Noob Questions. Max current equation, data boosters, xConnect plugs, and overall setup

Questions
1

Fresh noob here. Attempting my first setup. What I’ve got so far…

Lights are 12v WS2811 bullet pixels

First Section:
270 pixels
45 feet of roofline
1st 12v Power Supply 30A 360W
Power injection home-run at the end of the 270 pixels using 12awg wire with an inline fuse.
DigQuad controller

Second Section:
570 pixels
95 feet of roofline
2nd 12v Power Supply 30A 360W
Power injection home-runs at 300 & 570 pixels using 12awg wire with an inline fuse.

Still have a few questions.

With running two power supplies, I’m able to keep the draw on each supply under max; however, I want to make sure I’m around 20% below max to be safe. What is the proper equation to figure out what max current to set in the app?

I have data boosters for jumps between peaks. How long can I jump before needing to use a booster? Also, I’m using 12awg 2 conductor wire for power injection runs, but I was planning on using 18awg 3 conductor for jumps. Should I use the 12awg instead of the 18?

The light strings came with xConnect ends. I have all the necessary xConnect pigtails and power injection Ts; however, if the connectors are not reliable, I’d rather eliminate them now. Does anyone have experience with the xConnect connections?

Is there anything I’m forgetting? You know what they say… You don’t know what you don’t know. Please let me know if anyone sees anything wrong with my setup.

Thank you all in advance for any help you can provide. Looking forward to learning more.

2

First, you need to be sure that the supply positives are not connected to each other.

“Jump” distance can vary based on wire and configuration. Also, the data wire does not need to be thick. Can be 20 AWG or even less.

What about xConnect connections?

3

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I plan on driving my first-floor roofline with one PSU and the second-floor with the other. I know I cannot connect the positives of both, but I can connect the grounds. I was planning on terminating both positive and negative wires before jumping to the second floor with the data wire and beginning a new positive and negative run from the second PSU. Is it ok to run separate grounds as I plan to do? Any benefit to continuing and connecting to the same ground for both PSUs?

I plan on running 18awg for the data wire (a have a ton on hand), and the longest gap or jump will be about 10 feet or so.

I was curious if anyone using the xConnect connections found them unreliable, as in allowing water in. Or just more of a pain than is necessary.

4

xConnect are very nice connectors and are the the most widely used connector for large LED setups (all those fancy xlights sequenced Christmas decorations). They have an o-ring to maintain a watertight seal. You can also buy xConnect T’s for easy power injection connection. YourPixelStore has even just within the past few days come out with a much smaller style xConnect T than ones other places are selling. (I have no affiliation with them. I just know as I am a member of several xlights FB groups)

There are a few other connectors similar to xConnect that are also highly used. #2 would be Ray Wu.

Remember if using more than 1 power supply you need to connect the grounds together along with your controller.

5

Thanks for the info, Jinx. I feel a lot better about trusting the connections.
I’ll ensure that both PSUs and the controller use the same ground. Got it. Thanks!