On Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:18:10 -0500, nospamgoingjag
wrote:

Joh, thanks for the detailed response.

You are of course correct on all points.

I will likely string 54 together roughly 6 strips of 9 LED's per strip
of 5050's I believe will fit in my current case. Using the smaller
3528's would yeild roughly 6 strips of 12 lED's for a max total of 72
LED's..

By the info you provided, 500ma should suffice.

Thus a power supply in the range of 1 amps would appear to be plenty.

---
the info I provided was based on a voltage drop of 12V across each
5050 and its current limiting resistor with 20mA through them, so
that would be 12V across each strip with 20mA through each 5050 and
its resistor, for a total of 180mA per strip.

You'd run all 6 strips in parallel, so the input voltage would stay
at 12V, but the total current would be 1080ma, or about 1.1A for the
5050 array.

Assuming 20mA for each 3528 and 12 3528s per strip would yield a
current of 240mA through each strip with 12V across it, and a total
of 1440mA for the 3528 array.

Thus, using a 12V 1.5A supply should work for either array but,
before any power supply decisions are made, you should characterize
the strips by finding out how they're wired and the values of their
current-limiting resistors.
---

Thanks again for straightening me out.

---
You're welcome.

John Fields