You've gonna pump 12v through CAT5 strands?
My instinct was no, asked to confirm. Didnt know if anyones done it.
It can be done, depending on how much current you need to run through the wire.
Its cool to run the cat5 24awg for input wiring though right?
Yes. Most of the pre-crimped input wires and daisy chains that I've bought are 24 AWG.
You could use 30 AWG (or smaller) for inputs since they only draw a few milliamps, but wires that small are harder to work with and easier to damage.
Whats the min awg that 12v could be daisy chained through 34 buttons? 22awg?
Voltage isn't the possible issue here, it's how many amps you need for the LEDs.
Test the current draw of a single LED if you aren't sure about the specs on your LEDs --
most draw 20 mA, but some draw more.
(The Helio9 RGB LEDs from GGG draw 165 mA -- 55 mA per color
)
Once you know the current draw per LED, the math is easy.
Number of LEDs * current draw per LED = total current draw.
34 LEDs * 20 mA/LED = 680 mA = 0.68 Amps total
According to the American Wire Gauge (AWG) Sizes and Properties Table
here,
- 22 AWG "Max Current [Amperes]" rating is 0.92 Amps
-- Large enough to power all your LEDs on a single 12v daisy-chain with a single ground daisy-chain.
- 24 AWG "Max Current [Amperes]" rating is 0.577 Amps
-- You can use it if you divide the 34 LEDs into two daisy-chains of about 17 each (340 mA) and still have lots of wiggle room.
- 30 AWG "Max Current [Amperes]" rating is 0.142 Amps
-- I wouldn't use it for more than 5 LEDs (100 mA) per daisy-chain -- not a good choice for this project IMHO.
Scott