Hi all,
Do you have some experience on driving a very large number of WS2812B (~500LEDs) along one single LED strip?
Josh did it in this project :
Maybe some of you also tried it, what are your learnings?
I guess that depending on the number of LEDs, one has to power the strip through both ends of the strip.
What I don’t get is why pololu (Pololu - Addressable RGB 150-LED Strip, 5V, 5m (WS2812B)) recommends not to chain more than 180 LEDs through the same power supply. Can’t one just select a power supply powerful enough and connect the +5V at both ends?
With 500 leds it’s going to take 15ms to write out a single frame of led data - how that affects what you want to do animation wise is up to you 
As for the power thing - the problem is voltage drop – and that’s a function of the wiring between the leds (as well as current draw by the leds as they run) - so no, it’s often not enough to just put a massive power supply on both ends.
I see… But I guess it would be feasible to put a massive power supply and supply the strip each x meters to avoid the voltage drop.
It would - just make sure you use a heavy enough gauge of wire for the distance/currents you will have
Yes, I will have to check that