I have 10 meters of SK9822 LEDs (60 LED/m) which I want to lead around my room. Because there's some furniture in the way, I'll need to cut this in a few pieces and create segments joint with a piece of wire.
These LEDs are 5V and draw the maximum of 60mA each. I know the maximum amount of power these LEDs will need is 36A (60 * 60 * 10) so I bought a transformer that provides 5V, 40A of power.
I read that powering the whole 10 meter strip only from one end wouldn't work, so I'll put the power source somewhere in the middle with branch A: 400cm of LEDs (plus 20cm of joints) on one side and branch B: 600cm of LEDs (plus about 270cm of joints) on the other side. Now B is probably still a bit too long for powering from one end, so my idea is to supply power to the distant end of it by leading wire from the source, along the LEDs and thus powering the long side from both ends. This would all go from the same supply (40A transformer).
I'm quite new to this but doing as much as I can to catch up with all the electrician knowledge. A couple of things I'm not sure about though:
- Will the current get naturally distributed wherever is needed? Especially when connecting the strip on both ends, will it draw roughly a half of the total required current on each side?
- Do I need a special wire for the joints and for the power extension? Some wires have maximum current rating on them (like 3 or 6A), so if the answer to the first question is yes and my calculation is correct (6m of LEDs will draw the maximum of 18A), will I need a wire that can handle 9A of current for the power extention (and possibly for the joints as well)?
- Also, what about the wire from the power source to the middle of the strip, should I use separate wires to send power to each branch?