Your driver has an output of 36V, you can't hook them up in series..
parallel wiring led strips without wago's?
- Thread starter gddg
- Start date
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
"even in parallel, found they had resistive losses"
they matter more in parallel then they do in series.
in series the driver will compensate for resistance in the line (every led is just a resistance for him also) by going higher with the voltage.
every led in series will get the same voltage, therefore same ampere and power.
i also read some comments there where people dont got this right, if you chain in series there will be no dim leds at the end of the chain.
in parallel the driver have no way to steer anything, the more resistance the lower the voltage the lower the power of the leds.
or the more unequal the distribution is.
series configurations work often with higher voltages too so the overall ampere load and therefore resistance is lower.
its a good idea to go with the plus in to one side and with the minus in the other, like showen.
you can maybe also do a power injection in the middle to lower the resistance a bit further, cant tell you if its needed.
additional to what is showen, tbc.
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SPLFreak808
Well-Known Member
Don't let parallel wiring scare you off, yeah if a few chips burn while running hard, you'll likely damage the rest of the board but this is only common with cheap diodes.
Use the proper size wire for whatever amperage you need & keep drop below 1% & done.
www.calculator.net
Use the proper size wire for whatever amperage you need & keep drop below 1% & done.
Voltage Drop Calculator
This free voltage drop calculator estimates the voltage drop of an electrical circuit based on the wire size, distance, and anticipated load current.
www.calculator.net
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
At a quick glance it does look correct...good work.
As long as each driver has same lengths for each of its + & - your fine, which is what you have done. You don't have to match both drivers with the same lengths. Example...say driver 1 takes 1 meter of wire from first strip to last strip for each of the + & - and then driver 2 takes 1.5 meters for each + & -...your good because they are equal to the driver, but don't have to be for each other.
Hope that makes sense...just woke up so I'm a bit groggy still...lol
gddg
Well-Known Member
So just to be sure i understand this correctly, say for example from the first to the second 3000k strip de red + and black - are both 20cm then from the second to the third 3000k strip the red and black wire also need to be 20cm? same for the 3rd to the 4th etc. etc.
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
Kinda...more of from driver to last strip is equal...the over all total...in between doesn't matter, but each one should be fairly equal too.
Example from driver to strip 1 = 20cm...then strip 1 to strip 2 = 10cm...then from strip 2 to 3 = 10cm and so on until all strips for that driver are connected...so 10 strips would equal ~110 total. Therefor both + and - need to be the same 110cm.
You don't want say driver to strip 1 being 20cm and strip 1 to 2 being 30cm then 3 to 4 being 10cm and so on...like random lengths where the over all total lengths for the + & - will/may be different.
See in the pic where example #2 has 1 wire longer...this is what you want to avoid.
This is just a rough picture for example, but not how to wire yours...stick to original pic you posted.
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
Yup you got it
Either make 1 shorter or one longer...just has to be equal..or fairly close to equal.
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
i would stick with what you have drawen here.
not goin with + and - in to the first strip.
doing it that way would mean the first strip have quite some less resistance then the last to the power supply, thats what you dont want.
connecting it like you have drawen would mean, short plus line and long minus line for the first strip and long plus and short minus for the last strip.
so its equals out in the end.
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
I'm not seeing this...can you explain more.
He has split them into 3 sets of 10's basically...10 @ 4000K on the 240 driver and then 2 sets of 10's @ 3000K on the 480 driver in parallel...and the 2 parallel sets both have long -'s and short +'s to where they should be same lengths...or am I missing something?
Easy solution could also be make the last strip + and the first strip - for the right side only...the left side would stay + for first strip and - for last strip.
And now that I type this I'm wondering the amps of that driver, but should be fine.
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
"or am I missing something? "
you maybe miss that you have to see it as a whole circuit? didnt included the strips themself and just focused on the very first wire?
if i got you right you want him to to connect the driver plus and minus to the first strip of a group unlike to what he sketched.
this would mean the first strip have the lowest resistance and the last is heavily daisychained, all the current have to go through all strips and the last will be the most dim.
"See in the pic where example #2 has 1 wire longer...this is what you want to avoid. "
example one is what you dont want.
example 2 have the current more even distributed.
as you say
"Either make 1 shorter or one longer...just has to be equal..or fairly close to equal."
its the total resistance, the overall lenght that matters.
i hope i didnt mixed something up and you simply ment the same.
you maybe miss that you have to see it as a whole circuit? didnt included the strips themself and just focused on the very first wire?
if i got you right you want him to to connect the driver plus and minus to the first strip of a group unlike to what he sketched.
this would mean the first strip have the lowest resistance and the last is heavily daisychained, all the current have to go through all strips and the last will be the most dim.
"See in the pic where example #2 has 1 wire longer...this is what you want to avoid. "
example one is what you dont want.
example 2 have the current more even distributed.
as you say
"Either make 1 shorter or one longer...just has to be equal..or fairly close to equal."
its the total resistance, the overall lenght that matters.
i hope i didnt mixed something up and you simply ment the same.
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
I think we are saying the same thing, but slightly different...lol
I'm just finishing up another drawing actually...I didn't like the way a few wires crossed in his drawing and noticed it was the direction of a few strips not matching the others pattern causing it and after they are swapped everything lines up nicely and neatly again...ya I'm a little OCD on symmetry in electronics...lol
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
Ah dam...just realized that the 480 watt driver has 2 sets of output leads...back to the drawing board...lol
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
i was or am still confused by the examples.
Example 2 is clearly the way to go for a equal resistance from each strip to the driver.
even the wire is longer, its better distributed.
you dont need a equal lengt wire to the first strip, you need a overall equal resistance from each strip to the driver provided.
Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
Different length wires will cause a difference of resistance and if memory serves me right 1 of them will heat up more then the other because of it.
Now I could very well be wrong, but since there are 2 sets of outputs on the driver they both need to be used and the simplest way would be on 1 set 1 of the output lines 1 wire is long (+) and 1 short (-) and on the other set just reverse that so the long is - and the short is +...same lengths of shorts and longs on each will give you equal resistance...as long as all the short linking wires between strips are equal to each other as well, but dont have to be equal to the wires from the driver.
Its so hard to describe in words...lol
Finished another rough draft...hope this helps.
Now dont put wires over the strips like the pic shows...just drawn that way so wires dont get confused when they cross over one another.
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cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
yes, you are wrong then.
different lengh wires cause different resistance, thats right, its still a circuit measured by the overall resistance.
you will increase the overall resistance with the longer different lengh wire very very slightly ( awg14 f.e. have a much lower resistance then such a led strip, hard to measure) but you avoid a uneven distribution, dim leds.
Also its no problem to go from the middle of the rig and then to each side of each group, thats completly even then.
yes, its hard to explain.
imagine what you will measure using a higher precision multimeter, measuring the plus and minus of each strip.
imagine every other strip is a resistor to keep it simple (in fact it acts like one).
you connect the driver direct to the first strip of one group, no further resistors=strips involved.
last strip will have 18 further resitors involved, uneven.
or you connect the first strip with lets say plus and the last with minus.
now you have 9 further resistors to cross on the first strip in total, as on every in the config.
when one get more on one side, one gets less on the other.
thats how you want it, it doesnt matter if the wire lenghts to the first strip are the same you want the overall resistance from each strip to the driver beeing the same.
edit: you added the drawing later, ididnt saw it.
there it looks right to me, but there youre not going in to strip one.
i was just confused by the former examples, 1 and 2, that dont corelate with the drawing now.
different lengh wires cause different resistance, thats right, its still a circuit measured by the overall resistance.
you will increase the overall resistance with the longer different lengh wire very very slightly ( awg14 f.e. have a much lower resistance then such a led strip, hard to measure) but you avoid a uneven distribution, dim leds.
Also its no problem to go from the middle of the rig and then to each side of each group, thats completly even then.
yes, its hard to explain.
imagine what you will measure using a higher precision multimeter, measuring the plus and minus of each strip.
imagine every other strip is a resistor to keep it simple (in fact it acts like one).
you connect the driver direct to the first strip of one group, no further resistors=strips involved.
last strip will have 18 further resitors involved, uneven.
or you connect the first strip with lets say plus and the last with minus.
now you have 9 further resistors to cross on the first strip in total, as on every in the config.
when one get more on one side, one gets less on the other.
thats how you want it, it doesnt matter if the wire lenghts to the first strip are the same you want the overall resistance from each strip to the driver beeing the same.
edit: you added the drawing later, ididnt saw it.
there it looks right to me, but there youre not going in to strip one.
i was just confused by the former examples, 1 and 2, that dont corelate with the drawing now.
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Mak'er Grow
Well-Known Member
3 sets of 10 strips all have a + on one end and - on the other...don't see the one I missed...left or right and what number from the top?
I understand where your coming from now.
So basically no matter how they get connect your always going to have a loss without branching from driver to each strip really.
That example drawing was just to show not to make 1 wire longer then another...couldn't find proper wording to use...lol
cobshopgrow
Well-Known Member
you havent missed a strip, didnt wrote that?, sorry if there was some lost in translation.
or you mean the 18, thats just the example number one dont count then as its direct connected, its just a example anyway, take any total number you like.
got you, it just looked like the unwanted extreme daisychain in the example.
yes, exactly, you cant avoid the loss, you can just distribute the loss/resistance.
best would be of course each strip to the driver directly, sure.
he was just in to " change the 2 black wire's from the 480H driver from the last to the first strip if i'm not mistaken, correct? That will make the red en black wire equal lengths! " which would had ment + and - into the first strip and all power going from there, not good.
or you mean the 18, thats just the example number one dont count then as its direct connected, its just a example anyway, take any total number you like.
got you, it just looked like the unwanted extreme daisychain in the example.
yes, exactly, you cant avoid the loss, you can just distribute the loss/resistance.
best would be of course each strip to the driver directly, sure.
he was just in to " change the 2 black wire's from the 480H driver from the last to the first strip if i'm not mistaken, correct? That will make the red en black wire equal lengths! " which would had ment + and - into the first strip and all power going from there, not good.
welight
Well-Known Member
to clarify the boards have + and - at each end, they also have the Molex solderless connector which takes 14awg wire
cheers
Mark