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Multiple LED WIZ power ?
spkywlnt73:
Hey guys, I'm running three 32 port LED WIZs directly to the mother board and my computer seems to be freezing up! I don't know if it's freezing up because it's drawing too much power, or somthing else? should I be running these dirrectly to the power supply? Has anyone had this happing?
Drnick:
Try it with a powered usb hub. It could be drawing too much power from the USB header. My machine gets moody if I have 3 devices plugged in the front sockets that all draw power (IE Portable HDD, Phone Charger and then plug in a USB Memory stick). If I run them through powered USB Hub it all works fine.
Hoopz:
You can take the 5v from the PC power supply. See here:
http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZv2_INSTALL.pdf
drventure:
If you're powering all the leds that could be connected to 3 32port LEDWizs, at, say 20ma per LED (conservative), that's 32*3*20, or 1920ma, or almost 2 amps of current.
That's no small amount of current.
Keep in mind that a USB port is specd to deliver +no more than+ 500ma, period. And if it's not a powered hub, it'll only deliver a fraction of that before it either crowbars and shuts down, or worse. 500 ma, using 20ma LEDs amounts to 25 LEDs at the absolute maximum, and that's not counting the current draw from the LEDWiz itself.
Bottom line, you just about HAVE to make use of the external power connectors on the LEDWiz, esp if you ever expect to light most of the LED's simultaneously.
You might get away with not doing that if you only light a few LEDs at a time, but that can be pretty tricky.
When you do grab a 5v DC wallwart, just make sure it's not one of those 500ma output wienies. You'll be back in the same boat.
You'll want to get an external harddrive supply or something similar that can output 2-3amps (2000-3000 ma) of current.
(EDIT) Connecting to the PC Supply with a fused line is also good as in the link that Hoopz points to.
spkywlnt73:
I should also point out that they're RGB LEDs! Don't know if that makes a difference, but pretty much all of the ports are being used.
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