[rogersmj]

I have some questions I hope you all can help with quickly, as my window for doing my new basement's electrical is nearly upon me.


I plan to have two tray ceiling areas, each rectangular, with crown molding that has color-changing LED strips installed behind the molding. They've very close in size, each of the two areas totaling about 50 linear feet in perimeter. So let's use that as our measurement.


What I'm trying to confirm are three things:

1. How much power do I need, total?
2. What's the best way to wire these up to minimize dimming/voltage drop?
3. What kind of wire should I be running inside the walls for this low-voltage project?

Checking #1...The RGB strips I'm looking at are 7.2W / meter. 7.2 x 15.24 M = ~110W per crown zone = 220W total (if every LED is on full). Is that right?


The LED strips I'm looking at say that no individual LED should be over 120" from the power input line. So, to cover 600 inches worth of LEDs, I think I'm going to have to run three 4-conductor wires (because this is RGB) from the power supply to each crown zone -- so I can power three "groups" of strips from the middle, no leg of any group exceeding 120". That's a lot of wiring: 6 runs total, 4 conductors each. Does this sound right?


As for #3...I plan to have a switched power outlet in an inconspicuous location, and mount the 12V power supply there. Then I'll run the low voltage lines inside the walls to wherever they need to come out behind the crown to power the various segments. My question here is: what wire should I be using to do this? Based on Googling around and playing with some voltage drop calculators, it looks like I need to use 14 gauge romex, because my runs will be anywhere from 5 to 20 feet. With RGB LED controllers, can I use standard 14-3 electrical wire (which would also have a ground wire)?


Does this all seem right to you? Is there an easier way to do this? My calculations so far seem to result in a lot of separate wire runs (to support no LED strip being over 120" long).

 

[jrm21]

I can't answer your questions directly. Like you, I have been trying to figure out the LED strip thing and have been unable to find a simple explanation. I went to a local electric supply house and they seemed to have some incomplete info along with insane pricing (the same remote I see online for $9.99 they were asking $250 for).


I found an online retailer that _seems_ to know what they are talking about. http://www.hitlights.com I called them, described my room and what I wanted to do. They walked me through exactly which pieces I would need, including power supply, repeater, etc.. I have NOT purchased anything yet, so cannot comment on the quality of their products or service.


You should probably give them (or a similar retailer) a call to discuss your system. They can describe what you will need and what it will cost. Since the exact items will be on the website, it would probably make more sense that a generic (get a xx watt power supply) answer.


Also, while watts and amps are related, I think what you need to look at is the amp draw from the light strips. That will determine the size of the power supply.