Hello all. I have very nice project to do (DIY PC ARGB light). So I’ll start from beginning. I ordered controller to power up and control my:
4 RAM heatsink (each 10 WS2812B LED’s)
1 Strip (24 WS2812B LED’s)
3 fan’s (16 WS2812B LED’s each)
BUT controller have very bad programmed effects - rainbow isn’t smooth, there is like 20 very bad effects, so I ordered ESP32 to controll every components separately, and it’s working.
Okay, let’s summarize up.
All components is connected by ARGB connector (3x PWM connector from fans is connected to MOBO) to controller.
All components have ARGB only with 5v and ground - data is splitted out and connected to ESP32.
Controller is powered up by one PSU SATA cable.
Since controller can be controlled by ARGB socket on MOBO, which my MOBO dont have, i have connected controller 5V ARGB data and GROUND to ESP32 instead MOBO, so I can controll 4 LEDS from controller separately too.
ESP32 have connected only data pins from all components (ground also from controller.
ESP32 is powered up from one ARGB socket on controller.
On WLED I have setted it up all and it working.
But, I have noticed that:
setting LED voltage to "5V default (55mA) uses more power and brightness is OK
setting LED voltage to "5V efficent (35mA) uses less power and brightness is way higher than 55mA.
Anyone have idea if I can keep using it as it is, or I should power up all the ARGB fins individually from external power supply, not PC? I want to power it all from my PC psu, bcs I don’t want running LED’s when I have turned off PC.
The setting of the current (55mA or 35mA) is just for the limiter. If you know that your supply is strong enough and the wiring can support it, then you could turn the brightness limiter off.
It is just estimating the current need based on number of led and the set current per led.
According to WLED calculator, I should use 25W / 5A when using WS2812B 5V. Each SATA can provide three 12V, three 5V and three 3.3V pins, which shares maximum of 1.5A for each pin, where max A is 4.5, so there is maximum three pins that uses full 1.5A, when there is more than 3, they share A for each other. Controller uses one 12V pin and one 5V pin.
So: 12V * 1.5A and 5V * 1.5A = 25.5W. ARGB uses 5V, so my max power for ARGB is 5V * 1.5A = 7.5W.
So, it seems that I can use maximum 1500mAh in WLED. Or maybe it will power up by 12V and 5V? Controller will use 12V pin only for PWM, or it will use also for ARGB?
This is in a pc so I doubt you are ever going to be using all white and or full brightness and from what you described above you only have 112 LED’s. I would just turn the limiter off.
4 x 10leds (ram)
1 x 24leds (led strip)
1x 4leds (controller)
3x 16leds (fans)
also, I’m not using white all the time, mostly some rainbow effects. anyway, when using full brightness in full white, it can consume even around 6000mAh, when turned it on, my controller SATA power got very very hot on connect with PSU SATA, so i have immediately turned the ampers to default 850.
Can’t be sure how the controller is using the 5v wires from the sata connection. You could buy a sata pigtail and cut the end off and tie the 5v leads together (as long as they are all from 1 rail). That would split the amp load across the 3 5v lines.
Well, One sata connection has 5 wires: 3.3v G 5v G 12v. The pads in the connector all connect to one of those 5 wires. Normally those wires from the PSU are 18awg, So if you connect direct to the 5v line you should be good to go. Best option would be to cut the connector off the cable from your PSU. 2nd best but may create more heat would be to use a pigtail and cut it to access the 5v wire. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Female-Serial-Converter-Cables-11-8inch/dp/B09BJMFQW2 Problem is you then are passing the load from the 5v psu wire to the 3x 5v terminals and back to the 18awg pigtail wire. But again I don’t see why you would ever be using full brightness white. I would just try setting the limiter to like 3000mA and see if it’s bright enough for you.
All right, so I’ll connect all PWM to MOBO and leave controller as it should be with only ARGB power. Thanks for answers, I’ll upload some videos when I finish it soon.
