How to Power Inject Pixels for Beginners

[@How2Pixel]

I'm not sure why but one day I woke up and had the idea to make that weird intro for the video. Don't actually call that number or go to that website I just made it up for the video 😂

[@tombonini7393]

In the future, you may want to use the exchange number 555 like all of the TV shows use. That exchange is not used by the phone system and is safe to use in fake adds like yours which BTW, was funny.

[@How2Pixel]

Thanks haha I'll keep that in mind 😂

[@ColbyHiggs]

It was hilarious! Thanks for the laugh!

[@ThisismyFitnessQuest]

You totally nailed it!

[@djmattc1978]

I called the number and they took my money, but been waiting 9 months for my order :)

[@DesignBuildEnjoy]

I love the energy in making the start of the video. Keep up that great energy and expressing your creativity please

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you very much! I definitely will!

[@steveashdown4360]

Nice video with clear explanations. I think you will get better results using self amalgamating tape which is then covered in electrical tape for the power injection splices in the centre of a strand.

[@michaelgericke3704]

Brilliant , thanks a million. Very informative and comprehensive. 👍

[@jstmag]

Your intros are always so entertaining. Really enjoy it

[@How2Pixel]

Haha thank you!

[@NightshadeKc]

I like watching your video's because you break it all down and don't assume that we know something. Thanks for another good video. Keep them coming. I am just about ready to put up my permanent lights. My first time so thanks. Dave from Kansas City

[@How2Pixel]

Thanks! Glad you find the videos useful. Good luck with your show!

[@TopBlackWaterSniper]

Awesome intro! You almost had me checking website. Thank you for sharing this information.

[@How2Pixel]

Haha you're welcome! Glad you enjoyed the intro.

[@dmurdaugh2569]

Thank you for this video. You break it down so its very understanding. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us.

[@TBblake]

Thanks man!

[@How2Pixel]

Whoa thank you so much!!! I'm glad the video was helpful and thanks for the donation!!

[@christophernowak3510]

Awesome video. Especially the intro. Thanks for explaining it Barney style for electrical idoits like myself.

[@TBblake]

Thank you again! I have watched a lot of your videos and you have given me knowledge and confidence when working with my system. You work is appreciated.

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you! I'm super glad the videos have been useful to help with your setup!

[@derekallen-fk2ce]

Excellent video. Well done in making the process easy to understand. Good graphics. Thankyou.

[@xtrck]

Always great straightforward and informative videos!

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you!

[@Ryon8oh1]

Thank you so much for the video. I’m super great full for guys like you that make these kind of videos.

[@How2Pixel]

No problem, glad the video was useful!!

[@TownshendChristmasLights]

Great tutorial. Well covered.

[@kapilbhat]

Do we need to provide a seperate power source for the controller and for the led strip? Or we can connect both the controller and the led strip in parallel with a single power source?

[@How2Pixel]

As long as both the controller and LEDs are the same voltage, and the power supply can handle that many items, then yes you can do that.

[@awb21KU]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and videos with newbies like me! I appreciate how detailed you explain everything. I'm just starting to build my setup around my F16v5. From what I'm getting, generally speaking, it seems power injection is needed about every 200 nodes. So if I run 200 nodes per port from the controller, I'll need another power supply for the lights on each port? Am I in the right ballpark?

[@awb21KU]

Nevermind - I forgot that's at 100% white. At 30% it can be extended.

[@How2Pixel]

So you're mostly correct about needing power injection every ~200 pixels, but you don't need a power supply for every single port. Most of the time I power inject around over 200 pixels, but this varies depending on how bright your pixels are and other factors like how far away they are from the controller. The most common power supplies like Meanwell can use up to 29 amps with the 12 volt supply, or 60 amps with the 5 volt power supply. However, you shouldn't use that much power for a long period of time. The 12 volt power supply recommends a max of 23 amps for any long periods of time, and 48 amps for the 5 volt supply. So you can run tons of pixels off of one power supply as long as you don't go over those limits. I think I talk about it in this video, but you can calculate roughly how many amps each pixel will take. Each pixel takes 0.06 amps (60 milliamps) when it's on 100% brightness white. For 50% brightness, it's 50% of 0.06. So 30% would be 30% of 0.06 amps (0.018 amps per pixel). So let's say I wanted to run 1,500 12-volt pixels at 30% brightness. I take 1,500 and multiply it by 0.018 (30% of 0.06 amps per pixel) to find the total amps it would use. In this case it would be exactly 27 amps. That is over the recommended limit, but still under the actual limit for a 12-volt supply. Since more than likely you won't have the lights on white 24/7 (which takes the most power), this would be fine to use. So this is how you can figure out how many pixels you can use per power supply. Hopefully this was helpful, please let me know if you are confused about anything else!

[@awb21KU]

If a prop is going to get all its power from a different supply than what the controller is connected to, can we just connect the prop’s data wire to the controller? Then run that to the prop through a power tee?

[@How2Pixel]

Yes you technically can as long as you also connect the ground wire! This is very important because if you don't, the lights will flicker like crazy. I was doing a project once trying to run pixels off an Arduino Uno, and use a different power supply for the lights. I hooked up only data to the Arduino, but the lights would just flicker and not show any signs of doing the right patterns. It took me weeks until I realized I had to also attach a ground wire from the ground of the pixels to the ground of the Arduino.

[@maddmaxxawr]

That intro was hilarious. Nicholas, I like how you explained stuff, but you had me cringing a bit near the end when talking about splicing into the wire. The method you were vaguely describing is a method that will be more problematic. People need to remember that you are young and have only started doing pixels for a short while yourself. Everyone who plans to cut and customize their pixels and make their own connections should learn good soldering technics and weather proofing. If soldering is hard for some, there are several good products out there that don't require traditional soldering or soldering at all. All in all keep up these videos, in time you will only get better and better. A note to everyone: It is your responsibility to learn and know how to do things correctly and the safest way. Nicholas is not a professional, but for his young age he's got a good start to getting it all right. Looking forward to your next video.

[@PKCubed]

I'm not an expert, but I think that voltage drop is caused by wire thickness rather than the pixels taking the power. For example, if you had some very thick wires instead of the thin wires connecting each pixel together, all the pixels would get much more similar voltage. Great video!

[@AaronZaffle]

if that was true wouldnt changing the color/brightness not affect the voltage?

[@PKCubed]

​@@AaronZafflewell, it's a combination. The more current the pixels draw, the more current is going through the thin wires, and the more the voltage drops.

[@adamcoffee738]

That's exactly why I brought stackable/linkable PSUs no need to cut the positive between PI points less headaches that way

[@flyingbananapeel6495]

Have you tried using t-tap wire connectors to inject power at the middle where there’s no pig tail? It’s the same thing as what you’re doing but would save some time not having to strip the wire.

[@How2Pixel]

No I haven't, but those look like a pretty good idea for middle power injection. I'll have to get some, thanks for the tip!

[@timbender5028]

Great video- can you tell me when do we need to boost the data signal vs the power? I heard of these things called f-amps?

[@How2Pixel]

Yes, there are f-amps also called data boosters that you can insert in between the controller and pixels to increase how far they can go. This question is quite tuff as I often have problems determining when I need to boost the data or power inject. For me, if any lights start flickering or acting weird, I'll try using a data booster first. Most of the time people say to use the data booster right after the controller, then have your wire to your pixels, but I say use it where it works. Sometimes I have better results attaching it right before the pixels, sometimes right after the controller, or sometimes I have better results using one on each side. If the data booster doesn't appear to be fixing any flickering, then it's probably a power problem. A dead giveaway you need power injection is if the lights turn yellow or red near the end of the strand, they flicker only on bright colors like white, or they don't flicker at lower brightnesses. If you have the tools, try hooking a voltmeter into the end of the strand and measure the voltage when the lights are on white. If you have 12 volt pixels, generally the voltage at the end should be at least around 10 volts. If you have 5 volts, the voltage should be at least 4 volts. If the voltage is too low when the lights turn on, you'll need power injection. So in conclusion, try data boosters first, and if they don't work, then you probably have a power problem.

[@timbender5028]

@@How2Pixel do they make a device that will do both? Boost the data and inject power?

[@How2Pixel]

Not really. When you inject power, you usually do it at the end of the strand, or in the middle, whereas data boosting happens before the pixels.

[@jarrodsaraceno8054]

Thank you for showing me how to power inject. The intro made me laugh. I do have a question on how you added another pigtail to a pixel strand to connect one strand to another, any advice on how to?

[@How2Pixel]

What I do is strip all 3 wires on both the wire and the pigtail, then put heat shrink on one side, but don't shrink it yet. After that, I twist each wire together and solder them. Then I slide the heat shrink over top of each connection, and heat it up. Finally, I wrap all 3 wires together with electrical tape. Hope this helps!

[@LightsOnOldSpec]

Is the 12v power supply a separate one from the controller?

[@How2Pixel]

No, in this video the one 12-volt power supply was powering everything.

[@GS-di5wx]

Hey buddy, great videos. Question, assume I have a show across a huge yard, and I am using a falcon f16, so I have plenty of ports. I am going to have wires running all across the yard to power different sections? If I have to power inject thats another wire run across the yard? Am I thinking that through correctly?

[@How2Pixel]

Most of the time, yes, you will have to run another wire for each power injection point, at least that's what I do. But for your situation, that could get really expensive with all the wires, so I have another idea you could use I've seen other people do. Let's say you have an area far away from the controller that has a lot of power injection points. Instead of running lots of different wires to that one area, you could just put a power supply (or multiple) inside an enclosure in that section. Then all you need is a regular AC power extension cord running to that power supply. Now you can wire all your power injections right to that enclosure near everything. Just remember, if the lights have power coming from 2 separate power supplies, you have to cut the positive wire halfway in between your pixels so the power doesn't back-feed between each power supply. If you don't want to cut the wire in your pixels, you could just have all your power for the section of lights go to that enclosure, both power injections and power at the beginning of the strand. Then for your data cable coming from your controller, you will only need a ground and data coming from it, no positive. The reason you need to still hook the pixels into the ground onto the controller is so they don't start flickering or doing weird things. But the power for the whole strand can go to the power supply right in that area. The final option is just to put a differential receiver (or multiple) in different areas to control the lights near it. It might be hard to get your hands on some so close to the light show season, but they could make everything a little bit easier as you only need an ethernet cable and AC extension cord going to a box, then have a power supply and differential receiver right there. Hope this helps you out!

[@GS-di5wx]

Thanks!

[@thedadsgc]

You said that I don’t have to cut the positive wire if I am injecting with the same power supply. What if I have 2 or more power supplies powered together?

[@How2Pixel]

Could you please explain what you mean by powered together? Do you mean you have them connected to the same AC power cord?

[@richmcbride3921]

good video so i want to know long does the data travel and how do you extend that

[@How2Pixel]

So I made a video a few years ago about how far the data travels and how to boost it, and you can check it out here kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnzcgo2hibGUhK8 . It's a little old, but it should still help you out!

[@richmcbride3921]

@@How2Pixel thanks man good work

[@timothyreed8417]

Is there a loss of “injected” power on long wire runs? Is there a loss of power (regular supply) on long wire runs?

[@How2Pixel]

There can be a loss of voltage on power injection wires once they start getting really long (over 25 or 30 feet). But as for loss of power on a power supply, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Do you mean from the extension cord going to the power supply with AC voltage? Those will probably lose some voltage, but it doesn't normally affect the power supplies since it's such a small drop. I have 50-foot AC power cords going to some power supplies, and they all still work fine.

[@tombonini7393]

Just a quick note, you should have no problem adding more nodes to the string for your example without blowing the fuse. The current draw per node is based on each node getting its full 12V. If all of the nodes were always getting 12V, there would be no need for power injection. The lower the voltage on the node, the less current it can draw. If the voltage drop at a point in the string is below the point where the nodes can respond, the current draw on those nodes is only a few mill at worst each. Your meter should be able to measure and confirm total current and draw on the string.

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you for the tip!

[@supergirl2997]

So I got some F8 distro boards the other day but none of them are able to power up my pixel strand. It connected correctly at the terminal with just the positive and ground and fuses are not blown. What am I doing wrong? Please help.

[@How2Pixel]

This may seem like a silly question, but I'm just asking to make sure. Are the data wires on the pixels hooked to the controller? And is the controller outputting data to turn on the lights? If the answer is yes, maybe you have bad pixels? Is the voltage going to the pixels the correct amount the pixels need? Let me know if any of these help.

[@mikedelta987]

Any chance to see a 36V in the calculator?

[@How2Pixel]

No sorry, I don't know of any pixels that go up to 36V. The highest possible I've seen are 24V pixels.

[@mikedelta987]

@@How2Pixel ahh the permanent outdoor lights are 36V is what I was going to use them for. Thanks anyways for the video, great content

[@How2Pixel]

Ah ok, sorry about that. Glad the video was useful though!

[@erwingouw3162]

Great!

[@commanderstarbuck7859]

So you got to do one for data injection now too

[@How2Pixel]

Data injection? I'm not quite sure what you mean haha. Do you mean data boosting?

[@commanderstarbuck7859]

@@How2Pixel Yeah data boosting that's what it's called

[@25566]

Why the hell didnt they build the strands with power injection built in, how much expensive would it be? Each strand should carry 2 extra wires for power injection and this wouldn't be an issue

[@jeffro.]

Why would anyone be "scared" by "power injection?" Ya gotta power the thing anyway. All but the cheapest LED strips come with an extra red wire anyway, it's for that purpose.

[@frankl6684]

Sorry to say but this is bad advise. The way you are adding power doubles or triples the amperage going into the wire. Sending 3x 5amp fuses into the same wire now makes it 15amps into a wire that can only handle 5. This becomes a huge fire hazard. Any time you add a fuse to a wire, it needs to be cut out from the other fuse supply like you did in the different power supplies example. You can however split the power wire exiting the fuse with 3 wires and feed the same string with these as in this case you only supply the 5 amp wire with 5 amps worth of power. You should introduce correction texts in the video if you dont want to take it down.