# Power supply for longer LED RGB 5050 tape



## karloss (Apr 21, 2014)

Hello everyone,

I see that there are a lot of experts on this forum (regarding LED lightning), so I believe that someone will be able to help me with small LED lightning project (I have bought/will buy all components on eBay).

Currently I have the following parts:
1.) 5m LED RGB 5050 Strip, 60 LED/meter
2.) LED Controller (with 44 key remote) 6A Max. output
3.) Power supply DC 12V, 5A

I'm quite satisfied with it (brightness, colors, etc.), but I would like to extend the overall length to 9 meters. I have seen on forums that for bigger lengths of LED tape it is necessary to add amplifiers to compensate voltage drop on the end of tape. As far as I have seen, each LED consumes max. 0,24W. If there are 60 LEDs per meter, it means that maximum power consumption of complete tape is 5*60*0,24=72W.

So, to add additional 4 meters I need to buy several things
1.) Additional 4 m LED RGB 5050 Strip, 60 LED/m
2.) Amplifier For 5050 RGB, 6A Max. output. Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Amplifi...ome_Garden_Lighting_Parts&hash=item5afd97f3a1
3.) Power supply DC 12V, 8A (I plan to buy a bit stronger power supply).

At the end I plan to connect everything according to schema below.







My questions are: 
1.) Do you think it will work OK (no overheating on any place in schema) if I connect it this way?
2.) Could there be any problems if I put a bit stronger power supply for first tape (I have read that the power supply should be 10% stronger than the maximum possible power consumption)?
3.) If I connect power supply which has max. output 8A to controller which has 6A max output, could there be any problems with it?
4.) Generally speaking, is it a problem if you have weaker power supply than the max. possible consumption on connected component? I suppose that everything is OK if you have stronger power supply than max. possible consumption on connected component.

Thank you all very much for your help!

Bet regards,
Karlos


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## AnAppleSnail (Apr 21, 2014)

Can you just run "enough power" through some decently large wire 'in parallel' to the LED strip? Technically you could connect this wire with jumpers to every single section of the RGB strip (On mine, these sections are about 5cm long). But connecting at each end and in the middle is probably adequate.


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## FRITZHID (Apr 21, 2014)

AnAppleSnail said:


> Can you just run "enough power" through some decently large wire 'in parallel' to the LED strip? Technically you could connect this wire with jumpers to every single section of the RGB strip (On mine, these sections are about 5cm long). But connecting at each end and in the middle is probably adequate.



No, after a set distance, the strip itself cannot handle the required amperage for the whole strip.

Yes karloss, your setup should work just fine, just make sure you're using matching components.


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## dspiffy (Apr 22, 2014)

Here is a 10M strip that I believe only uses one power supply:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=331012149995

I have the 7M version and it works exceptionally well.


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