Hello, I have 2 bookcases/shelves that i would like to light with LED strips. There will be 3 rows/shelves in each bookcase that i want lit and the 2 bookcase units are on each side of a gas fireplace/mantle.
My dilema: I have no clean way to run a cable from 1 shelf to the other other tohave these in series. I could run them in series but the cable from the end of 1 strip needs to go down to the next lower book shelf and into a strtip and going down each time is where my issue is. The front of the bookshelf has trim on it but the cable is just a bit wider than that face so you can see the cabling. Not desired. and i cannot run cables on the outside of each bookcase as that is tight against a wall.
So i am thinking i will cable them by going out of the top side of the shelf that is adjacent to the fireplace, into a splice and do that for all 6 shelves. This will work but i cannot run the strings in series then.
I assume this is still ok but I am not positive on that impace on power consumption, sorry!
Any ideas? I will upload i crude drawing i made shortly.
Id apprecaite any advice!
Thanks,
Pete
Your plan is fine. You only need to worry about having the LED strips in series if you are using addressable RGB (ARGB). Shouldn't be any different power consumption as the LEDs just pull what they need. Actually, if anything, your setup would be better as it helps reduce voltage drop across the strips.
As for power supply sizing...that really depends on what strips you use. Are these the ones you're looking at? https://a.co/d/aYmwKUt
If so, and you take their specs at face value, you're looking at ~360 LEDs. At 0.3W/LED, that gives needing 108W for running R,G, and B at max brightness. You'll likely not run into that situation, but leaving headroom is never a bad idea with electronics to extend their life. I'd probably go with this 10A supply (120W): https://a.co/d/bLVv6Nk
Thank you for the reply!
Yes that is the exact strip I went with except I chose white for some reason, should have done black. They will be in a channel and diffuser so no one will even notice.
I figured in parallel would be ok, but sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.:).
Do you have a suggestion on how to hang that power supply in the shelf? I could place it where my cable splices will be in the fireplace area but don't want to worry about heat or damaga to it. And if i need to replace it don't want to take the mantle off again.
