RGB Power Injection Help!

[wt1924]

Hello,

I need to power inject some pixels. I am running the data from an Alphapix and the power from a Falcon F8Distro connected to one 350 watt power supply.  I'm pretty sure it's ran correctly because when I use power from the controller it tests fine. When I receive power from the Distro it is Not fine its blinky and acts weird. What am I doing wrong? It will not work correctly when receiving power from the Distro and Data from the controller, but it does when both are from the controller.

Thanks for comments and/or help in advance.

William

[k6ccc]

Is the Alphapix powered from the same power supply?

Do you have the ground of the Alphapix connected to the pixels or only the ground?

That’s enough for now.

 

[wt1924]

is that my problem? The external power supply is Not connected to the controller. I'm not sure how to do that. The controller is powered by two 350 watts ps. I am using one output to power 100 pixels that i must externally power (or i will exceed 80 % of the 2 ps that power the controller) so how do i configure if the controller already has power from 2 other ps. Thanks for your help or anyone else. 

[Mr. P]

Just to clarify here:  you are running an Alphapix 16 and you have one 350w ps powering ports 1-8 and another 350w ps pwering ports 9-16. You are running 100 pixels per port and need more power? Is this correct?

[k6ccc]

Yes, that is your problem.  Connect the power supply minus of all power supplies together.  The ground on the pixels serves two purposes.  One obviously is the power return (or negative), the other is the data return.  With no ground connection from the pixels to the controller, the data has no return path.

[wt1924]

Mr. P,

11 ports are 100 each

4 ports will be 144 each

1 port open

Based on my figuring and controller set up, I needed to inject 1 port of 100 pixels on one bank, and I was going to inject all 4 of the 144 pixel ports (these 4 port are two window matrix) on other bank.

I have used pixels a few years but never needed to power inject. Growing in size I was trying to be more cost effective and use more pixels per port and not buy another controller. The vendor says 55 watts per 100 pixels on full white. So even 2 ps wouldn't do 1676 pixels.

 

K6ccc,

So run a line from the negative of the injecting ps to the main ps that powers the board and the first bank? How long can the line be?

Thank you, I vaguely remember reading this somewhere. I knew I was making a rookie mistake.

[wt1924]

K6ccc,

Thank you for your Correct information. In testing, I just ran a line from negative to negative of the power supplies and it worked as it should. Thank you again.

 

William,

[k6ccc]

Glad it worked.  Remember that the data (like all electrical circuits) starts at a power source and eventually needs to get back to that power source.  The data leaving the controller needs a return path back to the controller.  So when you had no ground connection between the controller and the first pixel, there was no return path back to the controller.  I can get far more detailed if desired, but would rather not while on this #%$&@ iPhone.