Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Other Technologies & Hardware => Topic started by: chenks on April 04, 2019, 07:17:30 PM
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so i've ordered a little controller board to run some LED strips (it works with Philips Hue but for a fraction of the price).
it requires to be powered 12V/3A(or 5A for longer strips).
i don't fancy having it plugged into the mains, but then though maybe i can power it via USB using the yellow USB charging port on my NUC server that is sitting next ot where it'll be located (yellow denotes a powered USB port for charging)
the controller board has a barrel type connector, so had a google and came across this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01G56J4I6
should this work?
has anyone done anything similar?
[Moderator edited to simplify the link.]
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on digging a bit deeper it only gives out 0.45A, so that's knocked that one out.
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I was just going to say that a USB port will not supply 5 amps, but you've discovered that.
It should be very easy to purchase a suitable supply, which will of course have to plugged into the mains - as is your NUC.
I have recently purchased some 24v 10 meter long RGB strips for a garden project, but I haven't progressed much further yet.
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for the short length of strip 3A should be sufficient, 5A is only recommended for over 5 meters.
i have found some that will do 2A - https://www.amazon.co.uk/kenable-Power-Cable-2-1mm-2000mA/dp/B00SCBAE00
indeed a suitable mains supply is easy, but was hoping to keep it off mains if possible.
[Moderator edited to simplify the link.]
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But what is off mains? My cryptic point was that even your NUC is mains powered. You could of course use a 12v battery and recharge it via solar power.
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"off mains" as in not directly plugged into a mains socket.
this is for indoor use so a big 12x battery with solar power isn't exactly useful, workable or desirable in the location.
the main reason for wanting to see if this power method was possible is that i've already for 11 items plugged into the mains in this corner of the room (via 2 x 6 socket multi-bars each powered from 2 mains sockets on the wall). i'm really not wanting to drive anything else from the mains sockets if at all possible.
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That makes sense, how many of the items are 12v? Perhaps an efficient larger power supply could be used to power multiple pieces of equipment, you could even distribute the power via a suitable fuse board.
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it's the corner of the living room so it's...
TV
NUC
2 x external HDDs
Bluray player
Cable STB
Cable modem
Router
WIFI AP
Network Switch
Hue Bridge
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Quite a lot of that is likely to be 12v, could you not buy a large 12v supply and build a fused distribution unit and do away with a lot of transformers?
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i'm not electrician and that type of project may be outwith my comfort zone.
also, i doubt something like that would look "pretty" in a living room
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not sure if this would actually do the job ?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071WW4Q7W
although it may have the same output ampagge limitiation
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That will be a no, you've stated you need 3 amps, the product specification states 2 amp maximum
[Perfect Design]: Built-in identification resistor,Input: 5v USB A male;Output: 12v(±1);Max current: 2A; Connectors: DC jack 5.5*2.1mm to USB A male.
You've stated that the NUC can supply 0.45 amps on it's USB port, so not accounting for loses when converting to 12v the absolute maximum at 12v would be 1.08 amp, it will be less though as the conversion will not be 100% efficient.
I would not be trying to power RGB LED's from a NUC
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2A maximum input current from the 5V USB.
0.45A * 5V = 2.25W
2.25W / 12V = 0.1875A max current at 12V.
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Agree with ejs’s calculations. :)
I’ve never been a fan of USB power. My reasoning is that for a given appliance wattage, the lower the voltage, the higher the current. Imho (ejs, correct me?) This has a number of possibly undesirable consequences...
1. As in this case, the USB source may be unable to supply sufficient current.
2. Under fault conditions of a poor (resistive) connection, the heat generated is proportional to current, so a low voltage (USB) solution can sometimes be more of a hazard than a higher voltage, lower current, solution.
3. Higher current applications can lead to a significant voltage drop over the length of a thin USB cable, so you no longer see the full 5V at the far end. This can cause things to just not work.
In practice too, low voltage USB does not necessarily equate to safety. I once managed to trap a fine Apple keyboard USB cable under the stand of a monitor, where it became progressively more chaffed over time. I only noticed it had become chaffed after seeing a few actual sparks and smoke, when it eventually shorted.
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That will be a no, you've stated you need 3 amps, the product specification states 2 amp maximum
You've stated that the NUC can supply 0.45 amps on it's USB port, so not accounting for loses when converting to 12v the absolute maximum at 12v would be 1.08 amp, it will be less though as the conversion will not be 100% efficient.
I would not be trying to power RGB LED's from a NUC
did i?
the post where i mentioned 0.45A was about the cable i linked to, not the USB port on the NUC
I actually did see a cable that said it gave 2A out at the end, but it was an item that was no longer in stocker, and even then 2A was too low.
the length of LED strip would require 3A.
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thinking outside the box, i started to wonder if there is a 12v power plug that has more than 1 output, so it's 1 mains plug but with 2 or 4 outputs to power multiple devices from the one mains plug.
a google brought up this on the CPC website - http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1870706.pdf
appears to be a 12V 5A supply with 4 outputs. details are a bit sketchy but the link is the technical sheet.
has anyone seen any of these before and does the spec sheet confirm it outputs 12V 5A on all outputs at the same time?
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That is rated at a total power output of 60watt, i.e. 5A at 12v. That output is shared between 4 connectors.
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I can’t find anywhere that Farnell say so, but agree with atminsong, I feel sure that’ll be 5A total, shared among all outputs.
The manufacturer’s own website seems to confirm, a device with very similar part number..
http://www.powerpax.co.uk/downloads/dl/file/id/200/product/927/60w_12vdc_5a_desktop_power_supply_powerpax.pdf/
Technically possible to make a 12V PSU capable of 4x5 Amp outputs, but I don’t think you’ll find one that just uses a splitter cable to four individual small jack plugs. Reason being, worst case is total of 20Amps to one of the four. That would need a pretty heavy duty cable, as well as heavy duty connectors. Putting it in context, it’s about double the current drawn by a typical mains powered electric kettle.
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damn, was worth a try.
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Sorry, I thought post two was referring to the power output of the USB port on the NUC, my mistake.
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Getting back to the original question, you still have one free socket on one of the mains extensions, why not use it?
I don’t see any reason that full utilisation of extension sockets should be a safety problem as long they are of appropriate quality and basic safety rules are followed. Keep attached appuratus well within the maximum overall rating, and don’t daisy-chain them. Arguably, having a plug in all the sockets is safer than leaving one empty, as it avoids the temptation to plug in the high current vacuum cleaner to the one that’s left over, possibly tipping the whole lot into overload.
And go for good brands, look out for cheap fakes, I have seen many that are downright dangerous because they were just badly designed or badly made.
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there's no real reason to not use the free socket, it was just a thought about alternate powering options.
the controller box doesn't come with a PSU (it's a controller box from China and even if it did come with one i wouldn't be using that one!).
i've probably got a suitable PSU laying about somewhere, otherwise i'll need to find one on amazon that is of acceptable quality.
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I have a home made amblilight setup powered by an Arduino Uno, it has a string of 50 addressable LED's, is this the kind of thing you have?
My Uno is powered by a nomral 5V USB power supply, I just made sure to buy a good quality one from a UK supplier and its fine, the Uno draw almost no power at all. I am a bit of an electronics hobbyist and have watched too many Youtube videos about Chinese power supplies to ever buy one again, lol.
The LED lights themselves in my case are separately powered and for them I bought a laptop power supply rated to in excess of the required power, I think from memory my lights are WS2811 and require 12V and the load is over 5A so I had to buy a pretty chunky laptop PSU - from memory I bought an OEM (can't remember whether it was HP, IBM etc) these are a decent choice as they are rated for continuous load. Personally I would avoid the generic ebay ones as although they are much cheaper they are very variable qulaity wise.
In other news, if you have an HTPC and haven't already got an Ambilight setup you should definitely consider it, very cool, wife loves it.
Cool beans
Chunks
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no, the box i've bought is this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GLEDOPTO-ZIGBEE-Led-Controller-RGB-CCT-WW-CW-zigbee-controller-LED-DC12-24V-LED-strip-controller/32858603964.html
it advertises itself as a philips hue "bulb", which you then connect the LED strip to. the only item that needs power is the controller box.
the led strip i bought to go with this is https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC-12V-5M-300LEDs-Not-Waterproof-Single-Color-RGB-LED-Strip-5050-SMD-5630-3528-Flexible/32738927195.html
these have been confirmed to work and integrate into philips hue systems.
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Whilst I was searching the Internet for a 12v power supply in regards to powering multiple 12v devices I discovered that if you Google CCTV power supply you'll find a lot of power supplies and splitter leads, although you may need buy/make some adapter cables.
Might be a way to cut down on sockets used.
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yeah, most of the ones i've seen though only seem to split the 12v 5A over all the outputs and can't deliver it to all of them
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Yes but that 12v 5amp would power a router and a modem easily, or a couple of HDD caddies, halving the plugs required.
This is probably the best I've seen, but rather expensive, and still only a total of 7 amps over the 9 ports, but the ports are rated at 3.15 amps so long as you don't exceed the total of 7.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253791144745
There are even bigger ones, but still only 2.5amp per channel, I suppose as CCTV camera's don't draw much power.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142987825595
Of course neither are suitable for a living room.
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i'll need to have a proper look and see what each device requires.
out of all the devices i have the only ones that would be likely to work in such a situation are.
virgin hub
2 x seagate external HDDs
dlink 4 port switch
hue bridge
zgemma cable STB (that one is strong maybe)
the router (edgerouter X) and AP (unifi AC lite) are both powered via the 1 POE injector (the edgerouter has POE passthru).
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well the controller and LED strip arrived and currently powering it using a mains adaptor i already had.
it works as it should and Hue sees it a bulb and integrates it into the Hue system.
a Hue LED strip for the fraction of the cost of an actual Hue Strip.