How to wire 6 LED strips

Hardware
1

I was a Navy Electronics Technician Nuke, but I only troubleshot and maintained electrical systems, not designed them.
I understand the nuances of voltage, current, watts, loads, fuses, and controllers. One size and one answer does not fit all.
I have successfully gotten this system to work. My lights blink and dance on cue. No problem with the ESP 32 C3 controller, or the WS2812B RGB 60Pixels/m LED light strings.
I have reviewed the WLED instructions here:
https://kno.wled.ge/features/multi-strip/

My question is one of safety, wire size, and fusing.
I have measured for 6 LED strips for the outside of my house. 9 segments of varying lengths from 24 inches to 182 inches. Power and control will be from one end in the garage. Using a 5v 45 amp power supply. It will be an approximate total of 1586 LEDs
I know I have to power inject at the junction of each strip.
How many strips can I wire per fuse? And what fuse size. I know I could wire them all individually, but I want to minimize the number of wires tucked into the soffit. and of course the expense of duplicating wires unnecessarily.

What size wires and where are those sizes required?
I started with 20 gauge 3 strand wires, but I think this is not adequate. I have 16 gauge wire on the way.
Can my ESP 32 controller talk to the entire strip, or will I have to break up and solder to another output?
Hopefully I have included adequate information for a complete answer.
Thank you in advance.

2

For wire size and where to inject power there is a good web page to help.
https://wled-calculator.github.io/

16 gauge wire is a good option.

Since you have read the wiki about multi-strips and the increase of effect speed when using multiple outputs I’ll not go in to it. For large Led projects I use multiple outputs.

The wiki is great to begin with.

How many Led’s do you plan in total? 30 per meter or 60? Your power requirements hinge on things like that. You may need multiple power supply’s because of distance and voltage drop.

3

@akriss Thank you.
I referred to that calculator, but I am using RGB not RGB White. Wouldn’t that make a big difference on the current used? Or does that mean RGB at the white setting, not RGB White LEDs.
I did say I was using 60 per meter. for an approximate total of 1586 LEDs.

4

Yes the additional white would add about 20mA per led to the total. However you will want to have at least a minimum 20% more amps the needed. So the power supply will not overheat.

The calculator does adjust the total amp’s needs depending on Led strip type you have chosen.