Help.

Three 5m length of rgb strip lights come with a 6amp power supply plug

If connecting all three together to do a full run of almost 15m the 6amp obviously isn't enough to power all of it and you can see each addtional roll looking paler.

I've got a 16amp power supply.. Still gets fade out
Bought a 20amp and still the same.

Do I need mini power extenders to boost the power all the way along?

Advice please as its doing my head in.

 

Are you connecting them in series or parallel? They should work in parallel no problem.

 

yeah, connecting each end to the next roll, to make a 15m lengh in one.

 

So to answer the question you were asked, you are connecting them in series.

 

Yeah but not like a Mcrea

 

Yeah if you connect them in parallel. I.e. linking all the positives together and all the negatives together, then taking them back to the power supply. Then it should work properly.

 

you mean, like I've done connecting them up end to end? (it fades out by the times it gets to the last 5m length)

or doing each 5m roll separate buy having a +&- wire feeding each roll?

 

Any chance of a picture of the terminals just to see how they're physically arranged? Just saying they're connected end to end doesn't really mean a lot without knowing what the polarity of the terminals is.

 

16amp power supplie.. Goes to the white IR cintroller then plugs into the RGB strip

 

By joining end to end you are probably getting a voltage drop which is why the last strip is going dim. See if it is possible to put another feed ( from same power supply ) into join between last two strips

 

Apologies, I should've been more specific. I mean the terminals on the led strips. Either that a link to the supplier.

 

This. You need a separate feed from the power source to +ve and -ve of each strip. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that the voltage will be the same in all three otherwise.

 

This looks very similar to what Salsa is showing in his pic....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5050-3528-...3D151224383150

 

In which case they must be in parallel, given that link says the strips can be shortened simply by cutting the track.

 

I have 2 x 5m lengths in my gazebo in the garden, it is just a simple 6 amp supply, at the end of the first 5m real I have a connector which joins on to the next 5 meter real and it works flawless. they are RGB and mixes colours.

As the link Don has put up just the same with a slightly bigger psu.

Try testing each length individual to make sure they are good.

top set of light in the picture.

 

was thinking that about the voltage. think I'll run a couple more power feeds to the other two 5m rolls.. that way each is powered on it's own. I have a 20amp power supply that has three V+&V- outputs.

 

Try them all individually first, could well be you've got a bad joint in there somewhere.