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Can I power inject like this?


brichi

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so my setup is like what you see in the sad diagram I made below, lol

I have 8 arches, a pixie 4 powering all 8, runs great but I need to inject power at every other arch being I am using 1 16 foot 300 LED strip for 2 arches. I was going to run 4 power only cables from the 12v p/s to every other arch where injection is needed but that may look messy so I was thinking of running 1 30-40foot 16awg 2 conductor cable from the p/s to the last arch and then t-tap in at every other where needed. Will this work or will I again lose some power by the time I get down the line for the injection. was going to use the holiday Coro cables and t-taps which I believe at 18awg

 

this is what I would like to do

arch.png

Edited by brichi
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Hi Brichi;

I am doing something similar. However, I have a power distribution board with fuses for the power injection. Coming out of the power supply.  I went with larger wire between the power supply and injection point because I had a problem that convinced me the 18 gauge was causing a drop over a distance that was between 10 and 15 ft.  However 18 gauge may work, you have to try.

For the data, you definitely don't want to connect the 4 outputs data wires.  I would separate them into banks of 2 arches and have power, ground, data at one end and power ground at the other and fuse that for safety.  Depending on the volts between the two arches, you may need a tap in the center of each pair also.

I. bought some volt meters leds on eBay and attached connections to measure the voltage at the ends of my strips.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Green-0-36-DC-0-30V-LED-Display-Digital-Voltage-Voltmeter-Panel-Car-Motorc-/152042555396?hash=item2366714804

These come in handy.

Regard,

Mike

 

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If you send Holiday Coro a note he has some diagrams that are helpful to illustrate power injection.  You might even find them in his blog.   If I figure out where I saw them, there is a whole wiki on it also.  Just don't cross the + side of two power supplies.

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11 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

And don't cross the street without looking both ways.

I only got run over once, stop bringing it up.

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2 hours ago, brichi said:

so my setup is like what you see in the sad diagram I made below, lol

I have 8 arches, a pixie 4 powering all 8, runs great but I need to inject power at every other arch being I am using 1 16 foot 300 LED strip for 2 arches. I was going to run 4 power only cables from the 12v p/s to every other arch where injection is needed but that may look messy so I was thinking of running 1 30-40foot 16awg 2 conductor cable from the p/s to the last arch and then t-tap in at every other where needed. Will this work or will I again lose some power by the time I get down the line for the injection. was going to use the holiday Coro cables and t-taps which I believe at 18awg

 

this is what I would like to do

arch.png

IMHO FUSE the power lines, a high resistance short can turn the power lead red hot with a 300W PSU.

I got one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KO23NPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It uses the same fuses as LOR uses on their smart and dumb RGB boards

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4 hours ago, brichi said:

so my setup is like what you see in the sad diagram I made below, lol

I have 8 arches, a pixie 4 powering all 8, runs great but I need to inject power at every other arch being I am using 1 16 foot 300 LED strip for 2 arches. I was going to run 4 power only cables from the 12v p/s to every other arch where injection is needed but that may look messy so I was thinking of running 1 30-40foot 16awg 2 conductor cable from the p/s to the last arch and then t-tap in at every other where needed. Will this work or will I again lose some power by the time I get down the line for the injection. was going to use the holiday Coro cables and t-taps which I believe at 18awg

 

this is what I would like to do

arch.png

300 led per 16' strip you say? Then yes what you hot going on will work fine except you may need to add an extra power injection at the very end. 

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ok great, thanks guys

 

I have all the power injection done already and tested and works great, just trying to rewire it now so its less mess running the injection wires

definitely going to fuse them too, great idea

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6 hours ago, TheDucks said:

IMHO FUSE the power lines, a high resistance short can turn the power lead red hot with a 300W PSU.

I got one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KO23NPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It uses the same fuses as LOR uses on their smart and dumb RGB boards

what size fuse you putting in the block? 5amp one should be good no?

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