Installation, installation and connection of LED tape. Wire section selection for DC. Voltage drop.
SamSebemaster
#LED lights
#LED Strip Light
In one of my videos, I talked about the fact that whenever possible, you need to place the power supply as close as possible to the LED strip. So, the farther away from the LED strip you have the power unit, the more there must be a section of wires in the cable between them. If, for example, you connect a smaller cable to the section than needed, the LED strip will give less illumination than the one for which it is designed.
As the length of the cable increases, the voltage drops on it. The larger the cross-section of the wire in the cable, the more volts will reach the LED strip.
It is quite normal for the voltage drop on this site to be up to 10 percent. In this case, you will not notice a significant difference in the LED strip light.
In order to understand what section should be the wire from the power supply unit to the LED strip, you need to know what maximum direct current consumes the LED strip. This can be found in the technical description or instruction manual for its operation, which is packaged with an LED strip. Respecting yourself, and us and you, companies always give the fullest possible information about their products.
In the main technical parameters, we find the current consumed by 5 meters of the LED strip. In my case it's 2 Amps.
Suppose that this picture is the ceiling on which we need to set the LED backlight. In the figure, we see 4 tapes of 5 meters and to each 2 tapes there are wires of different lengths:
- to the point "A" the distance from the power supply unit is 1 meter.
- to the point "B" the distance from the power supply unit is 11 meters.
To each point are connected 2 LED strips of 5 meters. Thus, the current consumption of each section is 4 Amps.
We need to calculate the cross-section of the cable to point "A" and point "B".
Above the table under the line "Consumed current of the LED strip (A)" from 1 to 10, the current in Amperes is indicated. The current in our example is 4 Amps.
We calculate the cross-section of the cable for point "A" equal to 1 meter. For this purpose, a cable with a cross-section of 2х0,75 is quite suitable, since such a cable can be used for a length of just over 3 meters.
Now calculate the cross-section of the wire to point "B" equal to 11 meters. For this segment, a cable with a cross section of 2x2.5 is suitable.
Table for calculating the cross-section of the cable depending on its length and consumed by the LED current tape - cloud.mail.ru/public/J9wx/sMV...
Let's connect each LED tape from the far section "B" closer to the power supply here in this way. As a result, the length of the cable to the tape is reduced to 6 meters, with each tape consuming 2 amps.
Let's return to the table. We can use on these sections a cable with a cross-section of 2х0.75, which under these conditions allows a length of up to 6.5 meters. And if you have the opportunity to use for this purpose a cable of 2x1.5 mm, then the voltage drop will reach only 2.5 percent.
Please note that the table shows the results of a voltage drop of only 5 percent. Now I will explain the reason, because earlier I talked about a possible 10 percent.
Manufacturers of power supplies indicate the possible error of this device to 3 percent. Those. If the power supply delivers less by 3 per cent and the losses in the cable wires are not more than 5 per cent, we will maintain an acceptable 10 per cent of the voltage loss, considering that voltage losses occur on the tape itself along the entire length of which the copper "Paths". And this is neither more nor less than 5 meters. Visually this is not always noticeable, but it's a fact. To get rid of this will help connect the LED tape from its two sides.
In addition, voltage losses occur also in place of the wire connections. The best connection is the soldering of wires. If you do not have a soldering iron, then my advice is to use the VAGO terminals for this.
I also recommend that you use LED tape and 24 Volt power supplies.
The prices for the tape and power supplies are the same, which is for 24 volts, which is for 12 volts with the remaining identical parameters. I checked the prices and parameters from my regular supplier of LED equipment on the Arlite Moscow website arlight.moscow/.
A link to the site you will find in the description of the video or just type in the search engine Arlite Moscow.
LED strip at 24 volts consumes a current half the value of 12 Volt. As a result, you can use a cable with a much smaller cross-section or achieve a lower voltage drop.
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