I have recently had the idea for what's essentially a LED matrix that will span my entire ceiling, which will allow me to do tons of cool lighting effects, etc etc.
This idea didn't come out of nowhere either, I have worked with LED's before and used microcontrollers, the difference here is the scale is much much bigger. So I did the math bought a 12v 40 Amp power supply for the 12, 5 meter strips that I need to cover my ceiling. I did some research and found the best way to wire them would be daisy chaining each strip at its beginning. Each strip is the length of my ceiling (5 meters), so I would chain all 12 strips. (I have also read about this and heard it called power injecting as well).
The main issue I am having is, because I lack a lot of electrical knowledge. I don't fully understand how current works, I know a circuit will only draw the current it needs, but does that mean it is safe to have 40 amps of current run through for example 16 gauge wire if the strip itself at most draws 2.5 amps. I bring this up because the LED's I got came pre soldered with wire leads, but they are pretty thin, and then it made me wonder if the actual wire inside the LED strips also may be too thin. For 40 amps of current google says I would need 8 gauge wire. And if the 16 ish gauge wire is ok because the wires only experience the amount of current that is being drawn then I would still have to re solder on new thicker wire leads because the load on the daisy chained wires would still be 40 amps (at most).
Or I am missing something fundamental that I don't understand. I just really want to avoid burning down my apartment.
