How do I power a NeoPixel display consisting of 1600 NeoPixels?
I am designing and constructing a NeoPixel display as part of an art installation for my university. The project requirements involve powering 25 rows of 64 pixels each. Obviously, this would have to be done with an external power supply, and we're planning on controlling the data input with a Raspberry Pi.
The power rating for each NeoPixel is 0.3W, and the recommended operating voltage is 5V. According to my calculations, each row needs 19.2W (64 pixels * 0.3 W/pixel). Does this mean that the entire display would need 480W (19.2 W/row * 25 rows) to power it?
How would I even go about wiring this? I was thinking about using a power strip with 5 ports to power each set of 5 rows individually, but even then, I don't really know where to begin...
26 Replies
with a realy big power supply?
around 80 amps. 😄
but like, wiring wise 😆
well every 10 ft you will need an injection power supply
im sorry yall my understanding of power circuits aint that great, college has failed me
the whole display will be less than 10 feet wide
well power supply will still be the same, just more compact.
right...
Do you have the display you intend to use? share a link
that's actually something that we're planning to create ourselves... we want to create an array of 1600 individual neo pixels
BTF-LIGHTING WS2812B 100PCS 5050SMD Individually Addressable Smart ...
BTF-LIGHTING WS2812B 100PCS 5050SMD Individually Addressable Smart RGB LED Pixel for Arduino 5V DC Single 1-led LED Module Pixels Color Light little rgb LEDs Lampon Black Heat Sink PCB Board Only DC5V
(yes, i know that's a lot of wiring 😅 )
I see. So lets do some math.
,calc 1500/40
Result:
Ok you will need to inject power every 37 led's.
sorry where did those numbers come from?
also, where can i learn more about power injection 😖
so Im looking at each neo consuming around 40ma, so I took 1.5 amps and choped it down form 40 ma, so thats the max the boards can carry before you get a noticeable voltage drop.
ohh ok
wait wouldn't the draw for each pixel be 60ma? 0.3W / 5V?
In my openion it indeed would. But @PenPengu said that his testing was only 40 ma, so If i use that number then you get what I mentioned. IMO I think 60 is the more accurate number.
,calc 1500/60
Result:
If you calculate for 60ma each then you would need power injection every 25 neos.
,calc 25*25
Result:
So if you made a grid of 25x25 and injected power on the top side of each ROW/column, then this would work.
Then you would need to see how many grids you would need to make.
,calc 1600/625
Result:
that would be around 2.5 grids like this.
https://quinled.info/2020/03/12/digital-led-power-usage/ I just stole it from here @carbs 🍞 . This quinled guy seems like a pretty big LED nerd 🤷♀️ 😆
Quindor
quinled.info
How much power do addressable LEDs use? - quinled.info
Now a days there are lots of different types of digitally addressable LEDs, are they all the same? Do they use the same amount of power? Let's test!
awesome, thank you for the resource!
and thank you for the help @Maderdash and @PenPengu! I might loop back here at some point and ask for more help if need be...
👍🏽 please tag as answered. :