Hi. After about of year of work going from no experience with Arduino, fastLed, or addressable led strips my lights are installed and working
Over 1500 rgb LEDs controlled by 500 ws2801 ics on a strip. I have them installed in weather proof silicone casing which is inside of aluminum extrusion with plexiglass covers and silicone caulking covering the connections. Runs on teensy and 100amp 12v transformer.
Controller isn’t 100% done, because I’m switching from 433mhz based control to wifi for two way communication for verification/reboot after power loss.
Wait till you see a video of these puppies strobing during holloween!
How did you protect each run from over current?
Hope with 100 amp supply you put some fuses or breakers to keep max current per strip under wire and strip ratings.
Looks great I am looking to do around edge of our unground pool.
Well… I suppose the only thing that could cause over current would be a short circuit, and the psu has short circuit protection. I did not consider adding fuses, but if this is necessary for safety, I should be able to add this fairly easily… I have 10/2 split to 14-2 split to 20awg wires, it is all above the porch area.
I am reading up on this now. I think I will be adding inline fuses of 10amps. AFCs for dc, although required by code in pv systems, are not available for purchase. 0.0
Also, I’d be careful installing those lights near a pool, since small voltages inside pools are enough to endurce muscle spasms. (Drowning risk)
Stuart, do you use them in combination? If so, why? and should a 10amp fuse for every 16ft of strip provide adequate protection? I should probably also fuse where I step down.
I fuse right at the the PSU and again before each strip.
Watch for your PSU connecting its ground with 0v - that can lead to unexpected shorts. Say between the run and a water pipe.
Many PSU say they have short circuit protection. But many will run quite happily into short circuit.
I use polyfuse for fast acting, self healing. Blade fuses are quite slow, and are the last line of defense.
I am thinking of using in-line glass fuses… I’d have to make up some sort of board for polyfuses… Plus the location where they are located isn’t ideal for soldering connections to a board
Nice job! , I assume the power supply is indoors. If not, what did you use to put it in? Also what is the weather there like? Do you get ice? or mosture?or have to deal with temps rising/falling below freezing? Let us know how the strips hold up over time. I have always wondered how these wonderful strips will do outside over time. Thanks!
The psu is in a closet (empty, no clothes). I have to deal with moisture and temps… It usually gets between 20f and 100f here…
I’m hoping that putting them inside silicone tube and sealing the ends with silicone and putting that inside aluminum extrusion with plastic covers and sealing that with silicone should reduce the effects of moisture.
I have a smaller test strip on my back porch, that I have posted here…
Those have been going since August. I had also had a test strip of lpd8806s that I had installed just inside their silicon tube for about a year prior to starting this project, and they were still working when I took them down.
Hey this is awesome! I’m in the research stage of doing almost the exact same thing for my home right now. Do you have any more info on how you put this together?
What sort of information would you like? The set up is not perfect but mostly works. Occasionally I get blinks that I haven’t solved yet.
Right now I’ve got it running one one teensy and a level shift, but in order to fix the blinks I may need more controllers.
I would suggest using shielded cable and grounding the channel you put it in. Slow down your spi speed. Don’t write off the risk of fire. 12v systems are possibly more at risk of fire.
Once I get the blinks solved I’ll probably post a write up.
@Mr_Happy Any particular brand of LED strips? I’m just starting my electronics adventure, but generally pretty handy at building / fabricating stuff. Just started automating my home with Home-Assistant running on a raspberry Pi 3 and built a custom garage door opener controller. The lighting project is my next adventure.
Hardware / component specific would be a great bit of info to have if you can.
Here is the aluminum channel I used. I had it powder coated white locally. It ships with a clear cover that has clear tape over top, so you can put the cover on, then have it powder coated so the cover will fit, then you can just pull off the tape and the plastic is covered.
I used heavy duty 3m double sided tape to mount the aluminum Channel and then light duty/clear tape to mount the LEDs to the Channel. Where I connected the wires, I used 20awg copper, it fits through the little holes in the strip and makes it easier to solder, since the wires are held it place.
It is not advisable, but I soldered upside down after the strips were mounted. If solder lands in your eye, forget about your eye sight.
After I soldered the joints, I used some thick silicone to completely cover all the joints, filling the Channel.
