I bought WS2812B addressable leds. LED strip has a length of 5 meters and has 144 LEDs per meter. So there are 720 LEDs in total. I want to control this strip led with Raspberry Pi. I want to use these leds to show addresses within a project. In other words, I want to light the leds numbered between 10-20 when I want, and the leds numbered between 150-160 at other times. Normally, each of these LEDs has a current requirement of 20mA for each color channel. According to this equation, I need 60ma*720 = 43.2A current. However, I do not want to light all the leds at the same time. I want to keep only certain range of leds (usually 10) on for 30 seconds. Do I still need a 43.2A power supply for this, or will an adapter with only 600mA suffice?
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2 Answers
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This question is almost impossible to answer completely. If you are absolutely certain that you will never want to light more than 10 LEDs at full brightness at any one time then you could get away with a 600mA supply. However to take into account the extra (small) constant power requirement of the 720 control chips associated with the LEDs you should upgrade that to 1A minimum.
If you want to power the Raspberry Pi from the same power source then this should also be factored in.
You should also consider any future requirement to light, say, 20 LEDs at one time - think mission creep. Bearing in mind that fixed voltage power supplies are incredibly cheap from Ebay or Ali Express (other sources are available) it would cost very little more to buy a 5 or 10A supply and sleep easy at night! That's what I do when I'm playing about with these LED strips.
answered Feb 17, 2023 at 10:56
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\$\begingroup\$ Firstly, thank you. As far as I understand from what you said, it will not be a problem if I use a power supply with a high current rating. For example, as you said, even if I want to light a maximum of 20 LEDs, a 10A power supply would not be a problem, would it? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 11:46
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\$\begingroup\$ @python_student Correct, an over specified (10A for example) PSU will cause no problem. Potential PSU problems (overheating, loss of voltage regulation or shut down) will only occur if you under specif them. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 11:54
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\$\begingroup\$ Thank you so much for your help! \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 14:14
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WS2812 at no LEDs active consume 0.9mA. So the minimum current 650 mA. And you may calculate maximum current and choose amperage according.
answered Feb 17, 2023 at 10:49
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\$\begingroup\$ Thank you very much, I will consider your comment. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 11:47