Awesome video about your install and the boards! About the power usage being much lower then expected this is because of resistance on the wire or well, voltage drop. Basically if the LEDs aren't getting the full 12v power anymore the amount of current (Amps) they pull also drops. So where at exactly 12v they might draw say 50mA on full white if they now are only getting 10v that might be 30mA. And the more you increase brightness, the more voltage drop happens and thus the lower the drawn amount of current is. This effect is worse on resistor based pixels then regulated pixels too! A regulated pixel will try to and keep a constant output no matter if the incoming voltage is 12v or 10v but a resistor pixel will always start becoming "lower power" because of the static resistor values (which are tuned for 12v). Now this drop can be anywhere so on the wire leading to your LEDs from the controller but also on the wire between the pixels themselves. The only way to alleviate that effect is by adding more copper and thus running injection wires to different parts of the string. I did a livestream here with a little article which shows this very clearly (look at the table on the bottom of the article): quinled.info/should-you-replace-wires-on-led-strip/ . Even changing the cables to 16AWG made a minimal difference but adding a second power wire at the end instantly doubled power usage (and thus also light output). Now it depends on your situation and preference if this is a problem or not. If you're LEDs are behaving like you want them to and light output during normal effects, etc. is exactly the way you want it, no need to change anything. But if you thought your pixels could be more vibrant or when a white section hits they dim or discolor, that's your fix! :)
Thanks for the comments, things are running great and the envy of the neighborhood. I did give you props and links to your site in the first intro video.
I install dig quads every day for permanent lights. It’s insane how little power is used. I used to overkill the power supplies and way overdue it. I do power inject at the end of the line or close to it. Nice video and like your board.
I need to power inject, which will probably require a wire run of around 40' from my controller in the garage. I've been killing myself over what gauge wire I should use. If you go by a chart, I should probably use 12 gauge or something crazy like that. What gauge do you typically use to inject power? Thanks
Thank you for posting. We just bought a new house so man it's going to be hard to do much before Christmas this year except dumb lights up. October 10th and no snow and not freezing yet in Ft. SASK Alberta. I can't wait to get my dig quad up and I'm going to get quindig 's Octo when it comes in
the dig-quad doesn't need a 5v input for the controller. You look to have v3. the circuitry on the board reduced to 5v for the top hat. Check DR ZZZZ he has a video confirming the same thing on the new boards. You can also do power injection without putting boxes all over. You just run additional power in track for injection from that same wire everyone 150 12v LEDs, but I inject on both ends, and in the middle regardless, if over 30ft.
Great installation... have a couple of questions... what did you use for the track? Also, what type of connectors did you use on the top of the box to connect to the LED strips?
I used "J" channel, the same ones used for vinyl siding. You can get 10 foot sections for about $7 each at Lowes and one 10 foot section does one full string of lights (I cut them in half for easy transport). The connectors can be bought on Amazon or directly from China through Aliexpress or Temu, just search on 3 pin LED connector. They also make extension cables that are 6 and 10 foot long if you need to separate a string for a short distance. Hope this helps.
This is my first build and install. How do you adjust the percentage on your lights when you talk about it on the first part of the video. Can you please explain.
I really like the white standoffs that you have in your controll boxes. I like how they screw into the backboard and your dig-quads and other electonics screw into them. Where did you get those?
Try here: cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/780222392512806966/923779298639347802/LED_Diagram.jpg The boosters are being used to clean up the data signal and not for power injection. If you buy a board with the built in resisters, you don't need the boosters.
Lowes or Home Depot, it’s just vinyl J channel that you can find in the vinyl siding section. Just be sure that if you buy one from one store, you stick with that store. Because, even if the color is the same, the channel isn’t. There are slight difference.
They are boosters. They have two purposes, 1. To clean the data signal depending on your wiring (3 wire with data, power and ground in one enclosed cable, or Where all 3 are separate wires, not enclosed) or 2. To boost power for power injection. But, this is no longer needed for the data signal since newer controllers have this feature built onto the controller board.
Hey man, I need to build a single box like you have throughout the home. Will you please do me a huge favor, and share links to all the items you used to build out the box (Box, Risers, Fans, Relay, etc) and links to uploaded images of the layout/schematic you used!?
Interesting, mine needed a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity - luckily, I was able harness this from a recent lightning storm... channeled a strike into the flux capacitor - boom! I'm all set
It’s just the data signal but there are the F Amp boosters that extend that and if you put it after the first LED (what’s called a sacrificial LED) it can go up to 200 feet.
@@1SpudNuts1BigNasty-DIY I use the Falcon F-Amp they are super small and waterproof. You can hide them in your channel (I think just by looking at the size of your led channel). You will need to run extra power to inject power. I will normally inject power to each side of the F-Amp and only continue the data cable to the next strand. The F-Amps only run about $5 but they really help if you want to do long runs or have a long length of cable between strands.
It’s for a relay. The 5v power the quad and ESP32 board so you can make changes without having to bring up the 12v. The quad has a port to trigger the 12v when you hit the power button in WLED. Check out the other videos in the playlist.
Awesome video about your install and the boards!
About the power usage being much lower then expected this is because of resistance on the wire or well, voltage drop. Basically if the LEDs aren't getting the full 12v power anymore the amount of current (Amps) they pull also drops. So where at exactly 12v they might draw say 50mA on full white if they now are only getting 10v that might be 30mA. And the more you increase brightness, the more voltage drop happens and thus the lower the drawn amount of current is.
This effect is worse on resistor based pixels then regulated pixels too! A regulated pixel will try to and keep a constant output no matter if the incoming voltage is 12v or 10v but a resistor pixel will always start becoming "lower power" because of the static resistor values (which are tuned for 12v).
Now this drop can be anywhere so on the wire leading to your LEDs from the controller but also on the wire between the pixels themselves. The only way to alleviate that effect is by adding more copper and thus running injection wires to different parts of the string. I did a livestream here with a little article which shows this very clearly (look at the table on the bottom of the article): quinled.info/should-you-replace-wires-on-led-strip/ . Even changing the cables to 16AWG made a minimal difference but adding a second power wire at the end instantly doubled power usage (and thus also light output).
Now it depends on your situation and preference if this is a problem or not. If you're LEDs are behaving like you want them to and light output during normal effects, etc. is exactly the way you want it, no need to change anything. But if you thought your pixels could be more vibrant or when a white section hits they dim or discolor, that's your fix! :)
Thanks for the comments, things are running great and the envy of the neighborhood. I did give you props and links to your site in the first intro video.
I install dig quads every day for permanent lights. It’s insane how little power is used. I used to overkill the power supplies and way overdue it. I do power inject at the end of the line or close to it. Nice video and like your board.
I need to power inject, which will probably require a wire run of around 40' from my controller in the garage. I've been killing myself over what gauge wire I should use. If you go by a chart, I should probably use 12 gauge or something crazy like that. What gauge do you typically use to inject power? Thanks
18 usually
Thank you for posting. We just bought a new house so man it's going to be hard to do much before Christmas this year except dumb lights up. October 10th and no snow and not freezing yet in Ft. SASK Alberta. I can't wait to get my dig quad up and I'm going to get quindig 's Octo when it comes in
Yes, I was eyeball’n that octo, looks pretty cool.
I run an spare conductor to inject power every 150 LEDs. To me it keeps color consistent and reduces over heating. My wires I run for power are 16ga
Great Video, Well explained and will help any newbie.
the dig-quad doesn't need a 5v input for the controller. You look to have v3. the circuitry on the board reduced to 5v for the top hat. Check DR ZZZZ he has a video confirming the same thing on the new boards. You can also do power injection without putting boxes all over. You just run additional power in track for injection from that same wire everyone 150 12v LEDs, but I inject on both ends, and in the middle regardless, if over 30ft.
Great installation... have a couple of questions... what did you use for the track? Also, what type of connectors did you use on the top of the box to connect to the LED strips?
I used "J" channel, the same ones used for vinyl siding. You can get 10 foot sections for about $7 each at Lowes and one 10 foot section does one full string of lights (I cut them in half for easy transport). The connectors can be bought on Amazon or directly from China through Aliexpress or Temu, just search on 3 pin LED connector. They also make extension cables that are 6 and 10 foot long if you need to separate a string for a short distance. Hope this helps.
Very cool I am Beginner
This is my first build and install. How do you adjust the percentage on your lights when you talk about it on the first part of the video. Can you please explain.
I think you’re referring to brightness, at 50%. That’s done in WLED and it’s usually already at 50% by default.
What brand is everything and is your box plugged into a regular outlet?
Look at the first video in the playlist. Each video has links to everything needed.
Also, everything is plugged into a power strip and that’s plugged into an outlet.
Where did you buy the fans from? Link please 🙏
Look at the second video in the playlist. It has a link.
th-cam.com/play/PLgHe3aOI5gKyfb48PaXzRhoaHPBJr4_dd.html
I really like the white standoffs that you have in your controll boxes. I like how they screw into the backboard and your dig-quads and other electonics screw into them. Where did you get those?
Nevermind... I found them in your other video! Thanks! Nice job and GREAT videos!!!
Do you have a wiring diagram of how to hook everything up and what wire goes to what and where from?
Try here: cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/780222392512806966/923779298639347802/LED_Diagram.jpg
The boosters are being used to clean up the data signal and not for power injection. If you buy a board with the built in resisters, you don't need the boosters.
Where did you get your track?
@@TheChaneyjd it’s J channel for vinyl siding, got it at Lowe’s.
Great video. I want to try something smaller. Where did you find the channel for the leds?
Lowes or Home Depot, it’s just vinyl J channel that you can find in the vinyl siding section. Just be sure that if you buy one from one store, you stick with that store. Because, even if the color is the same, the channel isn’t. There are slight difference.
Take a look at this idea for smaller projects: th-cam.com/video/aFJnBD9mwqs/w-d-xo.html
What are those 4 channel looking things that look like relays towards the top
They are boosters. They have two purposes, 1. To clean the data signal depending on your wiring (3 wire with data, power and ground in one enclosed cable, or Where all 3 are separate wires, not enclosed) or 2. To boost power for power injection. But, this is no longer needed for the data signal since newer controllers have this feature built onto the controller board.
Hey man, I need to build a single box like you have throughout the home. Will you please do me a huge favor, and share links to all the items you used to build out the box (Box, Risers, Fans, Relay, etc) and links to uploaded images of the layout/schematic you used!?
Look at the first video in this playlist, it has links to everything.
th-cam.com/play/PLgHe3aOI5gKyfb48PaXzRhoaHPBJr4_dd.html
Each video has links.
Interesting, mine needed a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity - luckily, I was able harness this from a recent lightning storm... channeled a strike into the flux capacitor - boom! I'm all set
What is with the 32 feet limit?
It’s just the data signal but there are the F Amp boosters that extend that and if you put it after the first LED (what’s called a sacrificial LED) it can go up to 200 feet.
You can add a data amplifier and inject power and go longer runs so you don't need boxes all over.
What amplifier? Either way, I’d need a PSU near the injection point or thicker cable to go 100’.
@@1SpudNuts1BigNasty-DIY I use the Falcon F-Amp they are super small and waterproof. You can hide them in your channel (I think just by looking at the size of your led channel). You will need to run extra power to inject power. I will normally inject power to each side of the F-Amp and only continue the data cable to the next strand. The F-Amps only run about $5 but they really help if you want to do long runs or have a long length of cable between strands.
@@dixonwa1 I’ll look into that. Thanks
Why a separate 5v power supply when quad can handle up to 24v
It’s for a relay. The 5v power the quad and ESP32 board so you can make changes without having to bring up the 12v. The quad has a port to trigger the 12v when you hit the power button in WLED. Check out the other videos in the playlist.