Technical Support Thread | Light Up Your Life Design Challenge

Hello,

Am I right in assuming that there must be a "monster" power supply to drive all these LEDS?

I mean, I read 13mA just for the first one, so if I have 25 of them, I need a 1A (14.5*25*3) PSU right?

Hello,

Am I right in assuming that there must be a "monster" power supply to drive all these LEDS?

I mean, I read 13mA just for the first one, so if I have 25 of them, I need a 1A (14.5*25*3) PSU right?

Maybe, depends on your interpretation of monster. 100 LEDs at 20 mA each is 2A , not a big deal, but a separate PS  is needed.The controller wont power it. I built an led light  organ using a 12v 10a  power supply. Depends how many you use and how you engineer the strings. The LEDs do not need to operate at full intensity/full mA. The leds can be strobed and strings divided into branches. The colors also have different intensity with different driving currents. 

According to my udnerstanding 14.5 is maixmum for all 3 channels, so you do not need to multiply it by 3. Also it is worst case current for white light at maximum brightness. If your design can ensure it does not happen, you can lower your PSU requirements. There are several LEDs with various currents but obviously LEDs with lower currents have lower luminiscity. I collected params from datasheets:

Also not that most LEDs consume about 1 - 2 mA even when turned off because they need to power engine for data reception and transmission. LEDs with clock signal input are much more efficient and when turned off, they idle power consumption is about 1000x lower.

I think there are only 25 of each type of LED. I can't see using all the different types in a single application, so you may only need to drive 25 at a time.

Well, for me anything above 500mA is starting to be huge, but this might be a habit I kept from the "USB power brick" that I have been using for most of my projects along the years.

There is 24W power supply in the kit, but note that it is 9V (2.5A) supply. Arduino which is in the kit has onboard converter which can convert this 9V to 5V with limitation of 1A, this should be enough to power all 25 most power hungry LEDs from the kit (21mA) with large enough budget for even combining longer strips with multiple LED types.

misaz  If this 14.5 you are referring referring to Max I(F,IC) of  1315050930002, then it is the IC Output current to each individual IC. Take a look at ANO009 (https://www.we-online.com/components/media/o782907v410%20ANO009b_Understanding%20parameters%20in%20ICLED%20datasheets_EN.pdf) at page 4, it says the Value you are probably referring to is per LED and therefore when all thee lights are turned on at fuull brightness, it will be 14.5x3mA obones do check out the document