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Sharing +5V from power supply
Brad Lee:
I don't claim to be an electrical whiz- far from it in fact :-\
I'm going to be re-wiring my CP to make things neater, conceal wires, and make it removable. I'll be using 25-pair wire coming from the CP, and going to (1) IPac and (1) OptiPac. I'd like to wire all of the inputs on both boards, which totals 48, plus a +5V and GND, brings me to 50- using up the whole cable
I know I can chain all my grounds to a single point, but can I do that with my power lines also? How many items can I power with a single +5 feed from my power supply?
I think the term wired in parallel is the right one to describe what I'm thinking
+--------led
+5V---------+--------led
+--------spinner
WOuld this be too much of a load, ie would the leds be dimmer than using independent leads from the power supply?
Dak-ak:
im far from it aswell, but leds don't draw much currant... you should be able to put many onto one 5v line (i have 4 being ran in my computer off of one molex right now, and im sure it can handle much more)
why is the spinner hooked up to power?
Carsten Carlos:
Just a small hint - better put a fuse (e.g. 1A) in the 5V-line before going through all the other cables!
This way you won't blow out your powersupply if you have something shorten. My first early testing pcb did blow out the fuse rightaway, and I'm glad that I only had to pay one cent for a new fuse! (And this happened although I'm an experienced electronican!)
Carsten Carlos:
In additon, e.g. your harddisk draws as much current as approximately 25 LED's, so you have never to worry about it - there'll always be enough power for them. A spinner won't take much also - with a fuse you are always on the safe side anyway. If you don't want to solder I guess you'll get a fuseholder at the carhifi-store.
Brad Lee:
Good to know.. I'll check into some inline fuses/holders
dak-ak: the spinner needs power for the optics- it's basically 2 leds and receivers that are used for direction and speed, like on the inside of a mouse
Thanka