LED-Wiz wiring question

[markronz]

A while back, when I made my first arcade machine, I had a few posts here on how to wire up my LED-Wiz.  The attached picture is a summary of what I learned.

I am now in the process of making a second arcade, and I just have, what I hope to be, a quick question about this.   In lieu of using terminal blocks, is there any reason why I couldn't just simply use a "daisy chain" wire?   I made some daisy chain wires to use as the ground for my controls, and I'm just wondering if I could simply use the same type of thing to power all my LEDs for my buttons as well?   I think it would just eliminate a lot of clutter.  Seems logically like there would be no problem doing this, but since I am no wiring expert, I just thought I'd ask...

Thanks!

[JustMichael]

Daisy chaining grounds is fine.  Just don't daisy chain them straight to power though.

[markronz]

Ok.  How come? Why is a terminal strip better than daisy chaining the power?  Just curious.  Thanks!

[pjl83]

If you daisy chain the power then effectively you are wiring them in series. In series the voltage is shared. 6 led's wired in series with a 5v feed will mean that each led gets just 0.83v. They will be extremely dim (if even lit at all).

Wiring in true parallel or using the terminal block idea will mean that each led gets 5v each.

HTH
Paul

[RandyT]

If I understand the question correctly, there is only one real reason why you don't want to daisy chain actual power to devices.  Each device adds a load to the wire preceding it.  So if you have 100 LED's, you need to make sure that the wire going to each of them can handle the sum of all of the loads.  If you use a terminal block, the same thing applies, but you can use much smaller sections of the heavier wire for the jumpers than what you use  to power the individual loads.

Terminal blocks can also be neater, and neater is usually safer.

If you daisy chain the power then effectively you are wiring them in series. In series the voltage is shared. 6 led's wired in series with a 5v feed will mean that each led gets just 0.83v. They will be extremely dim (if even lit at all).

No, "daisy-chaining" is still a parallel circuit, so no worries there.

RandyT

[markronz]

Thanks guys, I think I understand now.  I will use a terminal block.  Regarding the wire that I will be using as a jumper I was planning on just using 22 AWG wire, same as the rest.  Are you saying for the jumper cable that I need a bigger gauge cable for that then?  If so, how big?  And what about the wire connecting the power supply to the terminal block?  Does that need to be higher gauge as well?

[RandyT]

Thanks guys, I think I understand now.  I will use a terminal block.  Regarding the wire that I will be using as a jumper I was planning on just using 22 AWG wire, same as the rest.  Are you saying for the jumper cable that I need a bigger gauge cable for that then?  If so, how big?  And what about the wire connecting the power supply to the terminal block?  Does that need to be higher gauge as well?

It depends on the load and the way the circuit is designed.  Here's a page which seems fairly easy to follow.

22 gauge wire should be fine for plenty of LED's, but it wouldn't hurt anything to go to 20 on the terminal block.  Don't forget to use the same gauge for the GROUND wire.

RandyT