How To Power A LOT of LEDs!

[@FakeGeekGuy]

These last few LED strip videos are EXACTLY the videos I need for cosplay, most don't go this in-depth as you!

[@Zibartas]

Aw I'm so happy to hear they're useful!! Do you have any suggestions for different topics that would be useful? :)

[@FakeGeekGuy]

@@Zibartas Maybe a recommendation video like the other one, but like scandinavian sites that sites that sells good quality LED strips as Amazon is stingy when it comes to shipping to Norway :D

[@Zibartas]

@@FakeGeekGuy I think I have posted some AliExpress links as well - do you use that up north? ;D

[@FakeGeekGuy]

@@Zibartas Wellwellwell looks like you did ;)

[@FakeGeekGuy]

@@Zibartas Maybe... how to build an infinity mirror? Or homemade Nanoleaf'ish lights without a fancy 3D printer/Laser cutter?

[@waqaszzaib]

Would like to see how you added the power packs to your setup

[@schewitt]

Awesome video to break all this down - LEDs always confuse the heck out of me for larger projects so thank you :D

[@magicfibre]

The tip about cable thickness might have just saved the contraption I'm planning. I was about to use the little wires from a RJ45 cable to power my led strips, but now I'm probably gonna look for something thicker. Thanks!

[@SaltyMikan]

1:00 Please note that Neopixels (WS2812b) use up to 60 mA per LED (20 mA for red, green and blue each)

[@martinkuliza]

True, but in reality they don't use that much , I've measured 13mA for all 3 LED's within the 1 package, it suprised me as well and i , like you thought i need to account 60mA Per LED package of 3 LED's Turns out it's not the case

[@KeyIntelMedia]

@@martinkuliza What would you say is a better solution to run 700 pixels? ws2812b as stated above on paper would draw alot more than "on paper" 12v ws2815...

[@martinkuliza]

@@KeyIntelMedia ok, Your question is very vague and thus hard to answer what does BETTER mean ? Power 700 Pixels ..... How ? Series Circut ? Parallel Circuit ? , LED Matrix ?? How ? if it's a Matrix, what configuration ? is it 1 pin with a strip of 700 is it 2 pins with 2 strips of 350 or 2 strips 1x 100 and 1x600 what's the setup as for Voltage, it's irrelevant , the LED's in the Strip are In Parallel to each other, meaning... the voltage will be the same regardless, it's going to be a question of do you have enough Current, Not voltage if you connect Standard LED's in Series you're going to find after about 6 or 8 LED'S that 5V wont' cut it and after about 10 LED's or so that 12V won't cut it this is why we connect them In-Parallel therefore it's constant Voltage, Variable current Now your 2812B has 3 Pixels in a package However your 2815 has 2 Pixels per package it's irrelevant for the most part if one is 5V and the other is 12V Unless the application requires a higher voltage Does that help at all? sorry, but it was really vague and i didnt know which direction to go in for you . Sure i can tell you how to connect up 700 LED's but in what configuration, what are you trying to do exactly Oh, and since you are talking about 700 of them you then need to consider higher current draw which will mean you need to consider thicker gauge of wire unless you want to start seeing things melt and short circuit LOL

[@craigkeyintel]

You are right a bit vague. Thank you for taking time to reply. Yes its a fairly simple led sign idea with 15 rows (600 px) and a perimeter (100px). The main goal to look cool, run off 1 power supply, and not break or burn up. Looking at specs i was totally thrown off seeing the 12v efficiency vs 5v in amps. My math may he over estimated. I was hoping to run this sign off a brick but Im seeing 36 amps at max specs according to spec sheets. Also simple design with a few modes. 2 pins could work as im still learning the language capabilities of IC leds. There will be 15 horizontal rows in different colors that make up the 600 px.

[@markcasto7316]

Really enjoying your videos I have just made a life size Dalek and getting him all wired up is very challenging with zero knowledge of electrical stuff but you explain it really well thank you.

[@richardfingers4360]

Dude, honestly, I've been getting into LED DIY projects and am starting to play with the ws2812b LEDs and doing my own power supply. The way you cover these 3 tops, plus, you're the only one that i've seen actually explain how/what a shunt is. That doesn't even mention the external batteries, how the f do you not have more subs? You now have mine. Thanks my dude.

[@Cammac8]

Legendary video - thank you for the knowledge! I'm an electrician and you just saved me so much research!

[@WildImagination713]

That was an extremely helpful video. Thank you.

[@shadowr2d2]

Thank you for posting this video 🎉. You have a new subscriber. Keep up the great work 🎉. I have been looking for a channel like this 🎉. Powering many strips of LED Lines.

[@cwt_cos]

Bless he delivers another video 🙌

[@Zibartas]

More to come, Captain!! :D

[@gloriafying]

Omg you’re a life saver! Tysm😭 my home is old and our power goes out quite often when having my gaming setup and all my lights on 😭 this saved me so much trouble!

[@richardjohnson4052]

Here is my thought. I am a kayaker and a kayak-camper so everything I haul MUST be IPX-7 or better. WaterPROOF! I like the idea of led strips for many purposes: 1- running a string along the deck of my kayak so when we do a night paddle, we can easily find each other on the water. And for the illegal night fishermen to see us before they run us down. 2- running the strip or bunch from a tree at my campsite so I can find it when I am out for an evening walk. 3- running a strip between camp and latrine for that 2am poop trip. With this in mind, what do you suggest?

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

Just found your channel. Excellent Content - Another sub for you!

[@Mackeroney]

I'm glad i found you. Any tips on attaching to various surfaces, textures, fabrics, etc.?

[@danyildiabin4953]

You should consider using 12v ws2815 strips for better color consistency (due to lower % of voltage drop in long runs) and much less current in wires&strips. Also it is a good idea to use "dc-dc buck converter" with higher voltage battery pack for stable power output during discharge.

[@coolestkid3435]

Holy shit, thank you so much for this information this is amazing ❤️❤️

[@JTSS69]

Hi! Can you share a link to buy that LiFePo4 6.6v? Thanks

[@coreyevans9543]

I noticed you connected the additional wire to the beginning of the 2nd LED strip. Can you connect it to the end of the 2nd LED strip with the same results?

[@robertparkhill8106]

Where is a good place to get the Lifepo4 batteries? Or a link to ones you like?

[@robertparkhill8106]

What Lipo4 batteries do you recommend and where is a good place to get them? Also, what charger do you like for these batteries?

[@lordbuckethead2022]

Thank you sooooo MUCH!!! I have led honeycomb ceiling lights installed in my garage I'm in Australia and our electrical grid runs on AC and these are DC so I need a transformer no one can answer me on what power do these LEDs draw. What you taught me is the wire size. These led tube have very slim gauge worse so I'm confident these a very low powered LEDs

[@lordbuckethead2022]

I ended up getting 2 LED transformers just in case. They are inexpensive and I'm pretty sure it will fix my problem

[@mybritishcomputerguy]

In say a 144 led strip, how long would that 6v lipo battery you reccomended last between charges?

[@imdbtruth]

Great tips! Saved your video for future reference. Thank you!

[@exclusivelynyc]

Great video. Thank you for sharing. I'm looking a doing a diy project with solar and 18650's. Can I power one 3 led govee strip with one 18650 and how long? Also, what size solar panel would I need? Thanks.

[@cschmitz]

Thanks! This was super helpful 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@FlorianEagox]

Thank you so much!!! Making my LED top hat!

[@Heybluguy]

Can I add a shunt at the end of the strip or does it have to downstream from the power source?

[@arralua1893]

Brilliantly done video!

[@OpinionFactChecker]

At 3:23 you said "push" too much current through thinner wires when it's DRAW too much current! Naughty naughty.

[@JustinHyneswashplant26]

exactly what I was looking for. Thank you

[@PetrikNZ]

Did I miss it? Didn't see the serial/parallel vidoes mentioned in this one. Is it still on the drawing board?

[@SayaAmirulSyamim]

thanks brother , no one ever really explains the most important part of LEDS

[@ロクアンドロルしかない]

High power ATX PSU you get 12 volts, massive amps on 5 volts, and 3.3 volts and put it and your controllers in a used mini tower and put lights in that too, surprised no one I have seen yet uses this option

[@timpeterson2738]

Hi, you forgot a Major safety point with shunting or power injection. You have to use the same power source just branch off of it. DO NOT use 2 power supplies on a single circuit. You can continue the data circuit but terminate the power and then use a different power supply, that is safe to do. Your drawing or animation shows the correct way, you just need to state it. Other than that it's a good video buddy.

[@jeromesurffoil7033]

@Zibartas This is an Excellent informational video and entertainingly presented! Sub'd

[@futbol1972]

Any battery portable charger/power bank will work to power 50ft of rgb led lights?? I wanna pit some where I don't have acess to outlet.

[@pjbarahona]

What's the farthest you can run the data voltage? Can you also "shunt" the data voltage the same way?

[@howiestoffberg]

I'm looking to run 12m of SK6812 60led/m strip.....if I power inject in the middle, wouldn't there be voltage drop from the power supply wires as well at 6m?

[@jim9520]

Great video. Thank you for the information.

[@BOTzerker]

Be careful not to drain the rechargable battery packs to low or you could damage the cells. And if the cells are not matched which is likely with the lower cost RC packs, how low you can drain them will be even less as one unmatched cell could be completely drained while the other cells are not. A battery pack is only as strong as its weakest cell. I'm not saying purchase an expensive matched battery pack as eventually a matched pack will become unmatched from use, so leave the expensive matched battery packs for the RC racers. Use a low voltage cutoff between the load and the battery. You don't want a cells voltage to drop below 3V so use a cutoff around 3.4V - 3.6V.

[@visheshkumarsingh767]

Great content man, so underrated

[@luxmunk]

I’m sure someone else has already mentioned that Amazon is no longer selling the individual 18650 batteries. Any hints on where we can find them in the US? Thank you.

[@dziugaselite956]

thank you so much, helped a lot, good luck at your future projects

[@m3phisto23]

thank you very much for this video. i am just about to switch from powerbanks to batteries and this helped me quite a bit. also there is one thing that might be a video idea for you; i am helping a friend, he built a big led wall with 1500 leds without really knowing what he is geting into. right now we are trying to figure out how to safely connect the 2 power supplys to pixels

[@tomference4618]

..a great presentation, thanks!

[@RafaelKarosuo]

You managed to compress a very a great source of tips and tricks for the topic, without getting too technical. Excellent job

[@johnjohn8437]

Thankyou for explaining this. its really helpful i will use this, I really appreciate it.

[@SuperNovaGirl90]

Your Dragon ball Z shirt, thooooo! 🔥 Back to vid.. oh my gosh, you're so informative about electrical engineering stuff

[@Zibartas]

Aww thank you ❤️!!!

[@adamparker09]

I am looking to connect 3 rope LED strips to one power source and one controller can you advise how you would do this

[@Luckynumber-devon]

What is the connector piece from the lights to the RC battery called at 2:07? I’m trying to hook up warm lights - not the multicolored ones - and finding myself a bit lost re:connecting wires to batteries

[@grabasandwich]

It might be JST-SM

[@TheSilvo20]

Can i use 2 diffrent power sources? Like two phone chargers...one on each side of 15m strip???

[@Lollipopstud]

Ah yes, lithium batteries the secret sauce 😆

[@chadellett4696]

Unless you want a led strip for a pool. NmH AA batterys are more stable at colder temperatures and no fire risk.

[@ledlightingaccessories-led5160]

Learn a lot from this, thanks

[@SylverGaming]

these videos are exactly what i needed!

[@theodoredesmarais4219]

great shirt too

[@watchingwasaga8770]

How long can data travel and how can you inject data from the same controller.

[@deliveredlate]

Hello, i just bought a 5v 70a power supply to use for 30meters of ledstrip. Do u think its overkill?

[@kevinrico1194]

Thank you !!!! Very helpful and clear.

[@Joh750]

I have a bunch of adaptors that input voltage is 120v and output varies from 5 to 18v. Can I use these adaptors to power like 20 LEDS? Of course I know there will be resistors involved. I will use all the same LEDS which are 3.2v and 20mA.

[@DukeRaven]

Ah, this is what I wanted to see, just commented on your other LED powering video about the RC type batteries :D

[@guitarpic930]

I have a project I'm working on where I need a rechargeable battery power supply that can output enough amps for 120 5v addressable leds. I've been using a USB power bank for testing which has worked ok but I need something I know won't blow up if all the leds are full white. Any suggestions?

[@tpespos]

Just get a LiFrPo4 battery,m

[@HS-hc5qb]

Nice shirt👍👍 Nice Video👍👍

[@sunildiaram8201]

So what controller would you recommend that can do 900+ LEDs?

[@StansE250]

I’m not sure that I am clear on the shunt area of discussion. If I have a SINGLE, LONG run of LEDs, I have been told to consider running 12V to BOTH ends, to reduce dimming. The part that I’m unclear on is, if I do that does Each end supply of 12V come from the SAME fused circuit, or a DIFFERENT fused circuit for each end ?

[@Zibartas]

Same power supply :) it's just an additional point in the circuit where you 'inject' power that's not bottlenecked.

[@josephfielding4704]

You helped me out so much with this video thank you!!

[@thelastengineer8633]

Is there a way to power 15m of leds without power injection? W2812 with 5v or w2815 with 12v

[@pandabike3826]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@roco9504]

looking to use lithium ion batteries but how do you charge them?

[@Cyberfoxxy]

Is there a rule of thumb for how many LED's you should power before adding a shortcut?

[@justinjones8744]

great info but have a question im using 244leds on a car project and using step down from 12 to 5v at 3A will this be enuff to power all the leds or do i need to add more buck convertors to the circuit like each end or just shunt the wires to the end of the strip and the middle ?

[@beezycomics]

Thank you!

[@jollywallie29]

Very informative. Good vid

[@m.romaithi6217]

Thanks for the info. I'm installing 40 meters of Ws2812b (5m/30leds).I calculated the power consumption, I'd need about 80 Amps. I have 2 power supplies, 60 and 20 amp. I also know that the board must be connected to common ground with the PSU. Any idea how I can do that with 2 power supplies?

[@sebastianechemendia6418]

Do you have any ideas for running 30 10a 24v rgbw controllers? I have 3 3200w 24v power supplies but want to make sure I wire the controllers together the best way. Do they need to be jumped off of each other or individual lines running to a bus bar etc

[@Zibartas]

Can't advise you specifics as there might be things that could be overlooked and make stuff dangerous when you're building something so large:( but balancing load and having good safety margins never hurt!!

[@ralfbauerfeind8236]

One small mistake (imho): A shunt refers to a resistor being there to get a lots of current through in parallel to a measuring voltmeter, so you can indirectly can measure the current by measuring the voltage drop on the shunt. What you describe I would refer to as multiple point power supply. It is not unusual to see such suggestions in the documentation for a LED strip. I have seen suggestions to provide power in the middle of a 5m strip in addition to start and end should it be used in full. Which would be a (bit wonky)workaround in itself, to provide the power solely from the middle of the strip so the current is divided from this point on.At least this would work better than to provide power only on one end. Serial connection to NeoPixel strips still needs only end-to-end connection, though.

[@starmc26]

Actually, a shunt is designed to allow electricity the best, lowest resistance path through a circuit, there's absolutely no added resistance in a shunt.

[@DexterHopkins]

I am struggling to plug it in the cord they gave me was very short so idk how to plug it in to the outlet and stuff

[@SteveG_RN]

Hey thank you for your detailed time and attention on this topic. I am trying to make my own red light therapy panel as most are out of reach financially for the size I want. Seems like they are easily made, but hard to find a DIY video on. I'm a new fan and already subd with a like. Keep up the amazing work.

[@BreakingElegance]

Great video but how do you wire this into an arduino properly for controling the leds?

[@nazibuddin480]

Is 5v 5amp adapted is enough to power 5m of ws2812b 60led/m total 300 leds

[@jonathanm9436]

Terrific explainer Zibartas. On the odd chance you see this question after 1.5 years, can you please say why you didn't talk about using 24V LED circuits for big projects. I'm a new subscriber, and am loving your channel - particularly your very, very clear explanations.

[@Zibartas]

Mostly because 24V is not that 'portable' of a power source - but yes, for home lighting higher voltage is the way to go (assuming you can find LEDs in that voltage). For the most part, addressable LEDs are almost always based on WS2812b chip which runs at 5V, and the cheapo 'dumb' RGB LEDs almost always run 12V - so we're kinda limited by that, even though high voltage is a great idea. Thanks for watching and enjoying the vids! :D

[@jedunboxing4127]

the issue is the adaptor is getting hot,does that mean its under powered?

[@timeylies]

Voltage can be like a pipe and amps is how much water goes through it

[@davidlacey6417]

How To Power A LOT of LEDs!,realy good guide,what was the software you wer using to show the led at 4:11 thanks.

[@Zibartas]

It's called Fritzing and I downloaded Adafruit item-pack for it for "Neopixel" modules - you can find that online too! Very handy when planning builds.

[@davidlacey6417]

@@Zibartas Many thanks for the reply.

[@mirabellearts]

Amazing video, thank you. One thing which is confusing me is how to use the LiFePo4 battery as a power source (do I need a connector). Is it dangerous?

[@Zibartas]

Lithium iron phosphate batteries are much safer than regular LiPo packs, but still, it's a good idea to stay within the recommended charge-discharge range!!

[@mirabellearts]

Thank you :) my circuit seems to heat up a lot. Should I use a resistor?

[@michaeldeloso9042]

Good day Sir 👋 I'm experiencing voltage because I exceed the amount of led to my existing power supply 12 volts and 5amps. what will you recommend specs and brand of power supply for my 12volts 406pieces of 4pin led strip lights 5050 version IP65 water resistant? I have also Bluetooth controller mobile app for this to manage the brightness and strobe, fade effects. for indoor use only.

[@cAspR0372]

Okay... I've got a time sensitive question for you. I have to complete an in-office project in less that 2 weeks :/ I will be using a Raspberry Pi with about 400ft of WS2812b LED strips. Do you think one of these 30amp 5v power supply's will be enough for that?

[@thelastengineer8633]

Was it enough?

[@jsarmoury5911]

Question for the audience: I have a 2meter strip with 144leds/m. I have a sp511E controller. I want to buy an adapter with 5v and 8Amps to power the strip, should be good. But this adapter just sticks in the controller, i can't run some wires to the back end of the strip to have multiple paths for the electrons. So first question: Can I just use an 8amps adapter in the controller? Will it not break/burn the controller? Second question: How do I solve the problem of having multiple paths for the electrons?

[@laaa5556]

do you need led power driver😁

[@SimonGoldberger]

Can I ask, is it possible to do what you did with your wall project but with strips ? if so how does one achieve this, I've got a number of 4 wire strips and I thought of making a curtain but I'm unsure how to connect them all ?

[@day73]

The trouble I have is the controller melted. The transistors melted and failed. Do you have a recommendation for a controller to power 15m of 100 led/m RGB strips ?

[@eliasmasharbash4039]

Could you technically wire in a 2nd power supply in the Shunt section?

[@Zibartas]

For such an approach, the positive wire between 1st segment and 2nd segment should be disconnected, so only the ground and signal is common :) You don't want to connect two dissimilar power supplies in parallel, so just have each of them power their own segment (just remember to keep the Ground in common)

[@I77AGIC]

great info here! thanks

[@EduViolin]

Great video, thanks!

[@Zach-rw6jf]

This helps a TON! I'm just beginning with some Arduino projects and battery power has been one of my biggest hurdles! I'm a software guy, so the Arduino programming is a breeze, but hardware is where I lack current (get it) knowledge.

[@Smile-zu9bg]

My RGB Led Strip 12v 5m 60leds/m 5050 (4 wire led strip) , color faded on second strip in series. Strip powerd with 12v 12.5Amp power supply. I have also tried with ATX 300w power supply, but same result. I measured voltage and current on led strip. - Only Green light 12v in starting and end of strip 9.31v and 1.30Amp. - white light RGB volt is 11.96v in starting and end of strip 8.52v and 2.80Amp. Voltage measure with 2nd strip in series - white light RGB 11.96v in starting and end of strip 7.22v and 1.40Amp. I think when st led strip current is 2.80Amp then 2nd Led strips in series current should higher then 2.80Amp.

[@rayv882]

What if I want to connect 3 20ft addressable led strips together what kind of power supply do you recommend?

[@Zibartas]

You can buy really powerful 5V supplies on AliExpress and Amazon - I'm using a 5V 30A power supply for my "Wall Screen" project - and it's been working really well!

[@ofiasdfnosdf]

Do the same amp per leds apply for cob led strips?

[@Zibartas]

No I don't think so, you should refer to exact spec sheet of the LED to get that - even non-COB LEDs come in different sizes etc., let alone COB :)

[@kuchenkurbis7943]

Hey, Just a quick question. How long is too long for LED's ? Is there some Sort of set Limit for the distance or a formular to calculate it ?

[@Zibartas]

I think there is an "absolute" limit - usually with longer circuits you need higher voltage (would burn LEDs) or thicker wires (strips come in set standard sizes) - so the only way to really "expand" the circuit is to inject power into it every few meters with a more direct connection to the power source. I hope this makes sense!

[@pipaul761]

Yes a led consumes around 20mA but the WS2812B are in RGB and this kind of diode consumes 50mA and not 20ma and a WS2811 around 60mA so your information is a little wrong 8A => 133 leds not 400 ..

[@jensschroder8214]

Copper wire can carry more current than aluminum wire. Therefore, aluminum wire must be thicker for the same performance as copper.