Capacitor for led strips

capacitorled

I want to make a DIY Power PUC to put led's on my motorcycle. I plan to use 5050 RGB strips. Power supply to these LED's will be in the form of a carbon brush – aluminium ring assembly. But since the wheel will be rotating there will be fluctuations in the current reaching the LED on the wheel through the carbon brush. Hence I was thinking of using capacitors to tide over the current drops. These capacitors would be attached between the aluminium ring and the LED wire.

I would like to know how I should calculate the capacitor required and how to connect it – in series/parallel, and whether any other components will be required for this purpose.

Thanks in advance.
Attaching a rough sketch of the connections

Best Answer

You want to connect it in parallel and you don't need any additional components.

To compute the value you need you just have to use the formula C = (i * dt)/dV, where dV is the value of voltage variation you want and i the current that will be flowing in your leds. From that you should get an approximate value you can try. Try to get the biggest possible value, but be aware that the bigger a capacitor, the bigger the delays.

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