A friend and I are trying to power a huge array of LED strips. They only run on 5V and each strip pulls 18W. We need a robust power supply solution that can supply several 5V outputs with a minimum 600W total output. We have some solutions but I wanted to get more ideas from others.

Thanks,
Justin

 

A friend and I are trying to power a huge array of LED strips. They only run on 5V and each strip pulls 18W. We need a robust power supply solution that can supply several 5V outputs with a minimum 600W total output. We have some solutions but I wanted to get more ideas from others.

Thanks,
Justin

Have you Googled "5V 600W power supply"?

 

We have some solutions but I wanted to get more ideas from others.

We need more information; like how are the LEDs being used? Can they be multiplexed?

 

I have actually done consulting for a project very close along those lines.

It is called an intermediate voltage bus architecture, followed by point of load regulators.

 

Link to the strip? 600W sounds right for 1980 60mA RGB LEDs. Is that what you have?

You cannot put them all in series and feed power from one end. You will want to feed it every 5 meters or so.

I have 8 x 5m 12V strips, each fed by its own 12V 5A supply.

 

Hello, haven't of any smps to power that amount of LEDs, and you would problaby need to project one of your own.
Just an important reminder: When powering LEDs you need a current source power supply, and not voltage power supply(5V, 12V). The reason for that is the physics of diodes.

 

They only run on 5V and each strip pulls 18W

Please supply data. Web address or something.

 

LED strips generally have built in current limiting resistors so a constant voltage supply is all that's required.

 

Have you Googled "5V 600W power supply"?

If I had found something sufficient in a Google search why would I come here asking for ideas?

 

We need more information; like how are the LEDs being used? Can they be multiplexed?

We have 25 LED strips from Adafruit that need to be able to make little animations and such. In other word each LED on each strip is to be individually addressed by a microcontroller. 600W is sorta the max if all strips where pushing white light at max brightness.

 

We have 25 LED strips from Adafruit that need to be able to make little animations and such. In other word each LED on each strip is to be individually addressed by a microcontroller. 600W is sorta the max if all strips where pushing white light at max brightness.

What current are you operating the LEDs at now and what is the peak current that they can be driven at?

 

An additional description will allow much more useful answers and advice. If the strips are all the same, and all single color, then they could be run IN SERIES, but not end to end, which is not actually in series as I mean it. 24 five volt loads connected in series would run on 120 volts DC at less than four amps. That could come from a reasonable switcher power supply, but it would probably not be isolated from the mains.
Five strings in series, but not end to end, could rin from a standard 24 volt supply adjusted to 25 volts.

Of course none of this applies if they are multi-color LED strips.

 

Please supply data. Web address or something.

I believe these are the strips we were looking at yesterday. LINK: https://www.ledlightinghut.com/ws2812-digital-intelligent-rgb-led-strip-light.html

We are not married to these, we just need efficient 1m strips that have individually addressable RGB LEDs.

 

5V 600W $225
5v 300w $26 Use two of these. Divide the LEDs into to strings. Connect the (-) side of the supplies together but keep the (+) separate.

 

OK, now we have a lot more information. The goal is 1M strips with individually addressable tri-color LEDs. If hey are going to be used to produce "separate animations" it might be cost effective to power each animation separately. OR in smaller groups. Lower rated 5 volt supplies are much more common.It also seems like each animation may require a fair amount of processor power. Or even separate processors. The project becomes even more complex!!

 

WS2815B work the same way but use 12V instead of 5. This means less current. The 5m strips I use claim to be 90W, but the actually pull no more than 3A, so, they really need only 36W per strip. I would not use 5V strips for that many LEDs due to the outrageous current requirement.

Also, have you calculated the frame rate you can get with 1980 LEDs?

The max bit rate is 800 Kb/sec. That is 800/ 24 pixel rate. For 1980 pixels It comes to 16 frames per second. So your animation will look about like old 8mm movies.

 

What voltages / current do computer power supplies have now
They used to have a fair grunt 5v,

 

he need 6 of them this be cheaper https://www.amazon.com/ALITOVE-Tran...volt+power+supply+600wat,aps,185&sr=8-11&th=1