cowboy casey Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Mike, I ran into this problem and maybe this can help everyone... I have 16, 5 meter, 300 leds per strip RGB's.. 8 are powered by the CMB24D and 8 are powered by 12 volt extenders, they are rated at about 72 watts per strip . If I am powering them at 13.5 volts the calculater says each strip is pulling about 3.46 amps per strip.. That is 56 amps for all 16 strips.. I have a 100 AMP power supply. That means I am pulling about 15 amps per side of my CMB24D card if I am using the correct math.. My question is: is that 3.46 amps for channel 1, 2 and 3 combined, or is it 3.46 divided by the 3 channels? Also, does it add amps the longer (more resistance) the cable runs? With the help of some very nice people at LOR and this forum, I have everything working perfect now.. My problem was wire size (the river).. I was trying to run power over 40 foot lengths with CAT5 cable.. to much power going through small cable... I am now running SOOW 16/4 cable and that fixed my problem, it is 3 times the size of cat 5 cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I'm using 16 AWG cable as well for my RGB dumb strips with the longest run of about 75 feet. Its nice and bright! If each of your strips draws 72 watts at full %100 white, then at 13.5 volts, you are drawing 5.3 amps. The calc is watts divided by voltage = amps. Therefore if a single strip draws that much, your total current load at again, %100 power is 85.33 amps. So your 100 amp supply or 1350 watts...will work. Not that I've ever seen a power supply like this, for this purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 I thought it was my power supply when I was first trouble shooting my issues... It is awesome and just works great.. it runs cool and the fan hardly ever comes on... http://www.powermaxc.../pm412volt.htmlPM4-100 PFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Cowboy said: My question is: is that 3.46 amps for channel 1, 2 and 3 combined, or is it 3.46 divided by the 3 channels? Also, does it add amps the longer (more resistance) the cable runs? Max says:Ya I putz the quote thingy. Cowboy I think the above question is the same question just said differently. I am thinking that there is an error in your numbers when you started with the 3.46 amps. You said that your strips are the 300 LED over the total strip length of 5 meters. Also you note 72 watts. So 72 divided by 12 volts is 6 amps, or 2 amps per color. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy casey Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 max, I see... LOL I put the numbers in wrong, go figure... and now that I look at it, your correct.. so, 2 amps per channel, 6 amps per strip, and that puts the draw on the card at 24 amps per side... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Yeah, I calc'd based upon his numbers even though 12 volt strips shouldn't be run at 13.5 as stated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Max says:Ya I putz the quote thingy. ha ha ha ha.... LMAO!!! Max.. that made me laugh so hard I am glad I wasn't drinkin coffee! I would have had a nasal launch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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