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Arduino Ambilight Help - Question on amperage.

DaftHacker

Aug 9, 2016
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Aug 9, 2016
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So i bought the supplies to make my own ambilight system with an arduino and i completely skipped over the part where i needed 5v - 10amp power supply. I was trying to use a 5v 2amp power adapter but no leds are turning on. So i remembered that i have an old pc my grandpa was going to throw away that i got off him, i took out the power supply and it says it will provide 5v 15amp but im wondering if that will be too much cause the post here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/make-ambilight-60/ says i only need 10amp and im wondering if the +5 amp will be fine to use. Im using 2 x WS2812B 1 meter 144 leds per strip. I'm not very knowledgeable on the hardware/electronic side of things. Here is a picture of the power supply:
e2a21011d9f73e0832da38ef0eecab78.png

a0d30061f3c8761d4c47cf8bcdccdc06.png
 
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BobK

Jan 5, 2010
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Do you ever plug a 100W light bulb into the same socket as you might plug a 1500W heater? Why doesn't the light bulb blow up since the socket can obviously supply too much current?

The answer is that a device uses only as much current as it needs. A power supply that can provide more current is never a problem. One that cannot supply enough current, though, is a problem.

Bob
 

Bluejets

Oct 5, 2014
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Just be aware that most of these pc power supply units require a signal from the motherboard to "power up". Not a big deal though as it usually just requires a jumper from the "power good" line to ground. ( usually green wire (pg) to black wire (ground) on the main plug (big one))you may have to google to check if the dell one you have is the same.
 

DaftHacker

Aug 9, 2016
2
Joined
Aug 9, 2016
Messages
2
Just be aware that most of these pc power supply units require a signal from the motherboard to "power up". Not a big deal though as it usually just requires a jumper from the "power good" line to ground. ( usually green wire (pg) to black wire (ground) on the main plug (big one))you may have to google to check if the dell one you have is the same.
Yeah im trying to look that up now.
Edit: Im all good to go now, my brother found the diagram for the power supply.
 
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