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I am building a small 4-shelf vertical indoor greenhouse. Each shelf has a 3-port USB hub-splitter which powers 1 USB minifan (5V, 1A) and 2 strips of 50cm USB LED lights (5V, 1.8A (30 * 0.06)). Then each shelf is plugged into a 4-port USB splitter which is powered by a 5V, 1A charger.

Basically, when everything is switched-on the LEDs produce almost no light. My question would be do I need a charger with more amps? In this case 11.2A? Can someone maybe help me to understand this issue?

SamGibson
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DougN
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  • Which USB version are you using? USB-C could do it but I doubt your parts are USB-C. You are for sure overloading the 1A charger, which can't even power the entire load of one shelf. Instead of trying to daisy-chain hubs, you should be powering each shelf hub separately. Or just get a set of LED lights that plug into an outlet directly, they're cheap! – vir May 03 '21 at 17:27
  • Yes, if your load is 11.8A you need at least 11.8A power supply. The USB hub is most likely also not designed to pass 11.8A so expect it to have a fuse or it may melt. And USB power supplies are not chargers, they are power supplies. The charger would be inside the mobile phone. – Justme May 03 '21 at 17:31
  • @vir Ok, thank you for your advice! My parts are USB 3.0 to my best knowledge. So, if I would power each shelf hub separately I would ideally need 2.8A output? – DougN May 03 '21 at 18:19
  • @Justme I will keep that in mind.Thanks!;) – DougN May 03 '21 at 18:20
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    Frankly your parts are not usb just because they have a usb plug on them. You are just using usb as a universal 5V power supply connection. You are better off getting a proper 5V supply or small computer power supply and cutting/splice the power connections. – Passerby May 03 '21 at 19:27

1 Answers1

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Your total power consumption at 5V at 11.2A = 56 W

For efficiency you may want to consider a 75W power supply or for free, a surplus 250W PC PSU to drive all 4 shelves. depending on the 250W supply the 5V rail can supply ~ 18A. Using AWG16 or distributed smaller wiring you can use a common power source.

Tony Stewart EE75
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