mpageler Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 (edited) Will have a 24ft run of 30led/meter RGB strips along the eves. This will be a 16 and 8 ft strip that will be on the same channel and butt up against each other.With my controller location, it wll be very easy to run cable up to where the 2 segements butt together. Max length of cable back to the controller will be 8ft of 18 gauge.Would it be ok to run one wire from the controler, up to strips and then do a double pigtail to serve each strip segement. Or better to double pigtail it coming out of the control and running two wires up to serve the 2 strip segements?I actually will be doing multiples setups of the above...4 parallel 24ft strips on 4 channels. The extra wire is insignificant from cost and setup but if it's really not beneficial, I'll just keep it simplier. Edited June 30, 2015 by mpageler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Are these "dumb" strips or "smart?" If dumb pixels, you can do it either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I would only run one cable for each strip. Feeding it in the middle (or 2/3 point in your case) should work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpageler Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 These are dumb strips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_b Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I agree with running only one wire to the middle point (or off centered point). That's how I have mine wired, and some of my runs from the controller to Light Strips are pushing 40' and I haven't had any issues. (I use 16awg wire which probably helps with the longer runs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Also helps that LED are a wee bit more forgiving. Were as smart strips with ICs are a little bit more picky about voltage drops and noise on the data line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Dumb strips require no special care. They will either be on or off...nothing like smart strips that will have issues with flicker, fading and or no light output.I have100 dumb rgb 12mm string lights on 18 awg wire with 75' extensions with power on one end only working without issue.I have a tree that I use "T" extensions on to create each branch. There can't be a tougher test then this. Well over 100 rgb 12 mm bullet bulbs on this 30' tree with 6 "T"'s. 50' extension from controller. One input. No issues.Test first. If you prefer to split it, by all means do it. Required? I doubt it. If it were my house and lights, I would solder the strips together and test it. I prefer the one input on the end for cleanliness and ease of setup.Sax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpageler Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 Thanks everyone..one wire was my gut feeling butthought I better check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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