So, I'm planning on doing a little project. I have 8years old ATX power supply from an old PC, and I want to use it to power my LED strip (ws2812b). It is a 300 led strip (5m strip). I know for that length I will need 5V/18A of current but my PSU is only rated to do 5V/16A max. *Note that I will be using these LEDs for decoration only so low/medium brightness.
Another thing that is my concern is wiring and powering LEDs. I have some ideas about that. I will cut the strip into 2 pieces. (3m and 2m).
Now comes the fun part. On my ATX PSU, I have 5x18AWG 5V wires and 3x20AWG 5V wires. I've read somewhere that 18AWG wire is capable of maxing 2.3A, so I was thinking shorting 3x18AWG and 1x20AWG wire for my 3m strip, and rest shorting for my 2m strip.
Of course, after shorting these wires I would use separate 14AWG wire (so 2x+5V and 2xGround) to transfer power to the LED strips. ( I will try to draw all of that so you can understand what I think) Another note - PSU will be roughly 5m away from strips in other room.
Now check up the wiring
The red wire is 5V, Brown is ground, Grey is a data line
I'm going with this controller simply because I know just little about programming in Arduino and I think it is much easier for me just to buy a complete one. I'm also concerned about that 10A going thru the controller to the 3m LED strip because I haven't found anywhere about what amps can that controller take.
Do you even think all of this wiring is a good idea? Because I'm no expert and I need the second opinion.
Do you maybe think I should somehow do separate powering of the controller (So it gets its own power and smaller amps), if yes can u suggest me how because there is no scheme anywhere about that.
I'm a student and that is why I went cheap on this but I think it could work. If someone can help and tell me if something is wrong I will appreciate it a lot. The LED strip and controller haven't arrived yet so I'm open to all suggestions.
Thanks. And btw sorry for bad English ;)
