I have an RGB LED strip with 58 LED's on it. Resistors are found on every third pair, except for the last one which has its own set on it. Putting a 12V 5A power supply on it, I measured the following:
Input voltage: 12.24V
Red Current - 290 mA
Green Current - 380 mA
Blue Current - 350 mA
The multimeter I used couldn't get more precise than 0.xx amps, so those numbers might be slightly off. Keeping that in mind, I have three questions:
1) How do I measure voltage drop of each color of the LED strip? If I measured in series with the whole strip, the LED's wouldn't light at all, but I would still get what appeared to be a useful reading (on the order of I think 10.50 volts left on the red channel). If I measured in parallel, they would light, but my reading would be that 12.24V number.
2) As long as the voltage supply meets or exceeds the voltage drop per color, is it safe (and equally bright) to drive it at lower than 12V?
3) Would a constant-current driver work when a series resistor is already utilized?
Thanks in advance for any input!
Input voltage: 12.24V
Red Current - 290 mA
Green Current - 380 mA
Blue Current - 350 mA
The multimeter I used couldn't get more precise than 0.xx amps, so those numbers might be slightly off. Keeping that in mind, I have three questions:
1) How do I measure voltage drop of each color of the LED strip? If I measured in series with the whole strip, the LED's wouldn't light at all, but I would still get what appeared to be a useful reading (on the order of I think 10.50 volts left on the red channel). If I measured in parallel, they would light, but my reading would be that 12.24V number.
2) As long as the voltage supply meets or exceeds the voltage drop per color, is it safe (and equally bright) to drive it at lower than 12V?
3) Would a constant-current driver work when a series resistor is already utilized?
Thanks in advance for any input!