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3 years ago
How many Tree spots (RGBW) per Tree cable run?
I made the mistake of trying to work this out!
Till now, I have been limiting the number of spots based on power supply capacity. I think the highest number I have used is 16 spots on 1 cable approx 5m long.
Doing calculations based on Google know-how, cable needs to be 5.5mm but the tree cable is only 1.5mm.
What is the safe amount of spots per tree cable?
1 Answers
3 years ago
Hi Prem
If you use an online volt drop calculator you will get erroneous results. For instance if I said that I have 10x spots that I want to run and the longest distance is 20M. Then this would be 0.3A per fitting, and an online calculator simply asks load and distance, therefore I would input 3A (10×0.3) and 20M. This is incorrect however as it would assume the total load is at the furthest point of the run.
What we have is a combination or series/parallel circuit. The load decreases after every fitting while the resistance increases, therefore to correctly work out voltage drop you must do it for each section of the cable run.
For instance if this was 10 fittings evenly split across 20M, then I would first do a calculation for 3A over 2M starting at 24V, the 2.7A over 2M with a starting voltage of whatever the first result gave etc… etc…
Unfortunately as a result of the above there is no such thing as a safe number and you will need to work out the calculations. However those 16x spots mentioned above would likely be able to be run on a much longer cable than 5M.
As a final consideration, are all of these spots going to be turned on together? and will they all be at 100% brightness when they are? as this will also effect voltage drop as it will affect load.
If you are a Loxone Partner please feel free to contact your Partner Coach for further assistance.
KR
Hugh
Thanks Hugh.
I’m designing an install for a house. Two of the rooms are going to have at least 40 spots each (pool and gym). At the moment, I have split them into groups of 20 per tree cable to allow for 10A (480W) power supply for each of the 4 splits. Not sure if this is going to be a problem. Trying to keep the power supplies central.
The house is going to end up with 200+ spots just downstairs (yes, it’s a big house) so my number of tree cables and power supplies are going mental!!!
I will discuss with you outside of this.
Prem