixel wreath, I added power injection.  During testing, I could see a slight brightening with  full white on.   But for anything else, really couldn't see any effect with or w/o injection.  Was 25ft between controller and pixels, using 16/3 wire. 

Floowed with 160 pixels on a twig tree, with same 25ft of 16/3 and didn't add power injections.  Sequence colors seem as they should be.  Going to add 4 more tres next season and just don't see the need for  extra injection wiring.

Should make note...running both reath and tree as a background sequences and it never goes full white...only slimming white.

 

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I am not saying to do this, but i had my fence line with 300 dumb nodes running off one DC SSR, on full white, i could see a dimming, but on any other color, the dimming was very little. The SSR's use a 10 amp mosfet.

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11 hours ago, caniac said:

IMO I should be able to run a strand of 150 pixels (under the 512 limit of DMX) per output on my controller without power injection.  Have run 100 pixels just fine but that additional 50 pixels can make things wonky.  I am in the planning stages for next year and would like to clear this up.  I am using an AlphaPix16 controller from HolidayCoro.

I would plan on adding power.

 

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22 hours ago, Mr. P said:

More controllers is always a good thing  :)

that's my thought too!!  I just hear alot about power injecting et al and trying to get a handle on it.

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More controllers is also what I've done. I keep my universes at 100 pixels per so I don't have to add power.

Injecting power is fairly easy but I like the keeping it easy and since most everything I've done uses 50 or 100 pixels staying at 100 per universe is easy for me. Okay maybe I'm a little lazy too and don't want to go through the extra step of running wire in to inject power.

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I use 12v pixels because I wish to avoid injecting power.  I also keep all my pixel controller outputs to 100 pixels or fewer so I don't have to fart around with extra wire and having to inject power.  I add controllers because I'm getting old and lazy and it's simpler and easier than injecting power.

 

(Note to the astute: yes, there's a pattern.)

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I too use 12v pixels and power inject in several locations as the pixel counts are over 300 (rooflines and multi-props).

I use multiple power supplies and tee injection cables from both Coro and CLD, I have also had success this year injecting power in the middle of a long run.

Key is to do the math and verify voltage drop as you need 9v at last pixel.

Never connect positives from different power supplies.

 

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3 hours ago, Vince4xmas said:

Key is to do the math and verify voltage drop as you need 9v at last pixel.

I'm sure that number varies with different pixels, but my experience indicates a higher number required.  I currently have three strips in my year round landscape lighting that required power injection.  None of my Christmas additions require power injection (this year).  All are 12 volt WS2811 strips obtained from Ray Wu with three RGB LEDs per pixel, and driven by one of two SanDevices E6804s.  The strips in front of my roses are 48 LEDs per meter and configured as 11 pixels (33 LEDs), then about 15 inches of cable, and repeat that pattern.  One length is eight sections for 88 pixels or 264 LEDs, and the other is nine sections for 99 pixels or 297 LEDs.  In both cases, I found that the end couple groups had a noticable color shift.  Because of the way I had conduit availability, power was injected three groups before the end of each string.  I did not measure voltages, only observed the color shift.

The third strip that required power injection is about 30 feet of 30 LEDs per meter 12 volt WS2811 strip for 94 pixels (or 288 LEDs).  I knew when I installed it that I would need power injection, but I wanted to see what it looked like without it first.  The farther along the strip away from the controller, the dimmer the strip got and by the end the color shift was quite pronounced.  With the entire strip at full white, I measured a little under 10 volts at the end.  In this case, power was injected at the far end of the strip.

In both cases, the power injection is coming from the same power supply that powers the E6804 and start end of the strips.

 

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I don't understand the talk about "all those extra wires" for PI. I have props of well over 170, pixels packed, and I run ONE wire along the lights and drop power where power is needed....And I am old and lazy, too.

Just depends on the display, If I had mine to every output <100, I would have 4 times as many wires, even if I strategically place the controllers.

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I don't understand the talk about "all those extra wires" for PI. I have props of well over 170, pixels packed, and I run ONE wire along the lights and drop power where power is needed....And I am old and lazy, too.
Just depends on the display, If I had mine to every output


I'd rather just use more outputs on the controller. My pixel tree is all 50 ct strings up, I don't have my strings zig zagging for that purpose. I find it easier at setup time


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On 12/31/2016 at 4:29 PM, mpageler said:

On my first pixel project with 125 pixel wreath, I added power injection.  During testing, I could see a slight brightening with  full white on.   But for anything else, really couldn't see any effect with or w/o injection.  Was 25ft between controller and pixels, using 16/3 wire. 

Floowed with 160 pixels on a twig tree, with same 25ft of 16/3 and didn't add power injections.  Sequence colors seem as they should be.  Going to add 4 more tres next season and just don't see the need for  extra injection wiring.

Should make note...running both reath and tree as a background sequences and it never goes full white...only slimming white.

 

I have several feet of 16/3 wire but have not tried any. I was told that data line probably wouldn't work correctly with 16/3 wire. Looks like I need to put that wire to use.

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Can somebody point me in the direction, where I can see a pixel layout. That includes power injection etc. I was thinking at having a look at pixels. But, have no idea where to start. Thanks

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Can somebody point me in the direction, where I can see a pixel layout. That includes power injection etc. I was thinking at having a look at pixels. But, have no idea where to start. Thanks

Have you gone to the Ausi Christmas site and read the 101 manual, that's where I got started. It's sort of dated at this point but gets you the basics you need to start to understand it


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16 hours ago, saxon said:

I don't understand the talk about "all those extra wires" for PI. I have props of well over 170, pixels packed, and I run ONE wire along the lights and drop power where power is needed....

Really should run power AND ground for power injection, not just power.  Ya know there is just as much resistance in the ground wiring of the pixels as there is in the power wiring.

 

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4 hours ago, k6ccc said:

Really should run power AND ground for power injection, not just power.  Ya know there is just as much resistance in the ground wiring of the pixels as there is in the power wiring.

 

Jim - communication error - I did not mean a single wire. When I said one wire I meant a pair/cable/+ & -, my bad, sorry for the confusion.

Yeah, I know about the resistance. I use 16 gauge landscape wire (+ & -) for PI.

I have always preached to run pos and neg to power inject, running only one is only solving half the problem.

 

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