I'm trying something new this year: power injecting the controllers instead of just the lights. I'm at 5V (for the most part), and I'm putting some controllers in their own enclosures with no PSU's--instead leaving a pigtail to accept DC input. The PSU instead goes 50 or 100 pixels down the line, injecting into strings directly in the middle, with a long DC wire going IN to the controller--instead of out of it.
It seems by far most popular these days to try and design one big enclosure with all the PSU's + controllers and then run the wires out, but it's looking more advantageous to me instead to break out the PSU's and run the wires in--not out.
Pros:
1) This leaves all high-voltage lines out of the controller box altogether. Little to no chance of something going wrong and 120VAC shorting with a low-voltage component. The only way in is if something shorts with the DC in wire (which...obviously...don't let that happen).
2) Heating issues from the PSU's don't impact the expensive controller. If the PSU is improperly ventilated, that jeopardizes the PSU only.
3) My K16 controllers alone (which are sized similar to lots of other controllers out there) fit perfectly in Harbor Freight's $3 .30 cal ammo boxes. As do the PSU's. In fact, I don't even need to cut up a mounting board for either the controller or the PSU. They just go right in the ammo box and they're held in place by the wires holding up against the cable glands. They wiggle a little, but who cares--there's nothing else in the box.
4) For controllers with multiple power banks (like K16's and K32's), if any one PSU has a heating problem, that impacts only that one power bank--not all of them, like you would if you had 4 PSU's + a K32 in a single enclosure.
5) The PSU is injecting directly into the middle of the string and powering both ways, whereas from the enclosure you're only injecting it from the beginning. Thus it makes more sense to make the power go through a long 10-meter wire going in, to the beginning--not out, and into the middle of something.
6) If water ever causes a short somewhere, the wire load on the 10m input power line safeguards the controller a little bit more against power surges, in addition to the fuses. It also safeguards the fuses themselves a little bit. (admittedly, it will never be as safe as routing only data and ground out to the pixels and not power, but a lot of us don't want to take it that far)
So far, the only real issues I've had are when there's an open to the DC In line. Which when it's 5V, will cause the controller to sometimes get only 3V and it stops running. I've had no issues at all when it's 12V and there's an open, but I worry (i.e. too much current going in through the 12V pixels). The controller still gets its power through the pixels, even then. But still, that is "failure mode". The controller should be connected directly through a good wire to the PSU. But I have had squirrels chew through wires before.
Was just curious if I'm missing something? More people don't seem to be doing it already.
It seems by far most popular these days to try and design one big enclosure with all the PSU's + controllers and then run the wires out, but it's looking more advantageous to me instead to break out the PSU's and run the wires in--not out.
Pros:
1) This leaves all high-voltage lines out of the controller box altogether. Little to no chance of something going wrong and 120VAC shorting with a low-voltage component. The only way in is if something shorts with the DC in wire (which...obviously...don't let that happen).
2) Heating issues from the PSU's don't impact the expensive controller. If the PSU is improperly ventilated, that jeopardizes the PSU only.
3) My K16 controllers alone (which are sized similar to lots of other controllers out there) fit perfectly in Harbor Freight's $3 .30 cal ammo boxes. As do the PSU's. In fact, I don't even need to cut up a mounting board for either the controller or the PSU. They just go right in the ammo box and they're held in place by the wires holding up against the cable glands. They wiggle a little, but who cares--there's nothing else in the box.
4) For controllers with multiple power banks (like K16's and K32's), if any one PSU has a heating problem, that impacts only that one power bank--not all of them, like you would if you had 4 PSU's + a K32 in a single enclosure.
5) The PSU is injecting directly into the middle of the string and powering both ways, whereas from the enclosure you're only injecting it from the beginning. Thus it makes more sense to make the power go through a long 10-meter wire going in, to the beginning--not out, and into the middle of something.
6) If water ever causes a short somewhere, the wire load on the 10m input power line safeguards the controller a little bit more against power surges, in addition to the fuses. It also safeguards the fuses themselves a little bit. (admittedly, it will never be as safe as routing only data and ground out to the pixels and not power, but a lot of us don't want to take it that far)
So far, the only real issues I've had are when there's an open to the DC In line. Which when it's 5V, will cause the controller to sometimes get only 3V and it stops running. I've had no issues at all when it's 12V and there's an open, but I worry (i.e. too much current going in through the 12V pixels). The controller still gets its power through the pixels, even then. But still, that is "failure mode". The controller should be connected directly through a good wire to the PSU. But I have had squirrels chew through wires before.
Was just curious if I'm missing something? More people don't seem to be doing it already.
