Hello,
I am working with a student who will be creating a large display of LED Matrix panels.
The finished product will be (4) 32x32 panels by (10) 32x32 panels.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14646
This will be run with a Raspberry Pi.
I imagine each of the ten rows of four being wired to a power source.
Does anyone have a suggestion of a product that would power what I need?
Thank you,
Beau Townsend
Erie Middle School
Hi Beau.
Each panel needs about 2 amps of power so 40 panels would need about 80 amps. I’d recommend having a bit more capacity than 80 just so you’re not running your power source at it’s upper limit.
We don’t carry an 80 amp supply, but we do have a [20 amp one. I’d recommend using at least 4 and possibly 5 of those connected together in parallel to power the entire display. Depending on what you’re displaying and how brightly you’re displaying it, you may find you need less power, but it’s a good idea to plan for the worst case scenario just in case the project changes later and you find you need more power.](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14098)
Unless the power supplies are designed for parallel connections, I would not do that, as they wouldn’t necessarily balance the load among them (and may get damaged if one loses AC power). I would have each power supply run 8 panels. Just make sure to tie the negative sides of all the power supplies (and the Pi ground) together.
Make sure to use heavy-enough wire to reduce voltage drop; rather than running one cable from the power supply to all 8 panels, I would probably run a cable to each pair of panels, tying them in parallel at the supply end. Better than trying to wire things up with 12 or 10AWG wire.
/mike
Good point Mike! Also makes the wiring a bit simpler. 
Perfect! Thank you so much!