Why do i need a power supply?

[DroneMaster278]

Hello, I am new to the hobby, and i am running 600 LEDs on my shed with 2 ESP32 with WLED controlled by xLights. I have seen a lot of videos online, and all of them say to use a power supply. I was wondering why this is. I had an old 12V plug from dumb LED strips i had, and that seems to be working fine. I was wondering if it really necessary to buy a power supply or if i can continue to use my plug. Thanks!

 

[CargoLights]

So, that 12V plug is a power supply. There are some concerns with using a 12V wall adapter, like whether it is fused and whether it provides enough power for the lights you are going to run. You will need to check how many amps your lights will pull and compare it with the value on the wall adapter, then account for how much power your controllers can pull as well. A 12V wall adapter is likely 1A or less. That will not even power 25 pixels at 100% brightness full white. Running more lights than your power supply can handle can result in it overheating and risk electrical fire.

 

[DroneMaster278]

Thanks! so i have not noticed any problems so far, is it safe to use? I currently have 2 plugs set up.

 

[DroneMaster278]

Do you also have a recommendation on what power supplies to buy?

 

[Iain]

Fusing it is probably your best bet. It probably comes with wires to match the max output of the strings it was sold for. It may look fine when the effects are doing their thing, but if something caused them all to go white (it happens) you may end up with some melting cables. It wouldn't be too hard to splice a fuse in there.

The choice is endless. Lots of people use Meanwell power supplies but they require an electrician to wire the 240V side. Size it to your (desired) display on full white + 10%. I also isolate my separate strings with their own fuses.

 

[MikeKrebs]

Simple test (not a definitive one). Touch them with your hand after they have been running for a bit. How warm are they?

 

[DroneMaster278]

I bought a 5V20A power supply from amazon, and i hooked it up to a breadboard for some testing, and the lights work fine, and now i see how much brighter they can be, and the ground wire does heat up significantly after around 3 minutes. Do you have any ideas how to connect the wires from the power supply to a circuit for distribution? I want to try to do this without buying or making a custom board. Is this possible?

 

[MikeKrebs]

20A supplies need big wires. What size wire are you running? Anything that fits in a breadboard is likely not big enough. 600 pixels at 100% is huge.

LED Current – da-Share

www.da-share.com

Bypass the breadboard for direct power injection into the pixels. A two/three gang wago connector might help. Remember that pixel power is V+ and V- and data is data plus V-. So, you have V- mating up as you get to the pixels.

 

[DroneMaster278]

is it unsafe for me to plug the ground from the power supply straight into the esp32? It just seems like a pain to connect the v- to every data cord.

 

[merryoncherry]

You need at least as much current carrying capacity for V- as you have for V+, because all the electrons that come through V+ have to go out through V-. (Perhaps I didn't follow what you mean by "data cord" but if it is the pixel string then they all have to be connected to V- with a good bit of wire cross-section.)

 

[DroneMaster278]

could i connect the V- directly into the controller? Data cord is the cord the pixel data goes through

 

[merryoncherry]

If you have a 20A PSU, the V- will add up to something in that range. A "controller" such as a falcon, dig quad, etc., with the fuses and screw terminals is designed to handle such currents. A wire nut or connector tying those V- to the V- of the PSU would handle such currents. When you say "An ESP32" I am not sure where you'd be plugging it in to, exactly.

I'm also concerned that at the beginning of the thread you said a "12V plug from dumb LEDs" and later you said a "5V20A PSU"... what kind of lights are you using and which is it?

 

[DroneMaster278]

last year i used 12V dumb LEDs, this year, i am using Smart Pixels. I am wondering if it is safe for me to use the ground wire directly into an ESP32. it just seems like a lot to add ground to every data wire. Could i connect the data wire to a power distribution hooked up to ground and then connect data to the line after ground?

 

[merryoncherry]

Please - pictures or diagrams of the pixels.

 

[merryoncherry]

I get confused when you say things like "connect the data wire to a power distribution hooked up to ground". You can hook the V- wire from the pixels to a power distribution hooked up to common V- (often referred to as ground). Don't "ground" the "data wire" -- hook the data wire up to data. (Typical pixel pigtail colors here, but your string may differ, such as red/white/blue, black/black/black with dash, or pixel strip.) Numbers like "5A" here are based on the specifications, expected current draw of the pixels, or typical prebuilt boards.


The ground wire doesn't go "directly into an ESP32" anywhere:


Some ESP32s are mounted on boards (such as the QuinLED-Dig-Quad, or what seems like a dozen others) that do provide power distribution components.