Electrical – How much current for a 5V 60 LED/m WS2812B 5m LED strip

led strippower supplyraspberry piws2812b

I'm planning on controlling a 5m 60 LED/m WS2812B chip 5V strip with a Raspberry Pi Zero W. According to the website it draws 18 watts per meter (90 watts total). What current would this strip draw, and what would you recommend on powering both the Pi and the strip from one PSU? Any link to some decent, budget ones would be appreciated.

Best Answer

90W at 5V comes out to 18A. You can find several 5V 20A power supplies around.

P(power)=V(volts)*I(amps) therefore I=P/V 90W/5V=18A

I have built several similar projects using WS2812b with Arduino and LPD8806 with Raspberry Pi. I used this 5V 60A power supply and it has been running in my attic for years with no issues. Its a bit large for what you need but at $20, you're not going to find much cheaper.

Unrelated to the power supply, its a lot easier to use the LPD8806 or some similar 4 pin cable with RPi because you can control the clock. The three pin addressable strips need to have their data output at a very specific frequency and it can be troublesome to run long strips. It can be done, especially with the short run you have, and the 3 pin version are usually cheaper.

P.S. Hardware Recommendations is a good site for these kinds of questions.