Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hi trying to figure how big a power supply i need to run 15 rgb strips 16 ftl 5050/12v/300leds/72watts I"ll be using 3 lor dc boards each strip on its own 3 channels 5 strips per dc board i want to run one 12v power supply for all 3 dc boards any info would be helpfull Thanks Dennis Laff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hi,Take your total watts and divide by 12 to get the number of amps you need then add 5% for safety.So if your total watts is 500 then you need:500/12 = 41.7 ... 41.7 * 1.05 = 44 amps so you would need a 45/50 amp supply.You may find it less expensive to get multiple supplies because very large DC supplies sometimes are more per amp than smaller, more common supplies.In your case if each of the 15 strips is 72 watts you would need about 100 amps. That is a big supply. You may be better off with three smaller supplies.Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 lets back up just 1 step please and Ill do my best to help, if not FastEddy will be in here to help out soon Im sure of it. Theres a beacon that drags him into these threads.To clarify you are going to run 15 stips of 16 foot correct. The complete strip not parts of the strip. So in total you will have 240 feet of RGB running of the 3 LOR DC boards? This will help out a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Yes thats what i want to do 15 strips on 3 lor dc boards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 It would seem Dan beat me to it. I wouldnt run all 3 off 1 DC power supply. It would cost more than 2 or 3 smaller units. To pull that kind of amperage I would go with 3 units total to give yourself some overhead. 12v 40amp units to give yourself some room. Not saying it cant be done on 1 power supply as even Dan stated above, but a 100a output power supply would be expensive and Im certain will have some heat to contend with at full load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 So do i need 3 power supplys that equal 50 amps total or 3 fifty amp that equal 150 amps Thanks again Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Dennis Laff wrote:So do i need 3 power supplys that equal 50 amps total or 3 fifty amp that equal 150 amps Thanks again DennisHi Dennis,You will have 5 of those ribbons on each of the controllers. Each of them is 72 watts. So that is a total of 5 * 72 = 360 watts. To get the amps you divide by 12 volts (amps = watts/volts) so you get 360/12 = 30 amps.Thus each controller will have 5 ribbons which is 30 amps. But you want to have a little bit of wiggle room with your calculations so you should get a power supply a little larger than 30 amps (35 would be sufficient).You would need one of those power supplies for each group of 5 ribbons.Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Thanks very much for you help Dan . now i"ll start to shop for 3 power supplys.Dennis Laff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Also like to thank Goofyguy Dennis Laff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 No problem Dennis, Dan beat me to it, and hes been doing this a lot longer than I. Regardless of what info I give out if Dan says diffrent or Bob then guess what I was wrong.Im running 8 RGb strip baords but most of my strips will only be a meter or two long thats why I asked. I can run 20 strips on 1 power supply becuase of this setup.Your running those long of runs it will be a bright display! That many LEDs per meter of 5050 will be bliding. Is there a reason you went with 60 per meter over 30. I have a few of each at home and Im content with 30 per meter which would help out with your load variables as well. As well at 30 per meter you might be able to squeeze that power out of 1. And if Dan would finish thsi up you can run each side of a baord of a differnt power supply so you can run 1.5 boards from a 30a power supply at that time.No matter what I gotta see a static picture of this. Your gonig to get complaints from the FAA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 GoofyGuy wrote:No problem Dennis, Dan beat me to it, and hes been doing this a lot longer than I. Regardless of what info I give out if Dan says diffrent or Bob then guess what I was wrong..........snip Never think that Dan and Bob cannot be wrong! Now that would be wrong! If you think something differently than us, please never hesitate to double check us!If you are going to split a device (such as one of these ribbons) across sides of the card you are best off with a single power supply.Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 GoofyGuy wrote: lets back up just 1 step please and Ill do my best to help, if not FastEddy will be in here to help out soon Im sure of it. Theres a beacon that drags him into these threads.No need, the guru Dan has answered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 edvas69 wrote: GoofyGuy wrote: lets back up just 1 step please and Ill do my best to help, if not FastEddy will be in here to help out soon Im sure of it. Theres a beacon that drags him into these threads.No need, the guru Dan has answered See you came in, and he beat me to the response as when I was writing the post his reply was not there. Regardless I knew you could not stay away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edvas69 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 GoofyGuy wrote: edvas69 wrote: GoofyGuy wrote: lets back up just 1 step please and Ill do my best to help, if not FastEddy will be in here to help out soon Im sure of it. Theres a beacon that drags him into these threads.No need, the guru Dan has answered See you came in, and he beat me to the response as when I was writing the post his reply was not there. Regardless I knew you could not stay away.Your right so i decided to copy my response from over at PC here based on the system that the original poster wants Unfortunatly the lights and controller configuration that you require dont mix very easily to make an efficient design.If we use the most cost effective power supply being a run of the mill 350 watt power supply which will run 4 of these strips at 85% efficency and a total current draw of 24 amps (4strips x 6amps) So if you are using a 16 channel LOR DC board which has 8 outputs per bank that means you use 4 strips per controller with a 350 watt power supply (2 strips per bank) that leave 4 channels remaining per controller.You cannot mix power suppies together so you cant use the extra 4 channels unless you go for a larger power supply or a power supply that allows parrallel connection but these are very expensive.You could use a 4th board and a 4th power supply if you plan to run that much 300 LED strip or dish out for larger power suppliesBut as most people in other threads have said the 300 LED strip is insanely bright and you may want to reconsider using the 150 led strip as this will be a much cheaper design for you because you could then do it with 3 LOR boards and 3 250 watt power supplies which are cheaper again.Cheaper is good because that means you have more money to spend on more lights, controllers and power supplies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 What i am doing is putting the 15 strips on the ground in a half circle that will be 33ft end to end . then putting 5 archs behind this. one arch 8ft across 2 archs 6ft across and 2 more 4 ft across . seen something like this at the zoo in chicago il the have a huge christmas light show at christmas time i lost count at 150 lor controllers i"m going to check on the 150 led strips however i already have 5 strips with 300 leds now Thanks guys for the help Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 maybe i "ll switch to led light strings instead of strips but i want 3 colors on each strip so then i would need 3 lor controllers 250=$750 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 The arches I assume are not the moving arches just a static piece on your yard that you can light? I would stay with the strips if you plan on running colors as the controllers and strings would outweigh the way your doing this very fast.Dont let the small stuff trip you up, I almost did the same last year. If you have an idea of what you want it to look like go for it! Remember with the RGB strips you color choices are nearly limitless which is why Im changing to them this year.As for 150 vs 300 per strip this is once again preference. The 300 is a lot of light and if you want it go for it, heck Ive seen 600 per strip as well, 3285 not 5050 but still thats a ton of light. I say spend 20 bucks on a 150 strip and see if it looks uniform enough for you. If so you will save yourself some power. If not Get a few more power supplies and land some aircraft on that yard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 the archs have leds m6 lights the strips on the ground i want to use rgb"s for all the color options for 2011 i built the superstar christmas tree with 12 ccr"s and a 6 channel star i reallry like the look of the rgb"s strip the ones i plan to use on the ground will be attached to 1/2 square tubing 6in off ground and will be dumb Thanks Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 If Im not mistaken isnt the CCR a 150LED strip over 5m? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Laff Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Yes they are but a friend gave 5 of the 300 led strips but looks like the way to go is to just buy 15 strips 150 led 3 lor dc boards 3 16.5 amp dc transformers or maybe just fish tank and start a new hobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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