Led Strip lights and Power supply Help?

[deltawars]

I recently bought 50 of these 12v 15W led strip lights with heat sinks and 2 400w Power supply's.

Can I connect 25 of the strip lights for a total of 375W to one of the terminals on the power supply?

50 12v 15W led strip lights & 2 400W PSU ///// 25 Strip lights connected together

PSU View 1 ///// PSU View 2

P.S CPF Sucks ass, I post a question and I think it was deleted or didn't post then I try to see the posts by me but I need to make 3 posts before I can find all post by me or even post a post idk but I know that they suck and LPF rulez!​

 

[DashApple]

Well one PSU is rated for 33.3 Amps output .

one led strip will require 12V @ 15W , so that's 15/12 gives - 1.25 Amps a Strip .

25 strips gives - 31.25 Amps .

I would probably spread that load over the 3 terminals to be safe (8,8,9 strips) , 10A , 10A , 11.25A respectively .

31A though one of them isn't the best idea id say

 

[deltawars]

Do all of the LED have to be plugged in, if I only plug 1 in would the current kill it?

 

[DashApple]

Do all of the LED have to be plugged in, if I only plug 1 in would the current kill it?

Not sure what you mean , If one led strip is plugged in then it will pull 1.25 amps .

If you plug another strip into that strip then it will draw 3 A from the PSU and so on as strips are added .

 

[deltawars]

so the led strip lights wont draw as much current as they can they will only draw what they need?

 

[DashApple]

so the led strip lights wont draw as much current as they can they will only draw what they need?

They draw what they are rated for at the correct voltage That's how the strips are made .

The Leds on the each strip with have current limit resistors and are set up so that from a 12V fixed voltage source they will draw 15 Watts or 1.25 Amps .

One strip will draw 1.25 Amps @ 12 Volts ( 15W ) as that's what they are stated to do .

 

[djQUAN]

Do you plan to make one long string and connect one end to the powersupply? if so, it's not recommended since you'd be drawing a lot of current on the wires nearest the power supply.

I suggest you connect at most, 5 strips into one string and connect each string of 5 directly to the powersupply with separate wires. I hope I'm making sense.

 

[deltawars]

Thanks for your help ionlaser555.

And yes i just realize if i connect anymore then 5 they get to dim so i am going to get some 3 way terminal blocks and have 5 in series.

 

[djQUAN]

I think you meant parallel? wiring them in series would not give each enough voltage to light up.

 

[deltawars]

errm yes i will connect 5 groups of 5 in series in paralles

PSU
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[chipdouglas]

is each strip individually protected? or are the led's just wired in series/parallel on the strip? if not, you need to add protection. you're using a power supply, not a driver.

Michael.

 

[deltawars]

there are 3 resistors for every led, is that protection?
I tested with wiring up 5 in series and connecting 5 lots of them and they seem to work fine.

 

[DashApple]

there are 3 resistors for every led, is that protection?
I tested with wiring up 5 in series and connecting 5 lots of them and they seem to work fine.

Yes the resistors are the protection , as long as the strips are run from 12 Volts DC there is no issues .

 

[hakzaw1]

@ the OP

'
P.S CPF Sucks ass, I post a question and I think it was deleted or didn't post then I try to see the posts by me but I need to make 3 posts before I can find all post by me or even post a post idk but I know that they suck and LPF rulez!'


IMO you are not being fair about CPF-- many forums have a manditory post count before you can start new threads ETC- the blame needs to go to the spammers as 99% of the time their first and often ONLY post is spam- so while this in an inconveince to the rest of us its one of the very few ways to keep the spammers at bay-- WE have many CPF members here--hak

 

[deltawars]

I know but they don't make it easy to use there site, I just joined and I cant find my posts, I don't really like there site because its not very user friendly, altho I do like there image insert feature.