10/20w Flood Power Injection

[ControlsEE]

Planning out some of the things for the roller coaster project and we are using a number of 10/20w RGB floods. I know the rule of thumb for pixels, every 50 for 5v, 100 for 12v, but are the floods any different because of their higher current draw? I don't mind power injecting, I just want to plan the wiring accordingly.

[pixelpuppy]

are the floods any different because of their higher current draw?

Absolutely.  Power is measured in Watts.  More wattage means more power.  You are not going to be able to power 100x 10w floods on a single 5A pixel port that normally can power 100x 12v pixels.

I don't know if I've seen a rule-of-thumb for floods, but 5A@12v=60W max per pixel port. So I'm guessing maybe 5-6 10w floods max on a single pixel port.

Not only that, but for the most port, the higher-wattage floods also need higher voltage.  There are exceptions, but generally speaking, only the 10W floods operate at 12v.  Typically, 20w floods need 24v power supply and 30w floods need 36v power supply, so anything over 10W usually requires its own separate power supply anyway.

[ControlsEE]

are the floods any different because of their higher current draw?

Absolutely.  Power is measured in Watts.  More wattage means more power.  You are not going to be able to power 100x 10w floods on a single 5A pixel port that normally can power 100x 12v pixels.

I don't know if I've seen a rule-of-thumb for floods, but 5A@12v=60W max per pixel port. So I'm guessing maybe 5-6 10w floods max on a single pixel port.

Not only that, but for the most port, the higher-wattage floods also need higher voltage.  There are exceptions, but generally speaking, only the 10W floods operate at 12v.  Typically, 20w floods need 24v power supply and 30w floods need 36v power supply, so anything over 10W usually requires its own separate power supply anyway.

I figured I would have to power them off of a seperate fuse, only connecting data to the pixel port, but should I plan on power injecting at the end, or every x amount of floods? I'm curious what the voltage drop on these is like compared to standard bullet pixels.

[pixelpuppy]

I'm curious what the voltage drop on these is like compared to standard bullet pixels.

Voltage drop is a function of current (and resistance).  So, yes, higher current floods are going to have more voltage drop than lower current bullet pixels.  I think you should plan on power injection for floods if you're going to have more than just a few

[Poporacer]

only connecting data to the pixel port,

You will need to connect the ground to the pixel port as well. The data line needs the same reference point as the data line. You can combine the ground (v-) from different power sources.

[Ebuechner]

I have a very long string of floods which all have different current and voltage requirements so my solution was to send them a higher voltage and then put a regulator in each individual flood.
I have 10 Watt 20 watt and 50 watt and I send 36 volts to everything.

[tbone321]

Also keep in mind that the need for power injection is due to the thin wire between the nodes, not the nodes themselves.  Since AFAIK, floods do not come in strings and you will need to make your own wiring harness anyway, if you use 14 or 12 gauge wire for the power and ground, you may not need to do any power injection at all.