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Alternate power source for single light led push buttons
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Nephasth:

--- Quote from: kyomagi on May 25, 2012, 03:01:59 pm ---How should i ground that green wire?  Just connect to a metal plate?  sorry its been a while lol.  

Now each led is 12v each, will a cheap 200w psu be enough?

--- End quote ---

I do this for testing, but I just take a short piece of wire with both ends stripped, put one end into the green wire's pin and the other end into one of the black wires' pins next to the green wire. You could hot glue it in place so it doesn't fall out if you want. A 200w PSU is more than enough for your LEDs. I would recommend using a smart strip with this setup as well. Have your console in the master outlet and this PSU in one of the slave outlets, that way it is only on when your console is on.
kyomagi:

--- Quote from: Nephasth on May 25, 2012, 03:05:08 pm ---
--- Quote from: kyomagi on May 25, 2012, 03:01:59 pm ---How should i ground that green wire?  Just connect to a metal plate?  sorry its been a while lol.  

Now each led is 12v each, will a cheap 200w psu be enough?

--- End quote ---

I do this for testing, but I just take a short piece of wire with both ends stripped, put one end into the green wire's pin and the other end into one of the black wires' pins next to the green wire. You could hot glue it in place so it doesn't fall out if you want. A 200w PSU is more than enough for your LEDs. I would recommend using a smart strip with this setup as well. Have your console in the master outlet and this PSU in one of the slave outlets, that way it is only on when your console is on.

--- End quote ---

Put them in the female green and black?
Nephasth:
Yea, that's all there is in that connector (male connector, female pins).
lilshawn:

--- Quote from: molton on May 25, 2012, 02:49:39 pm ---Here's a tough question, if you hook up a computer power supply to power some leds only, will the power supply be drawing the 250W-1000W it's rated for or will it be more efficient? Does it vary from power supply to power supply?  Using a PC power supply to light 16 led's could potentially be a huge waste of power.  take a look at some of the led drivers they have at ledsupply.com, even if you have to drop $40 on a 12W power supply, the energy saving costs could far outweigh the price, if in fact the power supply is pulling 100 Watts or more.

--- End quote ---

power supplies are only moderately efficent to begin with. it's alot better than they used to be. You aren't going to be using all 1000 watts or whatever in your power supply. it's just an outline of what the supply is capable of. If you take a look at your specs for your supply, you will find the bulk of the wattage available is reserved for the 3.3 volt and 5 volt lines. the 12 volt line is somewhere in the neigborhood of 100 or 200 watts (about 20 amps)

your 1000 watt powersupply is made up of basically 200+300+500 watt supplies (12/5/3.3 volt supplies) added together (total 1000 watts)

only using a portion of the 12 volt out of the WHOLE supply is only using a fraction of it's power.

where things get tricky is that the efficiency is low (under 80%) under low load...gets better as the load goes up (90% or better)... then goes back down again as the load approaches maximum.

the actual values where this can happen vary WILDLY even between supplies of the same run.

if efficency is important, use a amp meter (or the amp function of your volt meter if it has one) and measure the ACTUAL load at full operation. Let's say it's 2147mA. I would then allow a little overhead and try to source a 2.5 or 3 amp power supply...

the load is close to a full 2500mA (or 3000mA) so it's efficent, but not so full your taxing the supply or running into the overload area. I would think a 4 amp supply (4000mA) will be in the low load area.

PL1:
If you want something you can plug into a USB port, this post will give you a parts list and circuit diagram.  Drop the left half of the circuit if you don't need the trackball light.

If no USB port is available, you might have a "wall wart" lying around the house.
(Look for 12v, 350+ mA) Like this one.

Amazon also has some power supplies like this one.

Many ways to do it.  What is your experience/comfort level with wiring?


Scott
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