50M (164ft) Long Run rgb LED Strip. Power

Hello there,

I am building an rgb LED 160*10 Array using:

A - 50M (164ft) Addressable WS2801 RGB 5V LED Strip 160 - 9W/M = 45W/5M - 1.8Amp/M - 9Amp/5M

B - 8 Gauge wire

C - 300W / 5v / 60amp Power supply.

My current display layout & connection is attached in the diagram picture below. Figure Connection 1

I also attached my plan on the upgrade to overcome the power loss by connecting two 300W-5V-60amp Power Supplies. to both ends. Figure Connection2

The question is:

Is my second connection in shown in figure Connection 2 correct?

If not, then how can i fix the connection in order to overcome the power loss by powering the entire 50M (164 chain) with 2 power supplies to both ends?

Do i leave the 10th strip end marked with 10A hanging without any connection?

Do i need to use any RGB amplifiers?

Please help me fix this problem or give me any suggestions.

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

[EDIT] Ehm, where was the problem stated? What problem?

It’s usually a bad idea to have 2 power supplies on the same bus. They will battle for control with eachother when regulating.

Why not have one feed the odd strips and the other the even strips. Just make sure to have the ground/black wire connected between them, or else the data signals won’t make sense to the leds. With that much current draw you still might get voltage drops along those lengths.

I see you have the strips all in series connected. The longer those data and clock lines are, the harder it is to get good quality pulses going through them. So why not connect the strips in parallel? That is usually better for dealing with voltage drops due to current carrying transmission lines.

Valen:
[EDIT] Ehm, where was the problem stated? What problem?

It’s usually a bad idea to have 2 power supplies on the same bus. They will battle for control with eachother when regulating.

Why not have one feed the odd strips and the other the even strips. Just make sure to have the ground/black wire connected between them, or else the data signals won’t make sense to the leds. With that much current draw you still might get voltage drops along those lengths.

I see you have the strips all in series connected. The longer those data and clock lines are, the harder it is to get good quality pulses going through them. So why not connect the strips in parallel? That is usually better for dealing with voltage drops due to current carrying transmission lines.

Thank you for your great answer.

So from what i understand:

The 5v of the odd strips should be connected in parallel.

The 5v of the even strips should be connected in parallel

The ground connection should be kept the same

Each of the data wires should be connected in parallel to the controller.

Correct?

You better make a new drawing. I don’t know how that looks in your head.

In the last picture you have on the left the red and black wires going to the ledstrips in parallel. That is good. Except that you may need to reduce the number of ledstrips you power with one power supply. Do the others in the same way with the other power supply. In order for the data and clock wires to work, the black wires to the two power supplies need to be connected together. (Make sure they are both powered from the same power socket group, or else you may get a ground-loop and/or trip a circuitbreaker.)

In the last picture you have the clock and data lines zig-zagging across it going to the next led-strips. This is in series. You could have wired the green and blue lines in a similar way. So it makes a haircomb pattern instead of a sequential segmented line.

But which way it needs to be it might be dependant on how you want the ledstrips aranged. Are they to be mounted as shown, or in a different arrangement?

Valen:
In the last picture you have on the left the red and black wires going to the ledstrips in parallel. That is good. Except that you may need to reduce the number of ledstrips you power with one power supply. Do the others in the same way with the other power supply. In order for the data and clock wires to work, the black wires to the two power supplies need to be connected together. (Make sure they are both powered from the same power socket group, or else you may get a ground-loop and/or trip a circuitbreaker.)

In the last picture you have the clock and data lines zig-zagging across it going to the next led-strips. This is in series. You could have wired the green and blue lines in a similar way. So it makes a haircomb pattern instead of a sequential segmented line.

But which way it needs to be it might be dependant on how you want the ledstrips aranged. Are they to be mounted as shown, or in a different arrangement?

Great job on the explanation.

what do you think of this connection in the diagram attached? i followed your instruction.

And the black wire to the bottom power supply? Remember, electrons must circulate or else they won’t work.

The blue and green datalines are still zigzagging. Just connect them downward on one side. Make it like a stack of “F”, not a string of “W” on it’s side.

Valen:
And the black wire to the bottom power supply? Remember, electrons must circulate or else they won’t work.

The blue and green datalines are still zigzagging. Just connect them downward on one side. Make it like a stack of “F”, not a string of “W” on it’s side.

Yes you are right.

But shouldn’t the the strips be grounded to the controller to keep the data flow?

From what i understand,

1- data lines must be connected in parallel on both side directly to the controller.

2- the odd strips ground wires must connect to the power supply of the odd strips. (The same applies to the even strips)

Is that right?

Valen:
And the black wire to the bottom power supply? Remember, electrons must circulate or else they won’t work.

The blue and green datalines are still zigzagging. Just connect them downward on one side. Make it like a stack of “F”, not a string of “W” on it’s side.

The led strips are going to be mounted as shown exactly.

The reason why i connected them in a zigzag pattern is that the LED Edit software had the strips laid out in a zigzag pattern.

Here is Diagram 4 built as you instructed . But i think the zigzag pattern for the datalines is what the LED edit software wanted the layout to be to fit in its data transmission pattern. Diagram 5 shows the zigzag pattern fitted with your notes on the ground wires.

Please look.

I really appreciate your help and patience.

Regards,

Diagram 4 would not work unless you could somehow provide fixed addresses for your pixles.

If your LED driver has multiple outputs, divide the string into parts (every 2 or 3 lines) and driving the parts with separate clock and data line outputs. That way line loss is reduced. Otherwise, if your driver only has one set of data and clock outputs, you may have to amplify the data and clock levels. It depends in the driver used and its power level. The specifications should indicate the drive limitations.

Your Power Supply looks good now. But, you could distribute it with the data and clock lines if you wish.

Regards,

Steve