Distribute power more evenly to Pixels

[swizzlevixen]

Distribute power individually to each shelf, so that we get better voltage and truer colors to more pixels.

Pixels require 60 mA / pixel for full white, and 20 mA for “average” rule-of-thumb use.

Pixels	Rule of Thumb	Max
1 NeoPixel or WS2801 Pixel	20 mA	60 mA
41-pixel Strand	820 mA	2.46 A
All 6 Shelves (5 * 41 + 39)	4.88 A	14.64 A
50-pixel WS2801 Strand	1 A	3 A
16-pixel Volcano Ring	320 mA	960 mA
3 Arcade Button NeoPixels	60 mA	180 mA
TOTAL	6.26 A	18.78 A

So, probably what I need is a 5A supply per shelf, plus another 5A for the WS2801 pixels. (4 × 5A)

Of course, this doesn't take into account the max from the wall circuit (15A, probably), or the max supported by the power strip (something less).

Maybe I could limit the output in software to keep the total under the 15A max (minus, of course, RPi power, fog machine power, fan power, etc.).

[swizzlevixen]

I wasn't thinking about the power conversion for the mains circuit. 10V at 5A only draws 120V at 2A, according the the 5V/10A power supply I got from Adafruit, so that doesn't add up to something that would overload the mains circuit.

[swizzlevixen]

AmazonBasics power strip currently in use will support:

AC 15A, 125V, 60Hz, 1875W