Powering RGB strips

[pghquest]

Got all my lights up, power supplies are here, waiting for controllers and the enclosures to ship.  Both are ordered, but still waiting.

 

I'm braking the house up into 4 segments with 4 power supplies, 4 controllers.

 

Patiently waiting, seems the company above for enclosures is having technical difficulties, and unable to communicate very well, and the controllers, I'm still waiting for a shipping confirmation, despite ordering them a week ago..

 

I'm approaching the time crunch, but I feel better with the lights up.  I'd feel better if I knew exactly what I was doing, but I think I'm pretty close.

[pghquest]

thank you....I saw some on amazon 150 pixels...12v

how does it work w LOR/ through the cat5 cable?

I went with the 300 pixel units.  I had one of each and was happier with the look of the 300.  Gave more of a neon light look, but of course they consume twice the power.

 

From my understanding, the lights plug into the controller, and one can either

1) use a generic controller, that doesn't connect to the LOR units to control the lights, but connect the power supply to the LOR system which will then power the lights off and on, which wont give you the capability to change colors using the pc.  (but the remote will allow it)

2) Get a computer controlled controller, which then connect using the Cat5 cable, and then run wire from the controller to the RGB lights, (such as this wire http://www.amazon.com/Extension-Cable-Line-Color-Strip/dp/B009VD3EW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379949907&sr=8-1&keywords=rgb+wire )

I've seen videos where they use cat 5 cable to run from the controller to the lights as well, allowing 2 strans (the orange and orange/white) for power, and the other 4 to control the lights.

 

I don't have my controllers, so I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[pghquest]

Making progress slowly..  New problem came up.. 

 

I have all my lights up, and I bought 4 different power supplies, I have 1 power supply so far going to the LOR controller (decided to go with the LOR unit)..

 

I ran my first song, worked perfect..

Now how the heck do I get power to the 2nd light set..  I bought some amplifiers, http://www.amazon.com/TSSS-Repeater-Signal-Amplifier-warranty/dp/B00A46UAQO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380159799&sr=8-1&keywords=rgb+amplifier

 

but they don't appear to be waterproof.. I did hook one up to the LOR controller, and got it to work as well, but if I take 1 light, and then an amplifier, (for the same run), and then the light, and then another amplifier, I'll end up with tons of cables, and I still wont solve the waterproofing of the amplifier..

 

I did see a video somewhere, where they used network cable, used the orange orange/white one for power, and then the other 4 for the lights, but I cant see running all of the lights on the one little cable..

 

What am I missing?

[pghquest]

btw, this is the power supply I'm working with

 

http://www.amazon.com/NEEWER%C2%AE-Switch-Power-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00F3WQN0G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1380160147&sr=8-3&keywords=rgb+power+supply+360w

[Frank Farmer]

pghquest,

Did you switch controllers?  Earlier you said you had 6 strings hooked up and working, what contoller were you using then?

[pghquest]

pghquest,

Did you switch controllers?  Earlier you said you had 6 strings hooked up and working, what contoller were you using then?

Earlier I was just using the ones that come with the lights, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ASHQQKI/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not a computer controlled one.

 

So I bought this

http://store.lightorama.com/cmdedcca3.html

 

Which works fine, I just cant figure out still how I should power all of the lights without running individual wires for each one.

[pghquest]

Ok, doing some further testing, (and with help from LOR), it seems that they say I should be able to run 4 strips of LED lights on one channel, but its more like 2..  (since my house is broken up into segments of 2..  This will limit the number of power supplies and amplifiers I need to something reasonable.. Just need a few housing boxes to put the amplifiers in and then start sealing everything up..

 

progress is made..    Cant wait till tonight when I can see what they look like..

 

At least now I can start programming the sequences to add them because I know what I'll be doing..