Individual LEDs don’t need much power. Hundreds of LEDs need quite a bit of power. The MegaTree now has 8 strips with 50 LEDs each for a total of 400. Each of these LEDs will consume about 1/3 of a watt of power at full brightness. So 400 of them will use around 130 watts. The 200 watt power supply can easily handle this. The WS2811 strings use 5 volt power resulting in 27 amps going down the wire. The LED strings are made with thin wire which causes massive voltage loss. Somewhere around 200 or so LEDs the voltage drops too low and the LEDs don’t work. The LED controller also becomes overloaded and won’t drive this many pixels.
WS2811 LEDs use three wires: +5V, ground, and data. They are designed so that data is regenerated at each individual LED and works up to the addressable limit of each controller, typically 1,000-2.000 LEDs per controller.
Long strings work by connecting additional +5V and ground wires to the string every 50 to 100 LEDs – power injection.
Standard WS2811 strings have pigtails for power injection on each string making it simple.
I ordered the same pixel string with waterproof connectors expecting them to also include power injection pigtails. Get ready to hook up the new strings and nope, just a three pin female waterproof connector on one end and a three pin waterproof male connector on the other end.
Ok, no problem. The pixel strings are spaced too far apart at the bottom of the tree so I need extension cables. I will just make extension cables with power injection. This will give me power injection every 100 pixels which is fine.
Order a set of 3 pin waterproof connectors. Too small. Check the connector details more closely. OK, there are small and large connectors available. Order a set of large 3 pin waterproof connectors. Hmmm, the large connectors don’t fit either…
Dig out the calipers, carefully measure the connectors on the pixel string, go through multiple listings on Amazon, and order a set of connectors that look like the right dimensions. They don’t fit either. Krud! What is going on here?!?
It looks like the Rextin WS2811 pixel string with waterproof connectors is using a custom connector that isn’t readily available.
Why am I not surprised? Well, each pixel string has a waterproof connector that does work. And I have wire cutters and no sense of self preservation! Cut off the connector, splice in an extension, and add the power injection to the extension. Use a standard 2 pin waterproof connector with the extension and make a custom power injection cable that also uses standard 2 pin waterproof connections.
Do this with every other string and you have a set of pixel strings with power injection and the proper spacing for the bottom of the tree. String them up and viola! the tree is done!
Connect the WLED controller to the first string, connect the custom power injection cable to the power supply and the rest of the pixel strings and power it up.
Fire up the laptop, connect to the WLED controller, enter the settings for the 8 strings on the mega tree, and hit go.
Lights! And there was much rejoicing!
Go through the various lighting effects that are available on WLED. Choose a dozen that look good. Arrange them into a playlist. Make this playlist the default. Power cycle the WLED controller. Stand back and watch a MegaTree in operation!
And there was MUCH rejoicing!