Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that helped. That definitely solved my problem!!
Glad you got it working. Next tip: Don’t try to pass more than 3A through that screw terminal barrel jack. They get hot and start melting over 3A - 5A.
Ya that was just while I was testing. I just replaced it with one of these
The total draw of the light is 12.2 amps at 5v running at max brightness full white. That was measured using a voltage meter on the strips themselves.
When I plug the 5v power supply into a power meter it’s only drawing 33w at 110v.
Those connectors are a tiny bit better but still not a great solution.
Description: “Rated current: 5A, rated voltage: 50V, electric life: 5000 times, waterproof grade is IP68”
Thanks for the heads up. Is there a barrel connector like that that is better suited for this? I would like to keep the ability to disconnect the power supply.
Ok I broke out the multimeter. At full white max brightness the lights draw ~4.5 amps at 5v. I know you are supposed to factor in 20% more for safety, but I will never have this at full brightness because the lights themselves will overheat and melt the 3D printed model. I am running them power limited to 15amps and brightness maxed at 25 out of 256.
At 12+ A of current draw, you’re into automotive style “dual pin” disconnects that are a little clunkier, but rated at those currents (15A or better).
Look up “12V 14AWG disconnect” or something similar.
The other possibility would be RC style battery disconnects.
Either of those will get you past 10A reliably, but they’re bulkier as you need more connector surface area than you can get from barrel connectors.
@divsys I was wrong on the power draw. It’s around 4.5amps. The 12 number was based on one strip that I then multiplied out assuming it would be the most I would ever draw from a power supply. I put a multimeter on the lights today and even at full bright white they maxed out around 4.3/4.4 amps. That lines up with the AC draw I am seeing on the power supply (23w).
While that’s better, you’re still up above the maximum recommended values for the standard barrel connectors.
Depends somewhat on how often you anticipate needing a quick disconnect vs how often you’ll be maxing out Bright White settings.
In reality both are very rare. Normal operations this will draw around 3.3 amps. If it’s running at 4.5 for more than an hour then the 3D printed enclosure is at risk of deforming and melting. I have an embedded temp sensor inside the model that turns WLED off at 98° and kills power to the entire device at 105°
Try running it a high power for a few hours and measure the temperature of the connector.
It’s been my experience that you’ll notice a distinct increase in temp.
The problem over time is that it doesn’t tend to improve, just the opposite.
Your call in the end 