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I want to create a strobe light with an LED strip, so I can use a DSLR with a longer shutter time to measure the speed of a plastic bb accurately (distance between the 2 images divided by the frequency). I was thinking of using an LED strip and a MOSFET to drive it, using a microcontroller to control the frequency and on/off times. The thing I was wondering about is if I need a special kind of power supply to handle the fast on-off switching (I'm thinking of on-times in the order of 20-40 μs to get accurate enough measurements) or if I will be fine with one of those multi-purpose 12V 2A DC supplies.

Joe Hass
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Joren Vaes
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  • Welcome to EE.SE! We prefer not to have questions asking for advice when purchasing commercial products, so it would be best if you could try to ask a more specific question, perhaps about a specific model of power supply. – Joe Hass Dec 30 '13 at 18:12
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    @JoeHass The last part of your comment is misleading. EE.SE is not a tech support for specific model power supplies [either]. – Nick Alexeev Dec 30 '13 at 18:45
  • @NickAlexeev Agreed, thanks for clarifying. I guess I was hoping for question about a specific power supply _specification_ rather than about a specific power supply itself. – Joe Hass Dec 30 '13 at 21:34
  • @JorenVaes Could you edit your post and add more details about your LED strip? What voltage does it require? What current do you want to run it at? These details would put the question into a perspective. – Nick Alexeev Dec 30 '13 at 21:57

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It is not specified in the question what the average current draw is, but let's assume 2A is sufficient.

It is good practice, if not essential, to add proper power supply decoupling to your circuit and as close to the load as possible. This is important for both the microcontroller as for the LED-strip/driver combination. For your average microcontroller a 100nF ceramic cap will do, but for the LED's you'll probably need more. Capacitor sizing depends on the LED-strip load.

Take a look at this answer for more details on decoupling capacitors.

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jippie
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