Electronic – arduino – Why these tutorials don’t care about wires when using 10A with 5V to light up strip LEDS

5varduinoled stripwirews2812b

One popular project I want to do with my Arduino is to light up 150 LED Strip of 5 meters (WS2812B).

Here is my project:

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So, I have a power supply of 5V 10A (ALITOVE 5V 10A AC to DC Power Supply). 10A because 150 LEDS of 60mA need 9A. But, 9A is a lot and I'm a bit scare to connect everything.

I pretty sure that my jumper wires will not like 9A. Here are my questions:

  1. So why tutorials and guides (see links below) don't care about wires when using 10A with 5V to ligths up strip LEDS?
  2. What kind of cables should I use to connect both the Arduino and the LEDS?
  3. 15 AWG seems big for that, no? I'm not even sure that 15 AWG will fit in the Arduino 5V pin.
  4. Also, I think it may be a good practice to put a capacitor somewhere to protect the Arduino. But where?

Here are the tutorials, guides and people talking about a similar project:

Best Answer

So why tutorials and guides (see links below) don't care about wires when using 10A with 5V to ligths up strip LEDS?

If you want to light 150 LED's it will take a lot of current. Running all this through one cable seems a little excessive, and will cause some heating in the wire and traces.

You'd need at least 20AWG for the recommended current of 10A, to power and ground of the LED's and the power supply.

What kind of cables should I use to connect both the Arduino and the LEDS?

At least 20AWG for the LED's and anything over 30AWG for the Arduino (which is probably drawing less than 50mA). There is almost no current through the digital cable.

Also, I think it may be a good practice to put a capacitor somewhere to protect the Arduino. But where?

Nope, the Arudino has a regulator and capacitors, the regulator will attenuate noise, so no bypass cap needed.

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